Dying to Marry Him novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Third Bell

Kerensa's POV

At the third bell the chapel was so full that monsters stood three deep along the walls.

They had come from the ballroom, the gallery and every corner of the house.

Some of them hung from the rafters.

I walked down the aisle in the midnight dress with Loretta on one side.

The girls in gray and green walked on the other.

Rook came in beside me through the front doors.

He had not been ordered to. He had chosen the door, and the whole room saw him do it.

Gilt stood at the altar in a fresh gold waistcoat.

A clean sheet of paper and a pen waited on a stand beside him.

"My dears," he said, in his warmest voice. "The third bell. Contestant Eight, your ending, if you please."

"I've brought something better than an ending," I said.

"Have you?"

"I've brought a vow."

I looked up at the glass booth above the aisle.

The nurse stood in the light with both hands on the pane, and she nodded to me.

Gilt frowned. "The Master grants vows from brides. She has no vow."

"Then let her make one," said Rook.

His voice rang out over the pews.

"I am the Master of this chapel. Any woman may make her vow here, and I will hear it."

Gilt's face went blank.

The nurse took a breath, and her voice shook, but it carried.

"I vow to be a bride of this chapel," she said, "for as long as Kerensa's story runs."

Nobody in the chapel moved.

Rook turned his head toward the glass.

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