Chapter 4: THE WRONG BRIDE’S WEDDING

DIANA’S POV

King Odran brought Diana into the chapel antechamber with one hand closed around her arm.

Through the veil, the room dissolved into red candlelight, dark stone, and blurred figures. Selena’s crest pressed against Diana’s chest, while the dragonstone rested over the scar at her throat.

Grand Duke Raigoro Kael waited in the open chapel doorway.

He had not changed for the ceremony. Ash still marked the lower edge of his black cloak, mountain dust clung to his boots, and a heavy sword remained at his side. A thin scar crossed one side of his face before disappearing beneath the collar of his armor.

Southern stories had dressed him in hides and given him the manners of an animal.

Diana would have preferred that version.

An animal would not have noticed the altered sleeves, Odran’s grip on her arm, or the places where Selena’s gown had been forced to fit another body.

Raigoro noticed all three.

His gaze moved from Odran’s grip on her arm to the shortened sleeve at her wrist, then paused where Selena’s gown had been pulled unnaturally tight beneath the veil.

Odran released Diana only when they stopped before him.

"The chapel is prepared," the king said. "The covenant may be sealed immediately."

Raigoro looked at Diana.

She kept her face lowered.

"No."

The priest froze with one hand on the ceremonial book.

Odran’s mouth flattened.

"You invoked the covenant."

"And you accepted before your messenger’s horse had cooled."

Raigoro looked back at Diana before addressing the king again.

"You denied Blackharrow its treaty support for months. You surrendered your heir in a single night."

"The covenant gave me until sunset to answer."

"It did not require you to answer before dawn."

Queen Maerissa approached from the chapel entrance.

"My daughter is standing before you. What further proof does Blackharrow require?"

"The proof your haste has made necessary."

Grand Duke Raigoro turned toward the priest.

"I invoke the Blood Compact."

The priest looked immediately to Odran.

Behind the narrow screen above the altar, blue fabric moved.

Selena.

Diana could not see her sister’s face, but Maerissa had noticed the movement too. Her attention flicked toward the screen before settling again on Raigoro.

"The ordinary blood seal is sufficient," she said.

"For an ordinary acceptance."

Odran stepped between Raigoro and Diana.

"The compact has not been invoked in generations."

"Neither has the marriage covenant."

"The bride carries the blood named in the treaty."

"Then the compact will cost you nothing."

No one answered. Raigoro let the hesitation sit before turning to the priest.

"Explain the consequences."

The priest swallowed.

"If the flame rejects the offered blood, the marriage cannot proceed. Valence will remain in breach of the Covenant obligations the marriage was meant to renew."

Diana looked toward the chapel doors.

Let it reject her.

Raigoro would see the lie. Odran would have to explain why the bride wearing Selena’s veil belonged to the royal bloodline but carried another woman’s life.

Then Diana found Alma between the two palace guards.

Escape had never been the only thing at stake.

A failed rite could stop the wedding, but it would also leave both of them inside Odran’s palace after the Northern delegation departed.

Maerissa looked at the dragonstone visible through Diana’s veil.

"Proceed."

Raigoro’s gaze followed hers to the necklace before he stepped aside.

Odran took Diana’s arm again and led her into the chapel.

Only a small group had been admitted. Maerissa stood among the Southern witnesses, Alma remained near the rear door, and Daric occupied the opposite side with six Northern soldiers. A royal chronicler waited beside the treaty table.

Above the altar, Selena stayed hidden behind the narrow screen.

Raigoro took his place across from Diana as the covenant flame burned between them.

The priest opened a smaller book bound in black leather.

"The Blood Compact tests the Valence royal blood required by the Covenant. It can accept or reject the blood offered to it. It does not identify the person by name or title."

Valence had removed Diana from public life and given Selena her place. The ancient flame had no reason to care which daughter Odran preferred.

Diana was less certain whether that would help her.

Raigoro looked toward the king.

"Do you still wish to proceed?"

"You demanded the First Princess," Odran said. "She stands before you."

An attendant placed a shallow black bowl on the altar, where oil burned with a steady golden flame.

"The blood of Blackharrow must open the compact before the Southern line may be tested," the priest said.

He offered Raigoro the ritual blade.

Raigoro removed his glove, revealing old scars across his palm, then drew the blade over his skin without ceremony.

His blood struck the oil.

The flame rose red.

"The compact is open."

Diana looked toward Alma.

Raigoro followed her gaze just as Odran reached for Diana’s wrist.

"Release her."

Odran kept his hand there.

"The cut must be placed correctly."

"I know how blood leaves a hand."

The king let go.

Raigoro took the ritual blade from the priest and offered it handle first, leaving the choice of whether to take it in Diana’s hands.

Diana looked past him to Alma and remembered the guard’s hand around her arm, the chalk disappearing beneath Diana’s sleeve, and Odran’s promise that the execution need not be public.

She had already refused once.

Odran had shown her what another refusal would cost.

If the compact rejected Diana now, he could explain his deception before both courts.

She accepted the knife.

The dragonstone warmed against her throat as she drew the blade across her palm.

Her blood struck the flame, and the fire collapsed inward around it. Black spread through the center so quickly that several witnesses stepped away from the altar.

The priest stared into the bowl.

Diana tightened her grip on the ritual knife.

The flame had seen the lie.

Then gold rose around the darkness.

The fire climbed again, black at its heart and gold along its edges, while a low vibration passed through the chapel floor and the wounded dragon’s cry returned through Diana’s bones.

She lowered the blade before anyone noticed the tremor in her hand.

Raigoro turned from the fire to her.

"What does that mean?"

The priest was still staring into the bowl.

"The compact has accepted the offered blood."

Accepted.

Ancient law had recognized what Odran denied whenever it suited him. Diana was royal, and the truth had done nothing to free her.

"Is that how it usually answers?" Raigoro asked.

"No compact has been performed in living memory."

"That was not my question."

The priest consulted the old text.

"The records describe a steady golden response."

"And this?"

"I do not know."

Odran stepped forward.

"The blood was accepted. That is the judgment you demanded."

Raigoro kept his attention on the priest.

"What exactly has it confirmed?"

"That the blood she offered is authentic Valence royal blood."

Raigoro looked toward Diana.

"And her identity?"

"The flame gives no name."

The priest closed the black book.

"The bride accepted the ritual blade and offered her blood by her own hand. The Covenant recognizes that act as assent."

Diana looked down at the cut in her palm.

The knife had been hers to take.

The choice surrounding it had never been free.

The attendant removed the black book but left the blood flame burning while the priest opened the marriage record.

"We gather beneath the first flame to renew the oath between the Southern Crown and Blackharrow."

His next words were addressed to Diana.

"Princess Selena Valence."

Diana did not move.

Odran’s fingers touched her back.

She stepped forward.

The priest continued without asking Diana to speak.

"First Princess of the Southern Crown, your blood has been offered under ancient law. The Blood Compact has accepted the Southern line."

Raigoro’s gaze moved from Diana to the king and queen before settling again on the priest.

"Grand Duke Raigoro Kael, the compact has accepted the offered bride. Do you command the covenant to proceed?"

Raigoro did not answer immediately.

He studied Diana, then Odran.

How much had he seen?

Diana had no way to tell.

"Proceed."

The priest extended both hands over the flame.

"The covenant may now be sealed by joined blood."

Raigoro offered his wounded palm.

Diana looked at his open hand.

He had demanded Selena.

Odran had given him Diana.

Raigoro’s questions told her he distrusted the king. They had not told her how much he suspected about the bride.

Diana placed her cut palm against his.

His fingers closed around hers, bringing their blood together above the altar.

The flame climbed higher.

Black widened through its center.

The priest lowered his head.

"By Southern crown, Northern flame, and the blood joined before this altar, the marriage is sealed."

Diana waited for Raigoro to lift the veil and expose whatever he thought he had married.

He did not.

He looked directly at King Odran.

"Then she leaves as my wife."