“Where to now?” Laken asks, threading her arm through mine.
“Where else? To the bridal chamber.”
We take off down the hall until I hear Lexy Bakova’s annoying high-pitched cackle. Laken and I pause outside of the enormous double door that leads to what amounts to the death chamber for me.
“We can leave,” Laken whispers. “We can go get coffee, see a movie.”
“No.” I pull her with me as we cross the threshold and enter a heavily wallpapered room done in cherry red and light pink satin brocade. The hardwood floors accentuate the red velvet furniture that looks as if it was plucked straight from one of those seventeenth century brothels, and I have no doubt it was. The initial room is cavernous, and I spot Melody Winters smoking an electronic cigarette, the vapors rising to the high ceiling. She’s sitting with Carly Foster and Carson Armistead. Carson gives me the finger and the three of them explode with wild laughter.
Laken cinches me to her as we enter a room within the room and then we see her. Standing in front of an oversized oval mirror, admiring herself, blowing herself a kiss before turning my way is Chloe Jessica Bishop.
The other girls hovering around her fade away and all I see is that beast—my heart no longer feeling the urge to beat.
To say Chloe is a little stunning is like saying the Empire State Building is a little tall. Chloe is shockingly resplendent, an otherworldly beauty that arrests your attention and demands you give it all to her undeterred, undivided. Her dark hair is long and glossy, soft waves that cascade over her shoulders, and her skin is so bronzed she glows in a sea of sickly white frames. Her face is sculpted to perfection with just the right amount of contouring, contrasting, and a pinch of pink on her cheeks. Her long lashes are twice the size they are in the natural, her eyes shimmer like chocolate diamonds, and her lips are the color of my own beating heart that she stomped under her heel.
“Everyone out,” she barks, her eyes still pinned to mine. “I want to have a word alone with Skyla.”
A dull huff of laughter pumps through my chest.
Laken leans in and I nod, assuring her I’ll be fine. Soon enough, the room is empty. Gone are the whispers, the snickers, the incessant giggling.
Chloe fluffs the base of her Cinderella-like gown, paper-white lace, her sweetheart neckline demure, and long lace sleeves that show off her cinnamon skin underneath. That pouf around her belly makes her look six months along, but I’m betting that’s the intention.
“You could have me banished.” Her voice is lower than a whisper, her eyes set intensely over mine.
“I know. The option is always on the table.”
“Why not?” Her voice is curt, sharper than an arrow as it pierces right through me.
“Because that would be too easy. Nothing more than a celestial tantrum on my part. If Gage demands to have you, who am I to stop him? The fact he chose you only magnifies his rejection of me. If I banished you, I would feel no better because it doesn’t change who he is at the core. I have set him free and he has not come back to me.” The words sting, burn hotter than any fire. “Our roads have diverged.”
Her eyes cut across the room, shifting like lost shadows, searching for something I wasn’t able to give her.
“It doesn’t make sense to you, does it?” I ask with a laugh caught in my throat. “Even Chloe Bishop can see the folly in the madness. You want the world to see how in control, how very happy you finally are with the love of your life by your side, but deep down, not even you can buy into this bullshit. Secretly, you’re waiting for the glass slipper to drop, to shatter and turn your world into something recognizable. You yourself suspect that you are nothing more than a cosmic punch line and you wait with bated breath for its delivery.”
A single tear rolls down her cheek, quick and furious as if even her own bodily fluids could hardly wait to get away from her.
“Skyla?” Laken calls from behind as she enters the room and along with her Nat, Lexy, and Bree all trickle back in, staring at the two of us with wide-eyed wonder. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” The word hums from me hardly audible.
Chloe brushes the tear away and shakes it off. “I was just about to ask Messenger to be my maid of honor.” The all too familiar wicked gleam lights her up from the inside once again.
“What?” Bree squawks.
Bree, Nat, and Lexy are all wearing off the shoulder short silver dresses that hardly cover their bottoms. And each one has paired the prom-like detail with matching silver shoes. It might have been an elegant concept, but the reality is more Las Vegas showgirl—and come to think of it—exactly what I was wearing last night.
“I’m the best girl, Bishop,” Bree is quick to assure her. “I’m your bestie. I’ve done things for you that have cost me plenty.”
“Like taking money from Chloe to be my friend.” I offer up the example without hesitating.
Laken huffs, “She did that?”
Bree gasps and points an accusatory finger my way. “You picked a fine time to be a bitch, Skyla.”
“Brielle!” Laken barks. “Chloe is marrying Skyla’s husband. Have a little compassion, would you?”
“I’m sorry!” Bree croaks as she speeds on over and collapses her arms over me. “I’m so, so very sorry. I don’t understand any of this. I don’t know why Gage has lost his freaking mind. I don’t know why he would ever hurt you like this. It makes zero sense to anyone. It’s all we were talking about last night. No one can believe he would marry”—she looks to Chloe and swallows hard—“her of all people.”
Chloe rolls her eyes. “Bree, consider yourself demoted to guestbook detail. Messenger”—she straightens and manages to look regal in the process—“yes or no?”
Lexy winks my way. “Say no. I bet I’m next.”
I glower at Chloe a moment. “Yes.”
“Yes?” Chloe and just about everyone in the room chime along with her, equally as stunned.
“Yes.”
If Gage Oliver is going to go through with the malfeasance a second time, perhaps far more on purpose than he ever did the first, then I want to be within striking distance. I want him to see my face lingering feet away while he does it. If Gage is going to have the balls to spit in my eye one more time, I want to make sure he doesn’t miss. It only fuels my hatred. It’s pumping up my adrenaline, making me bitter to the core, and I’ll use that to propel my people right back where they belong, and send him and all of the Fems to hell.
Bree makes the sound of an injured animal. “She’s not even wearing a dress!”
I glance down, surprised to find myself in a pair of Gage’s old sweatpants, a sweatshirt that reads West Paragon High with Cerberus the three-headed monster emblazed underneath it. In all honesty, I hadn’t given my attire a single thought.
“She’ll do just the way she is.” Chloe gives a satisfied smile my way, but layered underneath it I can feel her own vengeance ready to pour out all over me. “We’ll need the boys to stay for pictures afterwards. Don’t get any ideas of running out the door once it’s through.”
“What about Sage?” I tease. “You want the full family experience, don’t you?” What I would give to hold Sage in my arms without her squirming to get away from me.
Chloe scoffs. “I think we both know what a little shit Sage is. It will be the boys and Tobie. Perhaps even a picture of you in the background, Skyla?” Chloe is in full wicked vigor. “All of us as one big happy family.”
Lexy ushers us all out of the room and lines me up outside of the grand room with Wesley, my very own Gage lookalike.
“What in the hell.” Wes closes his eyes methodically as if he had seen it all. “Look, I’m sorry you have to deal with this bullshit, and believe me, I’m caught up in it in ways I don’t like either, but I’m pretty sure you’re free to walk out that door if you want to.”
The music starts up in the next room and everyone quickly buttons up their errant conversations. It’s official. The madness is
starting and here I am, a willing participant.
I blink back tears and forbid them from falling. Instead, I take a ragged breath and push past the boulder the size of this entire island sitting in my throat.
“If you were marrying Chloe, and Laken stood right there in your midst—how would that make you feel?” My stomach sours as stabbing pains fill my insides. Every last cell in my body is protesting what I’m about to do.
Wes sighs as he threads his arm through mine. He’s so very handsome, clean-shaven, his thick, black hair slicked back still damp, his cologne spiced and fresh, and his tuxedo is impeccable.
“I would die a thousand deaths knowing that the woman I really wanted to marry was just within reach. I would rather fall on a spirit sword than go through with the mockery. I would gouge my own eyes out with my bare hands. I wouldn’t hesitate to step right past Chloe and fall on my knees and beg Laken’s forgiveness, kiss her feet, and wash them with my tears. My soul would be forever scarred for causing her such great grief, such aching sorrow. My heart would plead for her to understand.” His voice breaks and he takes in a deep breath.
I lean in and pat his hand, warm and thick and so very much like my old Gage. “That was so beautiful, Wesley. What would you want her to understand, though?”
Wesley looks right at me and I feel something, something warm and familiar, a love pulsing from him like never before.
“That ultimately every sacrifice I made was for her—for us, for our children.” His forest green eyes penetrate me so completely I feel his plea right down in my bones. Tears beg to come, and I take a sharp breath.
“Children? Come now, Wes. You and I both know Charlie belongs to Coop.”
His brows furrow at the mention of his nemesis. “Have a good life, Skyla. Make Logan a father. Build a family with him. Actively seek joy on this miserable planet. Before you know it, life will be over and all will be revealed, every intention, every pretense, every purpose under heaven. It might not be what it seems and you might be tormenting yourself for nothing.”
I glance back and spot Lexy hovering over the wicked bride. “I wouldn’t say nothing. At the end of the day, Gage Oliver destroyed my heart in ways that not even my worst nightmare could have imagined, and when you factor in the fact Chloe is the boys’ new stepmother—life is pure hell. Finding joy in this world feels both futile and unnecessary. I want to feel hate, I want to cradle it and make it work for me. If Gage taught me anything, it’s that joy and happiness are both fleeting and fickle. I could pour my entire heart into Logan, and who knows? One day he might just fight Gage for Chloe, kill the rest of my people, and try to declare himself a king of his own dominion. Hate is loyal, faithful, and it fuels me to do the things I need to do, like giving your people the boot and taking my rightful place in the heavenlies.”
We enter the threshold of the very room where Gage Oliver, my Gage Oliver, lost his life when he had his good senses decapitated from the earthly frame that I loved so much.
The music changes clip, slower, more pronounced.
Wes gives my hand a quick pat. “Good chat, Skyla. You’ll find happiness again. I know you will.”
Wes walks me down the aisle and Gage watches, his jaw clenched, a storm caught in each eye. He looks angry, annoyed, his lips flickering, unsure if he should spare a smile. Logan catches my eye and tips his head as if to say interesting move. He’s not impressed, nor should he be. Nobody in their right mind should be impressed by this circus.
I get to the front and walk up the steps of the unholy altar they hauled in and festooned with far too many hothouse flowers.
Gage turns his attention to the back, his body rigid, not breathing. He’s choosing to ignore me, taking the high road, and it stings far greater than I had imagined. Chloe is next, her father by her side looking regal and a tad too proud. But Chloe gleams. A dark jewel in this demonic night, Chloe’s beauty glitters like a thousand fallen stars, her face radiating all of the glory and ecstasy that a new bride should. Her dress is gorgeous, as if it were fashioned together by angels, and it very well might have been. She steps up, acknowledging me first with a bittersweet smile, and the irony is not lost on me. Before I can study Gage’s reaction to his new bride, the boys run down the aisle shouting Mommy! Daddy! in turn, and it stabs me in the heart. Half the room gasps as much as they titter.
Barron runs into my arms and Gage scoops up Nathan.
“No,” I say, quickly taking Nathan and setting both boys at my feet. There is no way in hell he’s going to renew his crooked vows while holding my child. The boys run in dizzying circles while Demetri vomits his spiritual spiel, a quickening of words, far too garbled for me to understand. The room begins to sway. It’s as if all of creation were groaning, moaning right along with me as I witness the travesty all over again.
Chloe spouts off an enthusiastic I do and Lex cheers so loud I make a mental note to clobber her later.
Demetri poses the same twisted question to Gage. “Do you take Chloe Jessica Bishop to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
He looks to me a moment, and I see it, the grief in his eyes, alive and well, and tugging at his blackened heartstrings.
He refocuses his attention on the bride at hand. “I do.”
Demetri nods. “You may kiss the bride.”
Gage examines me fully for the first time since I walked down the aisle wearing the discards he left in my bedroom when it was still our bedroom. And all of that hatred bullshit goes out the window.
Get on your knees, Gage. Beg my forgiveness. Love me. Love me again like never before. We can throw all of this madness into the fire, burn it to ash and rubble.
“Gage,” Chloe hisses, her dark eyes darting to mine, filled with fear and venom.
Gage flexes a loose grin before leaning her way. Gage gives an inch and Chloe takes a mile, wraps her arms around his neck, and hijacks him into one heck of a kiss. The room erupts into cheers and I step off the stage, wondering how in the hell Chloe took the leading role from me.
10
Gage
When the world around you is burning, trying to douse the flames with a bucket of water doesn’t do a hell of a lot of good. And that’s what I did when I spoke to Skyla while we patiently waited for this travesty to begin. As soon as she saw me, I knew it was do or die, channel Wes, and/or walk out the door with her—and believe me, it took everything in me not to do the latter.
Demetri strides up, that signature grin of his frozen over his features. “A word with you,” he says, ushering me over to the corner while the room breaks out into a buzz as Wes poses with Chloe and the kids for pictures.
Demetri’s dark eyes burrow into mine, twin ticks looking to suck the living life out of me. “I am not amused by your antics.”
“Good.” I take a deep breath and search for Skyla in the crowd and find Laken and Coop comforting her with Logan just striding up on the scene. I’m betting Logan gave Wes a piece of his wrath beforehand. I’d expect him to. “I’m not here to amuse you. I gave you the victory—us the victory we needed. Isn’t that enough?”
“Wesley was looking forward to entering into unholy union with his betrothed.” He scowls in the direction of the altar where Lexy Bakova barks out orders at the boys. “And now he has entered into a union with his ex-wife, twice on our behalf.”
“Since when do you care about Wes?” I shoot Coop a quick glance and note his hand is gliding up and down Laken’s back as they share a laugh about something. No sign of Logan or Skyla. You go, Coop. Do your thing. I glance to Wes and my heart breaks for him.
Demetri steps in front of me, blocking my view of the circus at hand. “Since when don’t you?” He studies me a moment, hard and unyielding. “The coronation requires your very soul to participate. Attempt a shenanigan like this one and prepare to be called out on the matter.” His eyes scour each of mine. “And then she will know the truth and your little parody will be over.” He shakes his head just enough. “While your insistence that she steps
up to battle is noble, it is yet another foolish endeavor on your part.”
“She won’t win.”
“The devil thought he couldn’t lose either.” He takes off and his words resonate in his wake.
That’s the difference, Demetri. You thought you enlisted a devil for the job, but you got an angel instead. I’m not putting Skyla in the shredder just to screw with her. I’m making her fight with all cylinders firing. There’s no point in the both of us lying down and dying until this season of our existence is over.
It’s the only way I can still demonstrate my love for her people—by making her fight for them. It’s what I would have wanted if I were still lying by her side at night. It’s what I still want for her, for them. They are still, in fact, my people. But they cannot reign. No. But Skyla truly reigns in my heart, and that’s why it’s so damn important I spend eternity with her. I’ll trade a few fleeting earthly nights for the greater good of eternal security. Dudley comes to mind, and I suddenly want to vomit.
A hard slap comes over my back and it’s Wes, that shit-eating grin on his face sours as soon as I look his way.
“Brother,” he growls it out like the curse it is. “Chloe wants us to change into our casual suits. She’s putting on her second gown.”
I nod as I scour the crowd and spot Skyla and Logan, each holding one of the boys.
“Well done,” I say. “I’ll take it from here.”
All Hail the King (Celestra Forever After Book 6) Page 19