Chapter 3: The Vows of Obsidian and Silk
Velanthis had never seen a wedding like this.
The black cathedral pulsed with silence.
Gold candelabras lined the aisle. A choir hummed a low, haunting hymn that echoed off stone walls like ghosts whispering oaths.
Above, stained glass windows spilled fractured sunlight across the velvet carpet—red and gold and violet, like spilled wine and fire.
Evelyne walked slowly, deliberately.
Not like a bride in love.
But like a prisoner stepping toward her chains.
Nobles
💬 “She doesn’t smile…”
Nobles
💬 “Would you, if you were marrying him?”
Kaelith stood like a god carved in stone.
Tall. Unmoving. Dangerous.
But inside, something shifted.
King Kaelith Ravenhart
🖤 (She’s not trembling. She’s not blushing. She walks like she’s already worn the crown in her dreams.)
🖤 (Is she brave… or simply numb?)
At the altar – moments before the vows
Evelyne finally stands before him.
Their height difference is striking. He towers over her, draped in black and gold. But she meets his gaze without blinking.
King Kaelith Ravenhart
💬 “You're not what I expected.”
Evelyne Astoria
💬 “Neither are you.”
Evelyne Astoria
🖤 (“He smells like cedar and steel. Not perfume. Not softness. Just… war.”)
🖤 (“Why do I want to understand him?”)
The Priest raises his staff.
Golden light dances across Evelyne’s veil.
High priest
💬 “By the binding of soul to soul, crown to crown, fire to frost…”
High priest
💬 “Do you, Kaelith Ravenhart, take Evelyne of House Astoria as your queen, bound soul, and queen ?”
King Kaelith Ravenhart
(firm):
💬 “I do.”
High priest
💬 “Do you, Evelyne of House Astoria, take this man—king and tyrant—as your bound soul, your sovereign, your fate?”
Evelyne Astoria
🖤 (“Say no. Say no. Say—”)
🖤 (“But I have nowhere left to run.”)
The moment hung in the air like a sword waiting to fall.
Then—Kaelith reached up, grabbed her veil by the edge… and tore it away.
The veil floated to the ground like snow. Evelyne’s face, bare and glowing beneath cathedral light, was now fully exposed to him.
King Kaelith Ravenhart
💬 “You're more dangerous without the veil.”
Evelyne Astoria
💬 “Maybe that’s why you wanted it gone.”
Then came the kiss.
He leaned in.
She didn’t move.
Their lips met—harsh at first, full of power, possession, fear.
Evelyne Astoria
🖤 (It was not romantic. It was a war. A branding. A silent scream.)
🖤 (But then… his hand slid to the back of her neck, and softened.)
And for one second… the kiss changed.
Still fire, but not rage.
Still heat, but not hate.
Evelyne Astoria
🖤 (He let go first. But I… I wanted more.)
He turned to the crowd, still holding her hand.
King Kaelith Ravenhart
💬 “Your queen. Betray her, and your bones will decorate the palace gates.”
The court knelt. All except one. Auren, the king’s closest knight, watched Evelyne with narrowed eyes. Suspicion… or something else.
Back in the royal carriage after the ceremony...
Evelyne Astoria
(whispering to herself):
💬 “A kiss meant to scare me… but he was the one who pulled away.”
Evelyne Astoria
🖤 (“Maybe… he’s afraid too.”)
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