Chapter 7 - The Wedding I Chose
Six months later, I stood in front of another mirror.
Another white dress.
Another wedding day.
But nothing was the same.
No guards outside my bedroom.
No alliance waiting downstairs.
No father threatening to drag me anywhere.
My mother entered.
“You ready?”
I smiled at my reflection.
“Yes.”
She started crying.
“Mom.”
“I’m allowed.”
“You’ve been crying since breakfast.”
“I’m committed.”
A knock sounded.
My father opened the door slightly.
“May I come in?”
May I.
Even Alaric Lisandra had learned.
“Yes.”
He entered.
For a moment, he simply looked at me.
Then he held out his arm.
“I would be honored to walk with you.”
I kissed his cheek.
“Halfway.”
He frowned.
“Halfway?”
“I’m walking the rest myself.”
Then he smiled.
“Fair enough.”
Outside, there were fewer than sixty guests.
No politicians.
No reporters.
No business alliances.
Just people we loved.
My father walked beside me until we reached the middle of the aisle.
Then he stopped.
He kissed my forehead.
“Your choice from here.”
I squeezed his hand.
“Thank you.”
Then I walked alone.
Dante waited beneath an archway overlooking the lake.
For perhaps the first time since I had known him, the man looked completely terrified.
I reached him.
“You nervous?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“Extremely.”
I laughed.
The ceremony was short.
When it was time for vows, Dante took both my hands.
“The first time I tried to save you, you slapped me.”
Everyone laughed.
I shook my head.
“You promised never to mention that.”
“I lied.”
“Great start to a marriage.”
He smiled.
Then became serious.
“But I eventually understood something.”
His thumb moved gently over my hand.
“You never needed someone to save you.”
My eyes filled.
“You needed someone to open a door and trust you to decide whether to walk through it.”
The garden became silent.
“So that is my promise. I will never choose your road for you.”
His voice lowered.
“But whenever you choose one, if you want me beside you, I’ll walk it with you.”
I couldn’t speak for several seconds.
Then the officiant looked at me.
“Sofia?”
I laughed through my tears.
“Sorry.”
I looked at Dante.
“My turn?”
“Please.”
I took a breath.
“Thirty minutes before my first wedding, you walked into my room and said the most outrageous thing any man had ever said to me.”
Dante closed his eyes.
Everyone laughed again.
“And somehow,” I continued, “that terrible sentence became the beginning of my freedom.”
His eyes opened.
“But I didn’t fall in love with you because you were powerful.”
I touched the tattooed hand holding mine.
“I fell in love with you because you were the first powerful man who heard me say no…and stopped.”
Dante’s eyes glistened.
“So today I’m giving you something nobody was allowed to take from me.”
I smiled.
“My yes.”
The officiant pronounced us husband and wife.
Dante leaned toward me.
Then stopped.
Even now.
Even here.
“May I kiss my wife?”
I laughed.
“Yes.”
He kissed me beneath the afternoon sun while our families applauded.
Later that evening, we danced beneath strings of warm lights.
No enormous ballroom.
No political guests.
No business agreement.
Just music.
Dante rested his forehead against mine.
“You know something?”
“What?”
“This wedding is much better.”
“Low bar.”
He laughed.
Across the garden, my father was dancing badly with my mother.
I watched them for a moment.
Then Dante pulled my attention back to him.
“Happy?”
I thought about the woman I had been.
The frightened bride standing beside a window, counting down the minutes until someone else took control of her future.
Thirty-nine minutes.
Thirty-one.
Thirty.
Back then, every second had felt like a door closing.
I looked at my husband.
Then at the people around us.
Then at the life I had built with my own decisions.
“Yes.”
Dante smiled.
“Good.”
I rested my head against his chest.
For most of my life, I had believed freedom meant running far enough that nobody could find me.
I had been wrong.
Freedom was simpler.
It was having a door.
Having a choice.
And knowing the person beside you would never force you through either one.
This time, nobody had traded me.
Nobody had ordered me.
Nobody had dragged me down an aisle.
I walked there myself.
May you like
And when Dante Moretti asked me for forever—
I chose it.
