Authors: Sophia Lynn
"You two are going to be fairly integral to the ceremony," Aladdin said. "It looks like we're doing it old-school."
Mikal looked amused. "Does that mean that I need to brandish a sword and be ready to fight off people who might object to your joining?"
"Not that old-school," Aladdin said drily. "You'll also note that we didn't ask you to marry Viviana and to bed her before the ceremony."
Charlotte laughed at that, and Viviana did too, but not before she had a vision of Mikal with a sword in his hand, storming into her bedroom and …
The image faded because Charlotte was talking, but she knew that it was one that she would be returning to at some point soon.
"That's a very old tradition," she explained to Viviana. "Once upon a time, when the first son got married, it was expected for his younger brother and the bride's younger sister to marry in a small ceremony privately. Then, um, they would consummate their union on the marriage bed the night before, taking away any bad luck with them."
"Well, I'm glad that we're not doing that version," said Viviana, a little startled to realize that there was a faint blush on her cheeks.
"I'm not," Mikal said, but he said it so smoothly and so blandly that she had to think about what he meant. Charlotte and Aladdin, who seemed not to have heard, were already continuing.
"As a matter of fact, though you'll be standing up with us throughout the ceremony, your role is largely ceremonial. You'll both be doing a reading, and fortunately, it will be in English, so no worries there. Beyond that …" Aladdin shrugged. "Thank you both for doing this."
Charlotte reached over to take Viviana's hand, squeezing it tightly.
"It means so much for me to have you here," she said softly. "I knew that you would come, but until you were actually in the country, I guess I was a little afraid that I would be doing this without you."
Viviana felt tears prickling at her eyes. "Wow, I really have been here today and gone tomorrow, haven't I?" she asked wryly. "That's not what I want, at all. I'm proud to be standing up with you."
She meant to continue, but then a thought occurred to her. "Where's Annika going to be during all this?"
"Oh, we were thinking that you might be all right with holding her," said Charlotte. "It would be nice to have the whole family up there, I think, and that's the best way to do it."
Over the rest of the dinner, the four of them discussed logistics and how the wedding would occur. For Viviana, who was not getting married herself and who was inexperienced with the culture, it was mostly listening and nodding, asking questions when she didn't know what was coming next. Despite having several friends who had gotten married over the years, this was her first time as a maid of honor, and she was eager to get it right.
Throughout the discussion though, she found herself sneaking glances at Mikal. She was seated to his side, and when he was focused on speaking to Aladdin, she could watch him to her heart's content. If she had just met him today, she would never have guessed that he had been such a shy young man. Since she knew he had been though, she could still see traces of that sweetness in the way he considered things before he spoke, as well as the way he sometimes glanced at his niece with naked adoration. Knowing that the sweet young man was still in there somewhere warmed something in her.
Viviana reminded herself sternly to behave. While a wedding might be a fantastic place for a no-strings attached fling, this one was something different. In another circumstance, if she hadn't been as involved as she was and if the man involved wasn't her future brother-in-law’s brother, she might have done otherwise, but this was her sister's wedding to one of the most powerful men in the country.
Of course, that resolve was all well and good, but then Mikal offered to walk her back to her wing of the palace. She didn't miss Charlotte's raised eyebrow, but she only shrugged a little as she hugged her sister and kissed her niece good night.
"This is going to be interesting for me," she commented on the walk back. "I've never had such an important role in a wedding before."
"Me neither, honestly," said Mikal. "I think it will be fine though. I don't think either of us have it in our power to mess things up for them in any real way."
"Mmm." Viviana could have continued the rest of the way in silence, pleading fatigue, but there was a devil on her shoulder that made her speak again. "So historically, we would have been getting married too? Was that a real thing?"
Mikal shot her a look that was hard to read, but at least there was a smile on his face.
"Very real," he responded. "In Khutal's past, I would have been my brother's right-hand man, the leader of the cavalry, and the man to whom the burden of vengeance would have fallen upon if he had died. Marrying you would have been one of my most important duties as his younger brother."
"I could have been a duty. That's … definitely a thing, I suppose."
"I don't think it would have been a hard duty, if that's any consolation," he said, and now she was certain that there was something else in his voice, something that made her look at him twice.
"Not hard at all?"
"No, as a matter of fact, I think I would have called it a perk, to say the least."
"How would it have worked?" she asked innocently. "Logistically, I mean. After all, I know how the—other parts—might have gone."
"Do you?" Before she could question that, he continued. "Well, most likely, you and your sister would have come from some land or other that my brother and I conquered. You would have been sent as a peace offering, or perhaps as a bribe."
"We would have been terrified," Viviana said, warming to the tale. "Sent hundreds of miles, away from the land that we had always lived in."
"Yes, but you would have known that you were destined to be wives and not concubines. That is something that has always been said of the Lords of Khutal. We have always been most loyal, most faithful. Betraying our trust is deadly, but where we love, we are faithful to the end."
"Intimidating reputation for a woman to hear," Viviana retorted. "Women have no idea how a man might decide to be faithful or trusting on any particular day."
"You would have learned," he said with utter confidence. "You would not have been allowed to see us the first few days. Instead, you would be cleaned, jeweled, and dressed, and then, the night before our siblings' wedding, you would have been taken to my home. In the far distant past, it would have been a tent nearly as grand as our houses of today, with rooms and carpets—even musicians to play us to our rest."
"And then?" she asked, leaning in. At some point they had stopped. She was certain he hadn't been that close to her before.
"And then … well … those are the logistics," he said with a grin. "You said you could fill in the rest yourself."
She made a slightly frustrated sound, and then she laughed with him. "Better leave that to the imagination, then," she said, shaking her head a little.
They had come to her door already, and she turned to him with a sigh.
"Thank you for walking me back. I think I could have found my way back here without a problem, but I thought that about the dining room as well. I appreciate it."
He moved in to give her a brotherly hug, and she was prepared to respond in kind, even though she could feel how strong and muscled he was underneath his impeccably tailored clothes.
"If you ever decide to take those ideas away from the realm of imagination," he whispered, "you should let me know."
Before she could respond to that, he had turned with a smile and was walking down the corridor briskly. She stared after him for a moment, and then she shook her head, closing the door behind her.
Damn him anyway for teasing her like that, but she couldn't deny that she was attracted to him. She had spent so many years thinking of Mikal as a shy nerd that this juxtaposition was both alarming and fascinating.
She shook her head again. No matter what she thought about him, she had resolved to be on her best behavior. She owed her sister a drama-free, problem-free wedding, and that was what she intended to deliver.
Even as she strengthened her resolve, she couldn't keep her thoughts away from what it might be like to be delivered to the tent of a legendary warlord, knowing that all that separated her from her fate were a few thin tent walls …
***
The next few days were a rush of preparation, and even Viviana, who tended to live life in a constant hurry, was a little stunned by everything that needed to be done. She and Mikal had to rehearse their parts for the wedding, but even beyond that, she had to be fitted for a traditional Khutal gown, headdress, and shoes. She also had to be provided with the right kind of jewelry, and she had to be plucked and pampered to perfection.
"Thank god you're only going to do this once," she said to Charlotte, as they rested in her room before the next task.
"Well, I'm only going to do this once, but maybe you'll end up doing this again?"
Viviana eased herself up on her elbow, frowning a little. "What do you mean by that, Charlotte?"
"Well, I just mean that I’ve seen how you and Mikal have been looking at each other," her older sister reflected. "You two are getting a bit of a reputation …"
"Hey, we're definitely behaving ourselves," Viviana protested. "If there's some kind of problem, you're welcome to talk to him!"
"Oh no, no, nothing improper … But … you like him, don't you?"
"Oh come on, Charlotte, that's so fifth grade!" Viviana tried to laugh it off, but her sister shook her head.
"Well, I know what you're like, and I know Mikal as well. You two could fit very well, but I'm not going to push it. Just … maybe keep an eye open for him, you know? He's a good guy, and I know he's interested."
Viviana dismissed the thought, or at least she did then. After all, there was a lot to do, and she certainly didn't have the time to be mooning after the man who was going to become her sister’s brother-in-law.
At least that's what she told herself during the day. At night, alone in her bed, that was another story, but that wasn't something her sister had to know about.
***
The day of the wedding was overcast, but apparently, according to Khutal custom, that was the best possible omen. Viviana and Charlotte had been up since dawn, and Viviana was doing everything she could to keep her sister sane.
"It'll be great," she kept saying. "It'll be wonderful, I promise …"
Finally the ceremony was about to start, both of them were dressed, and Viviana had to say goodbye to her sister as she was supposed to appear first.
"It'll be amazing. See you when you're a married woman, Sis."
The ceremony was being held underneath an enormous antique tent, one that had been in the family for almost two hundred years. Underneath the tent, more than two hundred guests attended. These were the intimate guests; an even larger party was going to be held later on at the palace.
Bouncing her niece in her arms, Viviana took a deep breath and walked down the aisle. She knew that every eye was on her, but this was where she excelled.
When she reached the place where the officiant was waiting, she turned to the audience with a solemn look before reading the passage that had been assigned to her. It was a short piece about how marriage was a symbol for love, how the husband and wife, through their love, created something greater than themselves. It lit a light, and that light could warm a nation.
She finished to applause, and now it was Mikal's turn. Like his brother, he was dressed in a severe tunic and trousers, a ceremonial sword hanging by his side. He looked every inch his brother's commander of the cavalry in that moment, but she could still tell the moment he laid eyes on her. His green eyes went wide, and though he almost missed a step, he recovered beautifully.
Khutal wedding garments for women were beautiful, consisting of a beaded vest that acted as both shirt and bra, and a long, wide embroidered skirt that, for Viviana, was crafted entirely in greens and reds. With her hair twisted, braided, and piled on top of her head, she looked like something out of a fairy tale, but judging from Mikal's reaction, it would have been one of the darker ones.
She smiled at him as he took his place beside her, taking her hand in his, and turning to the audience.
His reading was a little different from hers. It spoke of the duty that a husband and wife had to each other, and how together, that duty would drive them to great good in the world. He spoke of the duty necessary to maintain two hearts, and in doing so, to create a shelter that would sustain all those around them.
She knew that when he finished, it was part of the ceremony for him to give her a ceremonial kiss. It had been an enjoyable part of the ceremony rehearsals, and she lifted her face to him.
During the rehearsals, however, he had kissed her chastely on the cheek, usually followed by a swift wink. That was what she expected today.
Instead, leaning over the baby in her arms, he brushed his lips across hers, and her eyes flew open at the shock that flew between them. He pulled back with a wink that was certainly more devilish than what he had done before, taking his place by her side.
There was no time to talk about the churning emotions and the well of fire that had opened up inside her. Now Aladdin was stalking down the aisle, as proud and handsome as a man could be. Once he was in place, Charlotte, resplendent in pale green, appeared.
The entire assemblage stood to honor her, and though Viviana had never been the sentimental sort, she felt tears pricking her eyes as her beautiful sister floated down the aisle.
When she took her place next to Aladdin, the assemblage took their places again, and the ceremony continued.
Viviana was shocked to feel herself tear up again, as the two recited their vows to one another, swearing to honor each other's hearts and to guard each other's nights. Annika, sweet and quiet in her arms, watched the proceedings with such wide eyes that Viviana was sure the baby knew what was going on.