The Prophecies (The Sentinel Series Book 2) (24 page)

I looked down at my hoodie and jeans, pulling at my faded top and my face fell. This wasn’t what I pictured wearing to my wedding day but I didn’t really have much choice. Clearly, what Cain showed me wasn’t an actual depiction of my wedding. I didn’t have the pretty white dress with blue flowers; it was just Cain telling me that I was going to get married. I didn’t think Seth would mind what I wore.

Seth tilted my chin back up to look at me. ‘Baby, you could get married in a bin bag and I wouldn’t care. I meant that we are going to Mexico in late spring and it’s going to be boiling. You’re going to be a bit hot dressed like that, have you not got any shorts.’

‘Oh, I didn’t think about that. I only have jeans.’

Seth pursed his lips. ‘Well, do you have any jeans you don’t want any more?’ he opened my wardrobe and looked in.

I looked through the piles of jeans and pulled out a very faded pair. ‘These are too short for me, they’ve shrank a bit after being washed so much, I won’t wear them again.’ Seth took the jeans off me and as easy as ripping a sheet of paper, he ripped the bottoms off each leg, leaving a pair of shorts just above the knee. I stared at him incredulously, took his hand and put it up to my face, he stroked my cheek gently.

‘How can someone so strong, be so gentle?’

He blushed, smiling. ‘Come on, we should get going, we need to meet Gabriella, the wedding co-ordinator before the ceremony.’

I nodded and quickly got changed. Suddenly I felt a feeling of worry and confusion in my head. I had got quite adept at blocking out Lucas’s thoughts and feelings. It was mainly filled with concern for me, but lately it had also been filled with love and concern for Persia, and that kind of felt like a huge invasion of privacy. So I had come to learn to ignore it, like I had learnt to ignore the constant humming of the Guardians in my head. But now the feeling of angst was coming through quite strongly. He knew. He knew me and Seth were about to escape from the fort and he was concerned.

‘Wait, I need to tell Lucas, as soon as we slide he’ll know about it and he’ll be worrying.’

Seth nodded.

I called Lucas to me and he arrived with a look of worry on his face. ‘Eve what’s going on, I was woken this morning with such a rush of excitement flooding through me and now you’re leaving. Is everything ok?’

‘I’m…..me and Seth are just heading out for a bit, I need a bit of a break. Seth is going to be with me the whole time and we’ll be back soon. Can you tell Eli that we went out for a walk or something?’

Seth nodded. ‘We’ll be back this afternoon; I promise I won’t leave her side.’

Lucas pulled a face. ‘It would be better if you took more than one Guardian with you, that’s what your personal guard is for, why we have five instead of one.’

‘It’s just for a few hours.’

Lucas nodded, warily. He could tell I really wanted this, really needed it but he didn’t like it. He was worried I wasn’t going to come back. A huge part of me wanted to shout from the rooftops that I was marrying Seth today, but there was also a huge part of me that wanted it to be just me and Seth, that wanted it to be about us and no one else.

I shifted awkwardly, I hated keeping secrets from my Guardians, especially Lucas.

‘I’m sorry, it’s not that I don’t want you guys to come or that I don’t want my personal guard anymore, but this is about me and Seth, about being alone with the man I love.’

His face cleared a bit, knowing that I wasn’t trying to get away from them. ‘Ok, but please be careful.’

‘I’ll take care of her, I promise,’ Seth said.

Lucas nodded and left.

I smiled, then gasped. ‘Oh the rings.’ I went to my jeans I had been wearing a few days before and fumbled around in my pocket, digging out the two gold rope rings, I turned to show them to Seth. ‘Leon gave me these.’

Seth looked at them in confusion. ‘A golden rope?’

I pushed them closer to each other and they clanged together again. Seth picked them up carefully and as he read the inscription on the inside, he swallowed.

‘We don’t have to use them if you don’t want to, we can get some others when we get there. I know the hotel has a few shops and….’

‘They’re perfect,’ Seth said, quietly.

I smiled, took his hand and slid us both to the beach, to my beach in Mexico.

As soon as I landed, my heart started pounding furiously in my ears. I was still very tired, but I was hoping the adrenaline was going to carry me through today. We headed off to the hotel, and after asking a few people we found Gabriella’s office. She was delighted to finally meet us, and started explaining a few things about the ceremony, but I barely heard a word of it, my heart was beating so rapidly, I could literally feel the blood racing through my veins. I had broken out in a sweat, my skin felt like it was on fire.

I heard Seth explain that there would be a name change before the ceremony, explaining that we were quite famous in England and that we were trying to keep this completely secret from the press. Gabriella seemed to take all this in her stride, apparently quite a few celebrity couples had got married here and had done the same thing.

Seth showed her our ID, and a letter, which I knew nothing about. Gabriella just nodded, seeming so laid back about the whole thing, she was practically horizontal. I could barely concentrate on what was being said, I was so hot, even my eyes seemed to be sweating

The next thing we were back out into the corridor, alone and Seth was looking at me. ‘You ok?’

I nodded vehemently, though doing so made my head buzz.

‘Well we have half hour until the ceremony, so….maybe we can go for a walk before it starts.’

I nodded, fresh air would be good.

We walked along the corridor, past the little gift boutiques. ‘What was in the letter you showed Gabriella?’

‘Written permission from your father to say you can wed,’ Seth’s eyes scanned the shops for any potential threat.

‘What?’

He looked at me smiling. ‘You have to be eighteen to legally marry, unless you have permission from your parents, just in case I’m trying to take advantage of your youthful innocence.’

I giggled. ‘Did you forge the letter?’

Seth blushed and shook his head. ‘Cain wrote it, he gave it to me last week.’

I shook my head incredulously. Cain had it all planned.

I linked hands with Seth as we walked past the last of the shops and I gasped. I stepped up to the window of one of the shops. Hanging in the window was my dress, the dress I had seen me wearing in the prophecy Cain had showed me, a pretty white sundress, with blue flowers round the hem. It was sequinned around the top and sparkled in the light.

‘That’s my dress.’

‘Oh yes, it is,’ Seth said, simply.

I turned to him. ‘You saw it too.’

Seth nodded then fished in to his pocket and pulled out a debit card. ‘Which is why I brought this with me, just in case.’

I grinned hugely and took the card and ran into the shop. They only had one of them left and it was my size, talk about fate. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Cain had set all this up, to ensure the prophecy was met.

Soon I had the beautiful sparkly dress in a clear dress bag over my arm and we were back out in the corridor again.

I tried to remember from my trip here a few years before where the toilets were, so I could get changed. I headed down the corridor and, sure enough, found the toilet at the end.

‘Will you wait here for me while I get changed?’

Seth narrowed his eyes. ‘I’m not supposed to leave your side.’

I tutted with a smile. I opened the door and went in, pushing the three cubicle doors open to reveal they were empty. ‘See, it’s safe. Just give me five minutes,’ I said.

Seth nodded, reluctantly. ‘I’ll be right here.’

I went in and closed the door behind me. I was so hot. Sweat prickled on the back of my neck and dripped down my spine. What was wrong with me, marrying Seth felt so right, I knew I wasn’t remotely nervous about it, so why was I breaking out into a sweat? Why was I so hot, that I thought I might actually pass out? It was hot in Mexico, but not the passing out kind of heat. My heart was racing like I had run a mile. I hung the dress up over the back of the cubicle, and turned the cold tap on, running my hands under the cool water, and splashing some of it round the back of my neck. The feeling was so nice on my skin. I leaned over the sink, on my tiptoes and held my neck under the cool stream. The water ran down my face, into my hair and down my back. I stood there, under the tap for a while, the only thing I could hear was the sound of the water rushing past my ears. The heat remained and no matter how much cool water I allowed to run over my neck, it didn’t relent. My stomach was starting to hurt, and I wasn’t sure if that was from leaning over the sink at an awkward angle or from something else. I closed my eyes, there was no way I was going to let this ruin my wedding day; if I was ill, I’d be ill after I’d got married.

Strong hands were suddenly round my waist and I stood up and leaned against him, my eyes still closed.

‘Are you ok?’ Seth asked, quietly.

‘Yeah,’ I muttered.

Seth kissed the back of my neck, as his hands tightened round my waist. ‘Mmm, you smell nice.’

I giggled. ‘I smell of sweat.’

Seth’s hand felt round my neck. ‘You are a bit hot. Actually you’re red hot.’

‘We’re in Mexico, of course I’m hot.’ I laughed it off.

Seth kissed my neck again. ‘Eve, are you sure you want to do this?’

My eyes snapped open and I looked at his reflection behind me. ‘I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I love you. I just feel a bit…’ hot, sick, dizzy, in pain. ‘…icky that’s all.’

Seth raised an eyebrow. ‘Icky?’

‘Icky is an official medical term you know,’ I closed my eyes again, as I leant back against him.

‘Do you want to go home?’

‘Seth the only thing I want is to marry you today, just give me a minute.’

Seth wrapped one arm round my stomach and the other round my neck, as he softly kissed my shoulder.

‘Are you scared about… after?’

‘After?’

‘Making love.’

My eyes snapped open.

‘Nothing has to change between us. I know it’s traditional, the wedding night, but it doesn’t have to be for us. We can just kiss, sleep next to each other, I’m happy for it to just continue as we were before.’

I turned round to face him. I could find no nerves about that either. He was my best friend.

‘I want to make love to you. I want that so much. You are a part of my future and that intimacy is a part of it too. I don’t need a wedding ring on my finger to confirm your love for me. I would have done it before only you didn’t show any interest in it.’

His eyes widened. ‘Not show any interest? You are kidding right? Every time we’ve kissed in bed, it’s all I can do not to take it to the next level. I didn’t want to do anything you weren’t ready for.’

‘Oh Seth.’ I leaned my head against his chest. ‘We really need to talk more. Yes I was nervous that I wouldn’t be very good or know what to do but I still wanted you so much. I am going to marry you today and I cannot wait for that next part in our relationship.’

Seth swallowed, his eyes suddenly dark. ‘Then get changed. Quickly.’

I giggled. And at least that conversation had distracted me from my illness, although it lurked there menacingly, waiting to come back.

‘I’ll just throw my dress on and we’ll be on our way.’

‘I’ll wait outside.’ He turned and walked out.

I quickly pulled off my clothes and stashed them behind a bin in the corner, then carefully taking the dress out of its plastic, I pulled it on, and turned to inspect myself in the mirror. I still looked flushed, so I threw some water on my face, tied my hair up in a knot off the back of my neck and opened the door a crack.

‘Turn around, you’re not allowed to see the bride before the wedding.’ I watched as Seth obediently turned away. I came out behind him and tucked myself into his back, wrapping my arms round his waist so he couldn’t see me. ‘Right, start walking.’

Seth walked slowly up the corridor with my hands clamped firmly round his waist and I followed. We found the door to the beach and walked down onto the soft, warm white sand. The sun was setting over the sea. We approached the path lined with lit palm trees on each side, just as I had seen in my dream, with the elderly man waiting at the other end near the flowered arch. My heart started pounding furiously, again, but this time, it was out of excitement.

‘Eve? Are you ok?’

‘I’ve never been more ok,’ I whispered, my voice coming out husky and croaky. I held onto his waist, and buried my nose into his glorious woody scent.

‘Now go and wait for me at the other end of the trees,’ I instructed.

Seth looked around warily, to see if there was anyone suspicious lurking nearby, but the beach was empty. He walked slowly away from me and joined the man at the other end of the path.

There was a photographer, who took a few shots of Seth and then of me. Seth had said we didn’t want any posed shots, just for the photographer to take photos of us as it happened.

I kicked off my shoes, and scrunched my toes into the soft sand, breathing deeply for a few seconds. It wouldn’t do to suddenly burst into tears, halfway through my wedding.

But it was no good. As I started walking up the path, my eyes brimmed over with tears, and I stopped for a second to try to regain control of myself. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I caught sight of Seth waiting for me, my future, and I hurried along to catch up with him. He turned as I approached and grinned hugely as he caught me in his arms and kissed me.

A polite cough from nearby, made me pull away

‘It’s normally customary to wait till after the ceremony to kiss the bride,’ said the elderly man, his eyes twinkling warmly.

‘Yeah sorry,’ Seth blushed. ‘But she just looks so beautiful.’

I smiled, my heart soaring with love for him.

‘Shall we?’ he said, holding his hand out for me and I nodded.

We followed the man to the flowered arch, where Gabriella and another girl from her office were waiting, acting as the two witnesses we needed to make the ceremony legal.