Chapter 2 Conflict
That strange feeling never went away–not even on the actual day of the wedding.
From the moment I woke up, my chest felt tight and unsettled. My mom tried to soothe me. “Of course you’re nervous,” she said. “It’s your wedding day. Totally normal.”
I told myself the same thing. ‘Calm down, Lyra. You rehearsed everything. Nothing’s gonna go wrong.“‘
We got to the part of the ceremony where we were supposed to raise a glass and thank our parents.
Suddenly, Rowena snatched the champagne flute from the groomsman’s hands and walked up to stand on Stellan’s other side, sandwiching him. between us like it was her damn wedding.
Rowena was wearing a dramatic floor–length red gown with intricate embroidery–at a glance, she could’ve been mistaken for the bride.
Lowering my voice, I snapped, “Stellan, what the hell is she doing now?”
Stellan didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to her and they exchanged some weird, intimate smile.
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11
The officiant smiled and invited our parents up to the stage for a special moment. “Now let’s take a moment to honor the ones who raised us,” he
said.
Then Rowena stepped out from the side and took the gift box from the groomsman’s hands, standing on the other side of Stellan. She positioned herself like she was the bride too.
Before I could even move, Rowena raised her glass right along with me, bent slightly at the waist, and sweetly said, “Mom, Dad, cheers.”
My feet felt like they were bolted to the ground. My face burned as if I’d been slapped in front of everyone.
Stellan instantly reached out to steady her arm, like he was terrified she’d fall. “Careful,” he murmured. “You’re in heels. You’ll twist your ankle.”
Rowena giggled, acting all delicate. “Well, I had to dress up for your wedding, didn’t I? Gotta match your style.”
They bowed to Elysia and Dorian together like a real couple. Then Stellan guided her back to her seat with his hand gently on her back. “Stay put, okay? It’s crowded and I don’t want to worry about you getting hurt.”
At that point, everything around me went dead silent. I couldn’t even hear the music. My body was moving, but it felt like I was watching from somewhere far away.
The bridesmaid had to practically hold me up as we stumbled through the rest of the ceremony. Any happiness I’d felt about marrying him was
Chapter 2 Confict
already gone.
Finally, the officiant stepped onto the stage and announced, “And with that, I now pronounce this wedding ceremony complete. Please raise your glasses and join me in congratulating the newlyweds!”
As the room filled with clinking glasses and cheers, a woman suddenly shrieked, “Oh no!”
I turned instinctively. It was Rowena again. Her wine glass had slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. She crouched to pick up the shards, and one of them sliced her finger open.
Stellan ditched the stage like I didn’t exist and ran straight to her.
I stood frozen. The officiant had declared the ceremony over, but everyone was still raising glasses. I forced a smile, downed my champagne in one gulp, and stepped off the stage.
I found him crouching in front of Rowena, gently cradling her hand, completely focused on her like she was the only person in the world.
“You didn’t have to pick that up,” Stellan said softly. “The staff can handle it. I’ve never let you do chores at home–look what happened. You’re bleeding. God, I hate seeing you hurt.”
Rowena pouted and sucked air through her teeth like she was in so much. pain. “You’re hurting me. Be gentle. I don’t even know what happened–I saw you about to drink with her, and my hand just… shook. I dropped it
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by accident. You’re not mad, are you?”
Stellan chuckled and brushed her hair like she was some fragile little
thing. “You’re still such a jealous baby, huh? Always overthinking. You’re the last person I’d ever blame.”
Then Stellan brought her finger to his lips and started sucking the blood off.
It felt like someone cracked a bat against the back of my skull. My whole body went cold.
I exploded. “Stellan! This is our wedding! The ceremony isn’t even really over yet–what the hell are you doing?”
Stellan turned and gave me the most annoyed look. “The officiant said we’re done. What, you need more screen time? You really gotta make everything about you? Didn’t you see her hand got cut?”
I grabbed Stellan by the arm and yanked him up. “Are you serious right now? This is still the wedding! The toasts aren’t even over yet!”
Stellan shook me off. “I didn’t say I wasn’t gonna do the toasts. You’re the one standing around–go change your dress. You’re just in the way.”
Looking at the way Stellan and Rowena were all over each other without a shred of shame, I was beyond furious. But I couldn’t blow up in the middle of the wedding, so I swallowed the fire burning in my chest and stormed off to the dressing room to change.
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The wedding coordinator trailed behind me, helping fix my hair. She was a young girl, probably the type who believed love had to be pure and flawless. “Bridey, your husband’s unbelievable! It’s your wedding day! How can he be that flirty with another woman? There’s definitely something going on.”
‘They’re way too close, Stellan and Rowena. But they’ve been living under the same roof for so long–if there really is something between them, there’s no way Elysia and Dorian wouldn’t have noticed.”
My head was a tangled mess, thoughts all over the place like a ball of knotted string, when the coordinator suddenly shouted, “Oh my god!
Who did this?!”
I turned around and saw her holding my dress. The skirt was shredded- torn into strips of useless fabric.
She quickly called out to a colleague, “Go get the hotel staff to pull the security footage! We need to find out who did this!”
One of the bridesmaids said helplessly, “There’s no backup dress. What do we do for this part of the ceremony?”
My chest hurt from how angry I was. I grabbed the bridesmaid’s hand. “Go get Stellan. If he won’t come, drag him here.”
It took forever before Stellan finally strolled in, looking annoyed. “What now? You’re throwing a fit just ‘cause I was taking care of Rowena, right? You just got married and you’re already being petty? You better remember -Rowena’s been part of the Rookwood family longer than you.”
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Chapter 2 Conflict
I just stood there, stunned, staring at him. I only wanted to talk about the dress, but before I could say anything, Stellan tore into me like it was all my fault, without even trying to understand what was going on.
