Santana let out a laugh as she patted Charlie's chest, before leaning down so she could kiss her deeply. It had required all her skill to come and find her mate, and escape from not only both her parents but the lionesses that had been guarding her inside her room. The fact that both her future parents-in-law and her parents had decided that she needed to keep her distance from her mate, until they were officially wedded, hadn't agreed with her at all. It had been nearly impossible to sleep without her mate underneath her. "We need to start getting ready, and they'll probably break down your door if I don't manage to sneak back into my room."

"Let them, just pass me my sword and I'll deal with them and we can go back to bed," Charlie informs her with a massive dopey grin as she places her hands on Santana's hips attempting to keep her right where she was. Waiting had been well worth it, every time with Santana felt special.

Santana smiled, she really didn't want to get makeup slathered on her face, and having maids pull at her hair in an attempt to make her presentable. "If I don't leave you won't see the dress I picked out, and I won't get to see you all dressed up. Does it have sleeves?"

"My mother said she would feed me to my grandmother if I tore the sleeves," Charlie grumbled.

"That seems excessive—"

"My grandmother threw me off a roof to see if I could fly. My mother hired someone who poisoned me from the Holy Empire to teach me proper etiquette. My family doesn't do things in half-measures Santana. If my mother says she will feed me to my grandmother I have to take her seriously."

"But your arms are your second best feature!"

"Second best?"

"Your face is my favorite thing in the world," Santana admits and shrugs. "Your arms are a very close second, I can kiss you—you've gotten a lot better at it."

"And the rest? We can go again so I can show you how much better I've gotten—" There's a pounding on the door and Charlie groans as Santana immediately shifts and hops off her and makes her way to her open window. Charlie immediately pouts as Santana makes her escape, just as the door to her room is slammed open and her mother appears with what she could only assume was an army of maids.

"Where is she?"

"Where is who?" The look that Judy shot her daughter would make most people faint on the spot, Charlie instead smiles innocently.

"Don't give me that look, the room reeks of sex."

"I was with my wife," Charlie said dismissively. Santana had already promised herself to her, and in Santana's culture they were already married, they were just having a silly ceremony to appease her parents and the nobles. "You know speaking of Santana, she actually wants me to show off my arms—"

"No. This is a formal event Charlie, and one that you've slaved over to make sure it was perfect. The seating chart alone took nearly 20 people to decide. We can't have anything go wrong today." Charlie stared at her mother for a moment before rolling over, and grabbing a pillow to put it on her head. "Quinn."

Quinn sighed and stepped into her twin's room and walked up to her and grabbed her by the leg and yanked her out of bed, allowing Charlie to slam against the ground and struggle to get away from her. "To the baths?"

"Yes, make sure to scrub her raw—and use a very light scent this time. But make sure she smells clean."

"Mother!"

"If you're going to insist on acting like a child, then I plan on treating you like one. While you're there give her a trim. Her hair is a mess, everything needs to be perfect. You need to be perfect Charlie, there are many nobles here. There are also several dignitaries here, and you are the face of our nation right now. They need to see you as everything I know you are." Judy waved her hand around, and shook her head. "Not whatever this is. Quinn, make sure she arrives on time, I have much to do, and make sure that you are dressed up as well. She is your sister and she was standing by you when you married Rachel."

"She didn't have to make sure I didn't bolt," Quinn grumbled. "You would think she wanted to marry Santana."

"I do, but I like the beastkin method better. Less clothes—"

"Take her away Quinn," Judy insists, pinching the bridge of her nose.

~ O ~

"Perhaps there is something to this whole wedding thing that the humans do," Maribel stated as she looked at her daughter. She had never looked more beautiful in her life, and even though she had complained and whined throughout the entire process of getting her ready, Santana was now looking at herself in the mirror awe on her face.

The dress was stunning, and it sparkled like she was some sort of ethereal fairy, "Do you think she'll like it?" Santana asks, looking at her parents eagerly. She had only agreed to do this wedding because it was necessary for Charlie's ascension to the throne, but now that she saw herself and the work that had been put in to make her look like the most beautiful woman in attendance she suddenly understood.

"Your mate would have to be blind to not see how beautiful you are."

Santana grinned, "I mean it did take her awhile to realize that I was stalking her because she was my mate. It took her even longer to realize that I wanted to mate with her, she can be quite dense and blind sometimes, but when she looks at me—when they both look at me—" Santana smiled.

"Both?" Maribel questioned.

"Her dragon, they're two separate beings and every now and again I think it takes over briefly, her eyes shift and she doesn't seem to have any recollection of it at all. I wanted to insist on bringing a shaman here, even though I know it would never be allowed. And I doubt the elders would allow her on the sacred lands. It wasn't hurting her and her dragon doesn't seem dangerous, if anything her dragon likes me a lot. Well it's a dragon so maybe it tolerates me?" Santana shrugged. She turns when her parents exchange looks, "What?"

"It's not unheard of but I doubt a shaman can fix such a thing Santana, perhaps if she was beastkin but dragons are another thing entirely, beings of pure magic and might. They used to rule us if the shamans are to be believed, many of them see them as nothing more than pets. I know she's your mate, and she's a dragon but you need to be careful with the dragon."

Santana rolled her eyes, Charlie's dragon only seemed to appear when Charlie was half-asleep these days and spent most of the time being still so she could get comfortable,"I'll take it into consideration. But I don't think her dragon is any danger to me." As far as she could tell Charlie's dragon loved her just as much as Charlie did, and showed some interest in her.

There's a knock on the door and her ear flicks towards the noise as a member of the royal guard bows, "It's time the carriage is waiting for you."

Santana hummed and got up slowly, this was not a dress that she wanted to mess up. She takes a deep breath. It was time to start her life.

~ O ~

"You know," Quinn began smirking at her twin who was bouncing her foot nervously, "It's not too late for her to run."

Charlie's foot stopped bouncing for a moment and she turned to her twin. She wasn't nervous about Santana running away, she was worried that she wasn't dressed up enough for her wife, and that she would mess up somewhere embarrassing them. She flashes a smile at her twin before throwing a very quick jab punching Quinn in the nose, she hears a satisfying crunch. "Oh no, your nose is bleeding, I'd help but I think mom would murder me if I got blood on my clothing." She pats Quinn roughly on the shoulder before digging her fingers into Quinn's shoulder as she leans in, "I don't care if you want to sleep with every beautiful woman you see, but if I catch you looking at my wife like you look at every other women I will gouge your eyes out. Rachel would probably thank me," she pats her twin on the back. "Someone escort Quinn to where my parents are seated, she's bleeding and she'll ruin the look of things."

Quinn glared at Charlie, she'd only been teasing there had been absolutely no need to punch her. She wasn't exactly thrilled that her twin was suddenly growing a backbone.

Charlie takes a very calming breath and adjusts her coat making sure it was on straight, as the music in the cathedral starts to play. She can feel her heart hammering in her chest, but she brushes it away as just nerves as she moves to take her spot at the front of the church. It had been built by the Holy Empire when Argon had been founded, but they were not a religious country and the large Cathedral was mostly used for special events like weddings and coronations. With its ornate fixtures, it was the perfect place for a royal wedding and it had more than enough seating for everyone. "Breathe," Charlie mumbled under her breath, before she turned to look at her wife. Inadvertently her jaw drops at how breathtaking she is and without even thinking she steps away from where she's supposed to be, and she can hear her mother gasping in shock but she doesn't care as she moves to her mate, who flashes her an amused smile. She would die for this woman, she had never expected a force like Santana to enter her life let alone choose her over everyone else. Her grandmother was wrong, she would drench the continent in blood if Santana so wished her to. Santana was her treasure, and she would protect her with everything she had.

"We practiced, you were supposed to stay in your spot, where's Quinn? Wasn't she supposed to stop you?" Santana mumbled as Charlie offered her arm to escort her the rest of the distance.

"She said you were going to run away, so I punched her in the face, and told her if she looked at you funny I'd gouge out her eyes," Charlie grunts, not bothering to spare Quinn a glance, let alone anyone else in her family. "You look beautiful," Charlie informs Santana. "You always look beautiful but today—" Charlie stopped talking as she felt Santana squeeze her arm as they stepped onto the podium.

"I look?" Santana pushes trying not to flush at how her mate was looking at her, her mate was in awe of her and she couldn't help but admire what Charlie was wearing. The formal military wear wasn't something that she had been eager to see Charlie wearing, but on Charlie it just fit. And she was secretly glad that Judy had insisted on sleeves, she didn't want all the other women to get ideas. Though Charlie was stunning even with her arms covered. She didn't want anyone getting any ideas about her mate either.

"You are the most beautiful women on the continent, and I can't believe that you're my mate," Charlie finishes, ignoring the priest who clears his throat. When he does it again this time a bit louder she glares at him, he was ruining the moment.

Santana let out a laugh and squeezed Charlie's arm again, "Your mother was right about your arms, you know, you should only show them off when you're working out and to me."

"Whatever you want," Charlie promises as she turns so she can face the priest who looks completely put out by their display of love. "Well, hurry up," she insists loudly and while she can't see or hear her mother she can definitely feel the daggers being glared into her back from her. But she wanted this to be over so that she could go off with her wife and let everyone else celebrate the way they wanted to. She had no plans to show her face until the coronation and even then she was wondering if she could somehow skip it. "Just get to the important parts," she whispers to him.

The priest shoots Charlie an annoyed look but decides to start, "We are gathered here today to—"

Santana tunes the priest out, no one really mattered at this moment except her mate, and she knew that even though Charlie tried to brush this off and tried to wiggle out of it, this was important to her. It was important for everyone on the continent to see her as her wife. But the moment she glances up she sees that Charlie's eyes have once again shifted into dragon eyes, and she could feel her core pulse with heat, mana from Charlie. She's about to whisper if Charlie's okay when things go to hell as the ground suddenly shakes and a series of loud booms are heard echoing throughout the church. As quite a number of people begin to look around, as the scent of fear and panic starts to feel the room she feels a hand on her wrist and looks up just to see Charlie, with her dragon eyes yanking her towards her and wrapping her arms around her tightly.

There's a shift in the air and Artemis turns just in time to see a large pair of dragon wings rip Charlie's clothing as it immediately wraps around Santana protecting her just as she manages to create a massive barrier as green fire erupts from the ground, murdering the priest and engulfing the two of them in bright green wildfire, just as the floor gives out from underneath them and they plummet down below. Almost immediately Artemis grabs her daughter and holds her in place as Russell begins to bark orders and the place is flooded with guards. Wildfire was elven. She immediately turns to look at the Elven delegation but they had attended. The Prince and the Queen had attended this ceremony; such an attack could have killed them all, and there seemed to be some form of shock on her face. "She should be fine, you saw those magnificent wings of hers, they'd protect most of her from the fire and cats always land on their feet."