When Madeline made her way along with Lucy to where the chapel was located in the castle, she saw her father waiting for her a few steps away from the entrance of the chapel. He offered her a smile and then kissed her cheeks.
“You look beautiful, Maddie. You turned to a beautiful bride,” said her father, “It’s so hard to believe that you grew up and we are here at your wedding.” With Madeline who had been put in the coffin twice, Mr. Harris had not expected it in the past. On hearing the music that came from the chapel, he asked her, “Ready?” and the sound of piano started to fill up the place, escaping to the nearby surroundings.
The maids who stood behind her made the hem of her gown proper from behind as well as the veil that she wore. A bouquet was given to her, and she put her hand around her father’s arm. “I am ready,” she said before they began to walk and stepped into the room.
Entering the room, Madeline couldn’t help but notice how bright the chapel looked right now with the candles lit in the long room. The guests had stood up on either side, watching her when she entered the room. She saw some of the familiar faces. Her mother seemed teary-eyed and next to her mother, she identified her relatives and she couldn’t help but be cautious about them. As her eyes wandered, she also caught sight of vampires who were Calhoun’s relatives, some who barely smiled, and some who stared at her. There were also the High House members who were present in the room. Theodore and Raphael stood at the front along with Lucy and her sister Beth where the girls offered her a smile.
Before she could feel nervous with their gazes, her brown eyes met Calhoun’s red eyes who stood at the front, waiting for her to join him. His hair was combed back, and he wore a black suit. A gardenia was pinned to the lapel of his dark coat. Now that her eyes had fallen on him, it was hard to look away, and she walked along with her father towards him like he was a lighthouse and she was the person who was lost, who was now finding her way to him.
With each step she took forward, she could feel her heart beating faster in her chest, and she gulped. There was a subtle smile on Calhoun’s lips as if he was listening to her heartbeat very closely as he watched her. She held on to her father’s arm tightly until they reached the front. Handing the bouquet to her sister, she stood in front of Calhoun, staring into his deep dark red eyes that looked right back at her.
Madeline saw Calhoun’s eyes slightly narrow at her before they returned to normal. She wondered if she imagined it. The priest who was standing there to perform the ceremony was an elderly man with grey hair and he announced, “Everyone can sit down.”
The priest then opened his book and said, “We gather here to unite these two people in marriage. Their decision to marry now is to declare their allegiance to each other. The nature of this commitment is the acceptance of each other…”
Madeline was sure by the gazes that she felt coming from the guests, that a lot of them looked at both her and Calhoun strangely. Not because it was the first time for a human to be getting married to a vampire, but because a vampire was performing the wedding ceremony in a chapel similar to what the humans did. Calhoun was doing this for her, to keep his promise of doing things the way she would want.
She felt her heart slip and stutter in her chest with the way Calhoun looked at her. He was a handsome looking man, and with his hair combed back, it allowed one to look at his face more clearly. She had to remind herself not to feel weak in her knees. They were getting married, thought Madeline to herself as the thought sank in her mind.
Calhoun looked at her as if she was the only person in the room, giving his full attention to her like any other time as if everything else around them disappeared. She looked beautiful, her innocent eyes quietly reaching out for him because of the possible nervousness she felt right now. And just by that mere look, she stole his heart again which he had lost count of it.
Returning back to what the priest was saying, she heard him ask, “Do you promise to honour and tenderly care for each another, cherish each other for all the days of your lives until death do you apart?”
“We do,” said both Calhoun and Madeline.
The priest, who held the rings in his hands, said, “Let these rings be a symbol of your love, and commitment to each other. Please repeat after me, my lord,” he said to Calhoun and Calhoun repeated the words before he was given the ring to place it on Madeline’s finger. The priest then turned to Madeline, “Milady.”
Madeline then said word to word, repeating after the elderly man, “I, Madeline promise to love and support you Calhoun and live each day with kindness, understanding, truth, and passion. With this ring I thee wed,” and she brought the ring near Calhoun’s hand to push it on his finger.
“With everyone’s blessings, and in the light of promises given to each other. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride,” announced the priest. Without wasting a second, Calhoun stepped forward, circling his hand around her waist and bent down to kiss Madeline.
Madeline felt her heart leap out of her chest when Calhoun kissed her. Her eyes closed, and she kissed him back until he pulled away from her lips. She noticed a broad smile on his lips. Calhoun picked up her hand and turned to look at the guests and he announced,
“I introduce you, my wife and the Queen of Devon, Madeline Hawthrone.”
