I Swore to Kill the Prince I Guard novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The Wedding Night
The Archbishop wanted a cathedral.
Florian gave him the burned court of Rask Hold, with its stag, because it was the only place Evander would stand.
Six hundred people came up the old road.
They stood in the mud among the thorn bushes in their silks and furs, and their shoes were ruined, and not one of them complained.
The washerwoman's boy carried the cushion with the rings.
The hounds walked up the aisle ahead of the grooms, three grey old dogs and four fat pups.
They walked.
Evander wore plain grey wool, a clean shirt, and Rask green at the throat.
Florian wore plum and silver, with the circlet on his curls and ink on his finger.
He had written the vows himself, and he had read them out to Evander twice in bed.
Then he had thrown them in the fire and written them again.
The Archbishop tied their right hands together with a silver cord.
It had been a royal tradition for four hundred years.
The Crown's law said it could be done only between a man and a woman.
Florian had repealed that law the same week, in a paper he read aloud to the whole council, line by line.
"I swore once," said Evander, when it came to his turn, "to find the hand that signed the order.
"I found it.
"It has been in my hair, and on my wrists, and in my hand every night since January.
"I'll keep it.
"I'll tell it when it's wrong, and I'll carry it when it's tired, and I'll kneel when it asks, and not otherwise.
"On Maren's name."
Florian was crying before he finished.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of I Swore to Kill the Prince I Guard are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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