Wedding vows

Duke Alaric took my hand as we walked to the large table where the grand council members, special guests, and a couple of family relatives were seated. 

I was still in wonder. I mean, I had just been called a thief that I was not. 

 "Are you well?" Alaric asked me under his breath. 

 "I am not, your grace. I have been called a thief, and you know for certain that you left the watch… in the inn." I stated firmly, almost whispering. 

 "What do you mean, Lady Ava? What inn?" his face remained expressionless. 

My eyes rolled, "Of course, you would pretend to not know me after all." I snapped to myself. 

 "Dowager? Let the rites begin now and the issues about the watch will be deftly resolved later," a man full of white hair and beard said to Alaric's mother. 

 "Of… Of course, grandsire!" she said, swallowing up the rest of her words. She stared massive daggers at me, leaving me no choice but to look away. A woman is harsh, I told myself. 

 "Do not make accusations at your duke, it is too loud for me to hear, Lady Ava," a young lady in my age range, blonde-haired, said to me. 

It was then I realized that she had been sitting next to me. 

My eyes met hers as her lips curled into a mischievous and unfathomable smile. 

 "I was not making accusations, I was—"

 "You should be careful, be wise. Sit, listen, and observe." she interrupted with a tighter smile. Although she was pretty and elegant, how did she hear me? 

 "Who are… you?" I asked with a chaotic face. 

 "Someone you should meet after your rituals. You aren't a member of The Willem's yet," she stated. 

 "All rise," the most aged man, called the grandsire, said. Everyone rose, including Alaric, but I was the last to rise. I rose scarily and hesitantly. 

The grandsire took up a dagger that was placed on a golden platter and slit his palm without flinching. 

His blood dripped directly into the golden bowl, and then he took a white piece and wiped off his palm. 

 "In the sacred constituency of our name, from generation to generation, we have kept the tradition, followed its precepts, and outshone the outcasts. Our enemies have been put to great humiliation. We rise and they fall. We live, and they die. They eat, but we savor. "Hail Willem's last unbeatable bloodline of Great Ramos," he charged. 

 "HAIL," the others said in unison. 

There was silence, total stillness. 

What was that, a blood ritual? I debated it in my mind. 

 "As we receive the duke's bride, pledge your loyalty to her, their unborn children, and the generations to come," he charged again, and they grinned.

One by one, they slit their palms and let their blood drip right into the bowl. 

They didn't flinch or make a noise, they seemed impressed and comfortable with the act.

I watched them repeat the process, over and over. 

My heart rattled, my mind spiraled. Not even Alaric was explaining the ritual and why it was taking place or involving blood. 

 "Is this another secret, a blood ritual? What are they, vampires?" I asked myself. 

 "We are beyond the ordinary, we are not mere mortals," the lady beside me said, interrupting my thoughts. "Your thoughts are too loud. Try not to think. Feast on the moment," she said as she left to do what the others had been doing. 

I joined the pieces together, I could tell that she read minds. Just… outrageous, I thought. When she returned, Alaric took my hand. He was gentle towards me but silent. 

We went over to the grandsire and I watched Alaric do what others had been doing. 

I began to feel nauseous at the sight and smell of the contents. 

 "Now, guide your bride, Lady Ava Cunningham," the man said. 

Alaric turned to me while everyone watched closely and excitedly. 

He took my right palm, held the dagger, and stared right into my eyes. 

Those familiar and eccentric golden eyes caught mine. I could not look away no matter how badly I strained to do so. 

 "It is okay, I will guide you. If you feel uncertain, we will hold off on the ritual, but it is crucial as part of nuptial rights. I will understand why you cannot go through with this right away," he said to me. 

 "Your grace, time… is not a friend." the lady who reads minds interfered calmly. 

 "There is no point in holding off if I cannot hold it off permanently," I said, and he nodded very lightly. 

 "It will hurt a little," he warned calmly as I nodded. I felt the dagger cut across my palm for a second. I flinched a little. 

Just like them, he guided my hand in the same manner that he did him, but he was cautious and gentle with me. 

When the grandsire took the bowl of red contents, Alaric took a piece and placed it over my palm, and then he placed a kiss on it. 

I thought that it would hurt, but it didn't. I felt no pain at the very least and not even a scar was left. 

 "Are you well, Lady Ava?" asked Alaric. 

 "I am, totally, your grace." my voice almost lost its bearing on the spot. 

The man recited a foreign language, and they acknowledged his words while I tried to understand what was going on. 

The man turned to me with the same bowl and said to me:

 "Say with me. Common, I come, into this world. Sacred, I will keep my vow to this clan." 

I repeated the words with fear of deciding who I was and what I would be. 

 "Drink. It is a symbol of your pledge to the clan. Be one of us…" he stated. 

Duke Alaric took the bowl from the man's shaky hands and said to me. 

 "This will bind us, otherwise you are nothing but an outcast," he said. 

My lips parted while fear gripped my entire body as my eyes shut before the icy steel touched my lips.

The intense smell of metal lingered in my nose like it was home. It was unwelcoming. It was disturbing to me. All I wanted to do was toss the bowl away, but my strength was withheld without physical force. 

The content went down my throat before I could leap for help or curse the family. My supposed family. 

Instantly, I fell on my knees holding my chest, tears as the contents emptied on my dress and my hands were smudged in blood while I was shaking, and then I felt something in my stomach moving.

Just like I had seen when I stepped there. Was that a vision? Am I seer? What is all this?

The questions didn't end, nor did the bleak gazes on their faces end. 

Their chatter and mumbling deafened me. As if in a haze or whirlpool, everything spun right before me like I was in a trance except Alaric. Nothing was in place. 

He extended a hand and I saw us—in the past. 

I saw us in the pub, chattering. In the inn, during our intimate activity. I saw it that night. Everything that happened between us replayed itself. I didn't have to think about it. 

 "Alaric." I voiced out. "So, was it really you?" I said in a shaky voice. 

It was the only word that escaped my lips and the next thing I remembered was touching the cold floor with my eyes closed.