Page 11 of Edge of Stars

“I had no idea what I was doing.” I wrap my hand around her upheld fingertips. Get one gulp down to battle the emotional bulge in my throat. “Oh God, Kell. I still don’t.”

“And you’re supposed to?” she rejoins. “Because everyone in the world decides to use one’s wedding as an excuse to cast a spell they’ve never done before and hope it traps a bunch of Olympians long enough to talk out a peace plan?”

“Okay, okay,” I concede, giving in to a chuckle. “Another awesome point courtesy of my amazing sister.”

“Who’s just here to support your amazingness.”

While declaring it, she tilts back to retrieve my bridal bouquet. The luxurious dusky roses are bunched in a tight, perfect bundle, inserted with crimson diamonds that match the dark-red stones in my headband. I lift a hand to that piece now, tracing my fingers to the small hooks that have been customized into it. The holders for the most important piece of my trousseau.

“You remember how to hook the veil, right?” I murmur.

“Unless the process has changed from the first fifty times you showed me,” Kell says, already securing the edge of the long silk tulle piece that I’ve been painstakingly working on with Madame. From the moment she asked me if I had any special ideas for customizing the veil, I knew exactly what had to be worked into the piece. The designer has outdone herself with my concept. I knew it before now, but it’s breathtakingly clear as soon as Kell secures the final hook.

“Maximus is going to fry all his pasta when he sees this.”

I spurt a small laugh, joining her to examine the star-shaped crystals cascading in the tulle down to my ankles. Their pattern isn’t random. The carefully selected arrangement is a message from me to my husband, and I can’t wait for him to see it.

“Should I assume that’s a good thing?”

A blithe shrug from Kell. “Probably depends on who you ask.”

I tug on one edge of the veil and spread it out, glad I took Madame’s advice to sprinkle a few ruby-colored crystals in with the clear ones. At once, I see how the accents complement my headband—but most importantly, how they highlight the Valari crest earrings secured to my lobes.

My mind flashes to the day that I feared one of the heirlooms was gone forever. Its clip back had come loose in my hurried rush away from Maximus—from the attraction I’d stupidly thought to evade, as well—and I’d panicked, wondering how to best tell Mother that I’d lost half of the priceless family set. But I’d retraced my steps and remembered exactly where I’d last been aware of the jewelry. The process didn’t just bring a rush of relief. It stabbed me with new awareness.

The realization that Maximus Kane wasn’t just my flirting fancy.

That a much greater force was drawing me to him. A destiny that felt written in the stars.

Oh, God.

It truly was.

The surety clings to my mind as firmly as the stars in my veil, blown against my face as Kell and I cross the courtyard to the shallow stone steps that lead into the hilltop sanctuary.

Everyone is inside now, waiting.

There’s a slow pop song of some sort, rendered by a harp and piano, swelling.

And now here’s the throb of my pulse, racing.

It all gets faster and brighter and sharper as time ticks off a few more seconds. Clarity that I welcome because it brings the recall of a conversation from just three weeks ago, in which Persephone gave me a perfect collection of words. A pair of sentences that I knew I’d embrace in this exact moment…

Sometimes, one cannot hope for peace. But one can facilitate understanding.

I give in to a smile while strengthening my posture. Another long breath in and out, and I’m closing my eyes to again savor the crisp warmth on my face…

That, once I open my gaze, becomes blinding light.

But I see past it, as a figure steps forward. And I’m rushing joyously for him.

“Gramps,” I sob, trying not to snot out on his shoulder. He’s so pressed and stately in his suit, which isn’t quite a tux but measures a step above the austere underworld livery in which he last appeared. Back on that beach, at the side of his new master. On that day of such elation and then such confusion…

“Hey, ladybug,” he murmurs into my hair, sounding unnervingly good. Strong. Better than he did when wasting away in the backyard casita of the Valari estate. “Just look at you. My sweet, sweet girl. The world’s most gorgeous bride.”

“Gorgeous?” I chuckle softly while stepping back. “Said the pot to the kettle?”

He looks ready to scoff but regards me with somber eyes instead. “We’d best get things started. Despite your mother’s dogged intentions, some of your…guests…might be tempted to expand on the night’s main attraction.”