7

"The fewer people who know about this, the better," Pastor Galswells said as he ushered them inside the silent church and shut the heavy doors behind them. Then he slid the enormous bolt home.

"A-a-about w-w-what, sir?" Victor asked. The pastor brushed past them, heading for the small door that led to his quarters.

"You'll see."

A troubled and fearful glance passed between Victor and Victoria. They did not immediately follow Pastor Galswells, instead standing near the bolted doors. Disgruntled muttering was still audible even with the doors closed. The weak sun shone dusty colored light through the stained glass windows. Mrs. Van Dort's handiwork was visible here, as well. More cascading arrangments of roses and orange blossom at the altar. A plush looking aisle runner. Blossoms on the edges of the pews.

"This looks nice," Victor said quietly, taking it in. His voice was tight.

"It does," Victoria agreed. She took his hand, threading her fingers through his.

"It...this...it can't be what I think it's about, can it?" he asked in a whisper. He nodded at Pastor Galswells, who had nearly reached the door to one side of the altar.

"What are you doing? Come here at once," Pastor Galswells barked before she could answer. His deep voice echoed through the church. Victor cringed.

Yes, Victoria answered in her head, swallowing hard. Yes, I think it's about precisely what you think it is.

Victoria's feeling of dread was growing as she and Victor walked down the aisle. Ten minutes ago she'd thought this walk would be joyful and warm, filled with love and promise. Instead, they were being marched like naughty children to the headmaster's office. They passed the altar table, where the wedding items were carefully arranged and waiting. A vision of a skeletal arm and a glint of gold against snow filled her mind.

Pastor Galswells opened the door to his study and gestured them inside with an imperious sweep of his staff. After staring down at her, tightlipped and wide-eyed, Victor swallowed and went first. Victoria followed close at his heels. As soon as she'd crossed the threshold the pastor stepped in behind her and closed the door. The study was small and dark and filled mostly by a large desk and ancient bookshelves. There was only one tiny window. A small fire was burning to embers in the grate.

And there was an odd smell. Victoria wrinkled her nose as Pastor Galswells made his way to his desk and sat down heavily, setting his staff aside. Her view of the rest of the room was blocked by Victor's back. She was attempting to maneuver herself around him when he cried out, making her hair stand on end.

"Oh!" Victor cried, almost jumping backward. He stumbled into Victoria so that she lost her balance and fell back against the door, catching herself with one hand on the door handle. One of his flailing elbows caught her bouquet and knocked half of the blossoms loose, scattering rose petals all over the floor and her skirts. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. Victoria was strongly reminded of yesterday's wedding rehearsal. Vaguely she wondered if she was to endure a lifetime of this, or if perhaps Victor would grow out of it.

"Oh no!" he cried again, turning to her. His eyes had a wild kind of look. But still he slid an arm about her and helped her regain her balance, standing her at his side. "I'm so sorry, so sorry..."

His apologies were lost, however, when Victoria finally caught sight of what had startled him so. Or not what, precisely. Who.

A dead woman perched on the edge of a stiff-looking armchair next to Galswells' desk. Her arms and legs were crossed. On one side her limbs were skeletal. Blue flesh barely clung to the rest of her. Ribs were visible through a hole in the bodice of her rotted white gown. A ring of dead flowers crowned her head and held her veil, and her stringy blue hair was loose around her shoulders. She did not have a nose, but her lips were full. There was a hole in her cheek that left her teeth visible.

And a gold wedding band glinted on her ring finger in what sunlight made it through the window. Victoria swallowed and almost choked, her throat was so tight and dry. The corpse from the woods. No question. Despite Victoria's prayers, the awakened dead had not returned to sleep.

The dead woman's gaze was fixed on Victor. Her eyes were so strange. They were not glazed or lifeless. Indeed, they were full of life, strangely. Victoria watched as the corpse got to her feet. She was tall, almost a head taller than Victoria. There was an elegance about her, as well. She didn't shamble or float as an apparition might be expected to. She simply...walked.

"There you are, darling!" the corpse woman said. Her voice was startling. Light and playful and girlish. Not croaky or warbling. Not a sound of the grave. Her smile was large as she took Victor's arm and pulled him close, away from Victoria. Victor tried to pull free, but she held him fast. "Please, let's get all of this sorted out so that we can go home!"

"Home?" Victor croaked, his voice cracking. The dead woman laughed. As alive and happy as her laughter was it still sent a shiver down Victoria's spine.

"Of course, silly!" the corpse replied. She held up her hand and wiggled her skeletal fingers, showing off the ring. "We're married!"

"Married?" Victor repeated. Victoria's stomach gave a cold lurch. She clutched at her roses, her knuckles turning white. "I'm not—I don't-"

"Who is this?" the dead woman interrupted, as though noticing Victoria for the first time. The corpse held her head high and looked down her nose in a way that Victoria did not care for.

"I'm his fiancee," she managed at last, her voice coming out croaky and strange. She gestured at her ruined bouquet and her wedding gown. "Victor's. Victor's fiancee. It's our wedding day."

The corpse's eyes narrowed. She cast her eyes over Victoria, sizing her up. It was the sort of look Victoria remembered all too well from her one term at boarding school.

"What?" the dead woman asked with an uncertain half-laugh. She snuggled up even closer to Victor, pressing herself against his arm. "That's impossible, he's my husband! Tell her, darling!"

"No, I'm not!" Victor finally said desperately. He tried in vain to tug his arm away. His eyes were so huge Victoria was beginning to worry that they might fall out of his head. The sweat on his brow was clearly visible. "We never—I never-"

"Yes, you did," the corpse replied, not so giggly now. She held up her hand again to show off the ring. "Last night, in the woods. You said your vows perfectly. Beautifully!"

Victor froze. He locked eyes with Victoria. "I did," he said. His voice was hollow.

"Yes, you did," Victoria agreed in the same tone. How silly, how ridiculous, how utterly stupid of her to think that this was over. That they could call up a corpse in the night and go on the next day, everything perfectly ordinary.

"Oh yes!" the corpse exclaimed, looking at Victoria more closely. "You were there. Now I remember. You all ran off so fast, I only got a good look at...Victor."

She said his name as though trying it out, testing it. It made Victoria a little sick to hear. She fluttered her eyelashes at Victor, gazing at him tenderly. As a bride would. Victor looked back, but his expression was one of shock and dismay.

"So this is true?" Pastor Galswells asked, aghast.

"I did try to tell you," the dead woman replied.

"This—this-woman appeared late last night," Pastor Galswells said. He gestured to the corpse but did not quite look at her. "She was looking for you, Master Van Dort. To have you both sign the register for your marriage."

"I thought you'd come here. I thought you were just excited. Instead of fetching you, he kept trying to exorcise me," the dead woman said to Victor in an undertone. "It was very rude!"

"Explain yourself, Master Van Dort," the pastor said, his eye twitching again. "What have you done?"

"Nothing!" Victor insisted. At last he managed to pull himself out of the dead woman's grip. He took a few quick steps away, bumping into the desk and sending a bell and an unlit candle to the floor. "Not on purpose!"

Not on purpose, no. But he'd said his vows. He'd put the ring on the dead woman's finger. He hadn't meant to. But he had. And now the dead bride had come to collect him. Impossible and unnatural as it was. Victoria put a hand to her chest as though she could soothe down her quickening heartbeat.

She could not let the dead bride take him. Victor was hers as much as she was his. She could not lose him, not when she'd only just found him. Victoria took a breath and approached the desk. When she caught the pastor's eye, she held it. Beside her she could feel Victor's tension. Behind her, she could feel the corpse's eyes boring into her back.

"He was practicing his vows in the woods," she said. All eyes turned to her. She worked to keep her voice steady. If she told the truth, if Galswells had all the information, then he could fix this. Certainly he could. "We were practicing. We went for a walk after our wedding rehearsal so that Victor could learn his vows. When he got them right, he put the ring on a twig."

"He put the ring on my finger," the corpse woman corrected her.

"Why did you put the ring on a twig?" Pastor Galswells asked witheringly, one eyebrow raised. Victor colored and scratched at the back of his neck.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," he replied, his voice small.

"You said your vows, and you offered the ring," Pastor Galswells said in a ruminating way. His fingers were steepled under his chin. He nodded at Victoria. "And you had a witness. That is a wedding."

Victor gasped, his mouth agape. Victoria pressed her fingers to her mouth. Panic was beginning to make her scalp prickle. This was impossible. No. Pastor Galswells could not be about to let a dead woman carry Victor away. To call them married. No. The corpse had a smug and victorious expression on her face.

"But sir!" Victor said. He snatched up Victoria's hand and gripped hard enough to hurt. "Sir, it was a mistake! She's dead."

"I am standing right here, you know," the corpse said, hurt. Victor turned to her, abashed.

"Sorry," he offered.

"But he didn't know," Victoria said, half to the dead woman and half to the pastor. The fact that Pastor Galswells had not immediately dismissed this as nonsense worried her deeply. "It wasn't meant. That must mean something. There must be some way to undo what's been done."

"I beg your pardon!" the dead woman said, coming up to Victoria. The smell of snow and dirt and dead leaves wafted around her. Again, she had her arms crossed. Sensing it prudent, Victoria let go of Victor's hand. "Let him speak for himself! Perhaps he doesn't want to undo this. Victor?"

Victor glanced back and forth between Victoria and the dead woman before turning to the pastor again. He was tugging at his tie. "It was a mistake," he said. "I was talking to Victoria and practicing my vows. I put the ring on what I thought was a twig. I didn't mean to marry anyone. And yes, I would like to undo this. If we can. Sir."

The dead woman's face collapsed into a look of sheer hurt and grief. Unbelievably, tears began to well up in her eyes, and then to trickle down her rotted cheeks. The pain was so raw Victoria had to look away from her.

"I'm sorry," Victor said gently. He'd turned to face the dead woman. He was still a little skittish, not getting too close, but he spoke to her kindly. "I didn't mean to get your hopes up. And I didn't mean to wake you up. But I can't marry you. I mean...well...you're dead. And I'm to marry Victoria. This just can't work."

There was a silence as the dead woman sniffled. She dabbed at her eyes with the ragged edges of her veil. "But you did marry me. Ask the pastor. I'm your wife, mistake or not. And I want to take you home."

Victor visibly swallowed. He met Victoria's eyes and she could only shake her head and bite her lip uselessly. She and Victor should have been married by now. The ceremony should have been over, they should be sitting together at their wedding breakfast. This was madness. She must be dreaming this.

The three of them looked at the pastor, waiting for judgment. He was frowning deeply. The silence stretched as he thought. When at last he spoke, Victoria let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"I have come to a decision," the Pastor said gravely. "Now that I've heard the entire story. Master Van Dort did not know he was saying his vows to another person. And I have not heard that you...er...Miss, said your vows in return. Both parties must say their vows in order for a marriage to be binding."

A spark of hope lit up in Victoria's heart. Quickly she glanced at Victor, who looked back at her, his eyes still wide. They both looked at the dead woman, who was beginning to look unsure.

"Further, I will say that the living cannot marry the dead," Pastor Galswells went on. "Marriage vows are binding until death. In this case, that has already happened. Therefore this marriage is null and void."

Pure relief surged through Victoria's entire body, leaving her weak. Victor let out his breath in a gust, one hand over his heart. An airless kind of sigh reached her ears, and Victoria saw that the dead woman was standing there bereft, her head hanging. When she at last lifted her head, she looked directly into Victoria's eyes. It was a look that hit Victoria directly in the heart, as if piercing her with an arrow. A potent mix of despair and anger and envy and loss. Victoria lifted a hand toward her uncertainly, and opened her mouth to attempt to apologize.

But before another word could be spoken, the corpse bride collapsed into a lifeless pile of bones.