Chapter 17: Velnya, Part 2

"Yes. I want to marry him, Jeda."

Her sister picked up the bouquet from the washstand and weighed it in her hands, as if it was a physical manifestation of her options. "You know he will be gone much of the time with his work. You will be alone."

"Only at first," Velnya assured her. "He's going to speak to his master and ask to be set free. He's more than paid his blood debt. Once he does, he will come home to stay. "

"And will his master let him go?"

It wasn't something Velnya had considered. "Why wouldn't he? What could a master gain by holding on to their fledgling? After all, Henri let Traven go."

Jeda made a soft noise in her throat and looked away. A secret glittered in her eyes, but it was one Velnya didn't care to know, so she let it pass without comment.

A soft knock sounded on the door. Instead of Traven, it was a woman with hair almost as black as the sisters'. Velnya recognized her as friends of her fiancé. She and her husband were his neighbors in Virginia, and they were vampires, too. That they had made the journey to Massachusetts said much about their relationship with him.

"Yes?" Jeda asked politely.

The woman Mrs. Jesslynn Cotterill, if Velnya remembered correctly replied, "Mr. Laurent asked me to see if you were ready."

"Yes. Tell him to start, please."

There was a long moment as the two dark haired women surveyed one another; an invisible clash of wills that washed past Velnya. At last Jesslynn broke away. "Of course." Then she turned and floated out the door.

As soon as they were alone, Jeda moved to a bureau and removed a small box. She handed it to her sister. "I believe Mère would want you to have this."

Velnya opened the box to reveal "Momma's cross." She lifted it out gently and held it in her palm, turning it this way and that so that the candlelight reflected on the silver. "She gave this to you."

"No, she gave it to us." Jeda stuffed the bouquet in Velnya's surprised hands, then tied the necklace around her neck. "Wear this always, ma biche, and it will bring you luck." She blinked back the emotions. "Come, they will be starting."

The words had barely left her mouth when the music began. Jeda gave her sister a last look and a quick hug, and then hurried through the door to make her descent as the matron of honor.

Velnya took her place in the hallway and waited nervously for her cue. She could see Traven standing at the bottom of the stairs, ready to walk her down the aisle and give her away. It wasn't that she disliked Traven. In his own way, he had done what he thought best for all of them, but she always felt that beneath the surface of his smooth words and suave demeanor was something coiled, like a snake, waiting for the opportune moment to break lose and reveal his true intentions.

I won't need to worry about it any longer, she told herself. Nor would she need to worry for Jeda's safety. She was his wife. No man would allow harm to come to their own wife.

The first strains of the wedding march swirled up the stairs and Velnya straightened her shoulders and glided down the stairs. Her eyes moved from the flowers and gleaming candles, to the assembled guests, each dressed in their finest. Her fiancé had very few guests; only his neighbors from Virginia and a dark haired man he'd introduced as Jamie. The rest were acquaintances of Traven and Jeda, part of the burgeoning vampire society in the area.

At the far end of the room, between two large gilt candleholders, stood the minister The Guild's official minister, no less in his robes and finery, the bible in his hands. And in front of him stood her fiancé. His dark hair hung down his back and he wore his usual black suit. What was different was the rose in his buttonhole.

Though he couldn't see her face, she felt as though he met her eyes, and a smile stole across her lips. In his face she could see the reflection of her girlhood dreams. Here was her future, her fairytale prince, the man that would take her hand on winter strolls and whisper good night in her ear. His were the arms that would shelter her when she rained tears and the laughter that would celebrate when she bubbled with joy.

And he would be hers for eternity.

She wouldn't have to be alone ever again.