The clip clopping of hooves against the cobbled pathway competed for her attention against her own heartbeat drumming inside her ears. Her fingers lightly traced the tinted quarter glass as she sat there quietly overlooking the small houses built amongst the hustling streets. Once every minute, her body would jerk forward due to the jolting movements of the carriage causing the water pooling in the rim of her eyes to flow down her reddend cheeks in form of small splashes,

'Everything's the same as my dreams.' Her head hung low as she detached her gaze from the window, looking down in her lap,

'Everything except for .'

Her fingers slid down the glass surface as she nervously ran a hand over the silky material of her cotehardie.

In medieval ages, bright colours like blue were preferred by the brides as it was considered the colour of prosperity and good luck. Imagine their surprise when she had told the man incharge of her dress that she wanted to wear white.

Thankfully, they had something assembled that fit completely according to her taste. The dress was made out of white crushed velvet, It curved around her bosom hugging her frame like a second skin, tightened with the help of a golden girdle belt delicately circling around her waist while the rest of it flared down her hips into a large pool of silk.

On the lord's command, it was matched with a scottish widow hood. Ares made sure to hide her back along with her face from the prying eyes.

Without turning her head, her eyes peered sideways at the man sitting silently beside her. She passed a quick glance over his attire. He was dressed in black from head to toe, just as he always did. The only difference was, this time instead of his cloak over his loose renaissance shirt, he wore a fitted steapmunk tailcoat that greatly highlighted his 'V' shaped torso.

As her gaze travelled lower to observe more of his coat, she happened to look at the space present between their bodies, where one corner of his dark tailcoat lay sprawled over the flaring end of her snowy dress. She smiled through her dried up tears as a thought crossed her mind,

'Ironically, these colours depict our situation perfectly well.'

"Day and Night." She didn't know she had ended up whispering her last words out loud.

"Every night needs its day to look up to, in hope of a better future, in hope of a new start," A husky voice had joined into her conversation.

"A day is a night's indispensable hope."

Her eyes widened as she looked up to find gleaming emeralds peering down softly at her.

"My Lord." She looked down immediately, the tip of her ears turning red with embarrassment.

"Love," He placed a gloved finger beneath her chin motioning her to look back into his sinfully bewitching gaze, "You are to be my wife. You ought to call me by my name."

His gentle tone was pulling at her heartstrings, messing with the rational side of her head.

"I prefer it this way. This marriage is just an arrangement to ensure our survival, nothing more." Her heart hurt looking at his faltering smile following her words.

She watched as he leaned back against his seat, passing a hand over his troubled face, "I never imagined being jealous by my own self."

He had spoken it in a low tone but she knew he intended to make her hear it.

For a moment only the hooves of horses making contact with the ground could be heard,

"I am aware of the fact that you are in love with him, my other self," His bold approach caused her to turn her head in his direction, "It's disheartening."

'What is he trying to say?'

"But there is a felicitous part of it that does not fail to delight me," She raised her eyebrows at his confusing statement, leading him to utter his next words,

"You are to be my wife, not his."

"Huh?"

It took a moment or more for her to recover from his startling behaviour, 'When did Ares start getting jealous over such petty things?'

Before she could counter his statement back, the carriage came to a halt with a sudden jerk.

"We are here, Milord!"

The carriage's door opened to reveal an awfully cheerful Henry smiling with all this teeth out on the display. In the background, she could see a big crowd gathered around an old stone building,

'It must be the church.'

Ares had briefly told her about the weddings in the medieval England. It was supposed to take place outside the church's gates. She had to stand on his left side as to follow the belief that Eve was created out of Adam's left rib. The vows were pretty much the same and they did not have to exchange rings to complete the ceremony. It was upto their own choice to choose the gift for their spouse.

He had also told her about a notice being put up on the gates of church upon which the marriage was announced as well as asked whether someone had a problem with it being executed. She narrowed her eyes to peek out of the carriage and there it was, a notice hanging from the doors, written in Old English, too small to read from the distance and probably too difficult for her to even comprehend it.

"Ahem." A small cough broke her out of her trance, forcing her to stare at the hand extended in front of her.

Her vampire lord had already stepped out of the carriage and was now bowing in front of the carriage door, offering her to take his hand.

Sheepishly, she put her small hand in his leather cladded one, holding the hem of her dress with the other hand so that she wouldn't end up tripping and embarrassing herself in front of all the town.

A small squeak broke out of her lips when his other hand went behind her, gripping the curve of her waist to lift her off her feet. He supported all her weight on the crook of his elbow as he carried her out of the carriage effortlessly before placing her down on the ground.

His hand left her waist as soon as her feet made contact with the earth. After he was done making sure that she was standing fine on her own, he took a step back immediately. She, on the other hand, was melting with all the unwanted attention thrown her way. Her cheeks had turned rosy from the uncalled move her husband to be had pulled in front of everyone. She could feel the crowd's heated gazes burning a hole through her back.

Keeping her gaze glued to the ground, she angrily muttered under her breath,

"I'm not a child!"

"I never said that you were, love."

She resisted the urge to hit him at his cheekiness, "Did you have to do it in front of all these people?"

"Calm down, they have seen worse. Have you heard of the bedding ceremony?"

'Bedding Ceremony? Wasn't that a custom from West England where people watched a couple consummate their marriage on their wedding night?'

A chill of horror ran down her spine as she comprehended his words.

"Do we have to go through that ceremony too?!" There was a sense of urgency in her tone as she held the corner of his sleeve tightly between her fingers.

A small chuckle left his lips at her horrified expressions, astonishing her even more, 'Is he drunk?'

"Call me by my name and I shall tell you."

'Drunk for sure.' She pressed her lips together as her eyebrows furrowed at his excessively merry behaviour. When no reply came from his side, she knew he had meant it seriously.

Heaving an exasperated sigh, she opened her mouth to give into his wish,

"Please.. ."

Her wrinkled brows were soon smoothed down as he pressed a loving hand to her cheek, cupping it in the process,

"A true king never reveals his biggest treasure to anyone."

The unexpected answer left her speechless. Not knowing how to handle the remark, she could only open and close her mouth alternatively, resembling a small vulnerable fish.

"Milord, Milady." They were forced to step away from each other at Henry's cheerful tone. Standing in front of them, he was motioning with his hand for them to step forward and join the people awaiting their arrival.

'Let's do this.'

She was ready to start walking when out of nowhere, a leather cladded arm was offered to her from her side.

'Is he asking me to link our arms?'

She looked back and forth between the shiny emeralds and the darkly clothed arm as if to confirm the answer with her eyes. When he didn't budge from his place, she slowly lifted her own arm locking it gently with the arm he was offering.

Despite the layers of clothes separating their bare skins, she was overly aware of his firm forearm muscles resting just beneath her touch,

'This man is not good for my heart,'

She froze as the side of his bicep bumped accidentally into her bosom, 'Definitely not good.'

Pursing her lips, she diverted all her attention to her front where people were parting like red sea to make way for them. Every step she took forward, her heart threatened to jump out of her ribcage. Her trembling hand held tightly onto his sleeve for dear life as one after the other, every pair of eyes present inside the vicinity turned towards the approaching couple. Hushed whispers broke out amongst the crowd as hundreds of curious stares hungrily drank the strange scene in front of them—Their menacing lord holding a mysterious female close to his chest.

"Look up, love." A low mumble tickled her right ear, causing her to snap her neck towards its source.

"Huh?"

Her heart skipped a beat as soon as the situation registered inside her mind. He had leaned his head down to whisper inside her ear and now that she had turned her head, the tip of his nose was rubbing against her cheek ever so slightly.

Unable to look away from his beguiling gaze, her eyes stayed glued to him. She watched entranced as a light flash of crimson passed through his eyes before his eyed became clear again. If she hadn't been this close, she'd have easily missed it.

A sudden tug at her hand shifted her attention away from his gaze to their locked arms. He was busy engulfing her small hand with his. After he was done etangling his fingers with hers, he brought their hands closer to his heart,

"Do not let their gazes intimidate you. I am here, every step of the way."

With that, he leaned back, straightening himself up.

For the second time, in a short span, he had left her speechless. Not knowing what else to do, she found herself squeezing his hand back as a silent gesture of gratitude.

His words had unleashed a warmth inside of her, soothing down every nook and cranny full of jittery nerves inside her.

Inhaling sharply, she turned back her head to the front. Her stiff gait became more and more relaxed as she elegantly matched her small steps with his large strides.

The unsolicited mumbling was soon drowned out by the immense pressure the unlikely match created with their presence. After a moment, the crowd bowed down together, silently showing respect and acceptance to the soon to be lady of their lord.

Her eyes moved back from the crowd to look forward where Father Gabriel stood stoically in front of the rusty gates, particularly eyeing her with a sceptical gaze. The man seemed to have a serious agenda going on with her.

As soon as she stepped up on the stairs, he gave them a slight bow acknowledging their presence.

"Father Gabriel greets his lord and.. lady." The slight pause before her title did not go unnoticed by her.

'What's his problem?'

"Father Gabriel." Ares answered back with a slight nod of his head.

"Should we commence the ceremony?"

The nonchalant question by Gabriel made her heartbeat skyrocket, 'Am I really going to be married?'

Everything around her became a big blur following that statement. She could hear Gabriel asking in the background whether anyone had a problem with their marriage. She wanted to laugh at that question.

'Well, I do. Ares here is a vampire who comes from Rome whilst I myself am a time-travelling human from hundreds of years ahead in future!'

Ares' words from before rang inside her ears, making her feel bad for the undeserved hostility she was holding towards the uncanny marriage.

Suddenly she sensed someone staring intently at her, causing her to lift her head. But as soon as she looked up, the feeling was gone. No one was looking her way. Everyone was busy staring at Ares, along with Gabriel.

'Gabriel..'

Out of nowhere, a wild thought struck her, 'Didn't mom have the same coloured irises as him?'

Her eyebrows winkled as another possibility crossed her mind, 'Does mom come from his lineage?

Before she could put more thought into the absurd idea, Ares grabbed a hold of her hand tugging her closer to him,

" I, Ares Aléxandros King, take thee, Credința Aresului, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, for fairer or fouler, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and there unto I plight thee my troth."

Her mind went blank as soon as he let out those words. Since the morning she'd already played this scene through thousands of angles in her head yet it couldn't compare to the real thing. It didn't even come close. His deep husky voice carrying those intimate words out of his rich plump lips, his grassy gaze tinted with a hue of fall burning a hole through her skin, the way his fingers intertwined hers more and more as he completed his vows, It was ethereal.

He was everything she could've ever asked for, only she wasn't marrying him out of love.

'It's him yet it's not him.'

"Milady." Gabriel's voice brought her back to reality.

She passed a quick glance at the pastor giving her a weird look before moving her gaze back to the man holding her hand lovingly. She gulped inaudibly as she realised what all of them were waiting for.

It was her turn to say her vows.

Tears gathered into the brim of her eyes as she stared up into the eyes of her... husband.

" I... Credința Aresului, take thee, Ares Aléxandros King, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, for fairer or fouler, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."

'It's done.'

Through her blurry vision she watched as his hands went behind his neck to detach something before bringing a dangling object closer to her chest. She resisted the urge to shiver as his leather cladded hand touched the side of her neck, locking the chain around it.

After he had stepped back, she hung her head low as her hand went up to touch the surface of the cold object. It was a platinum cross made out of two wooden stakes with a thorny rose snaking around it,

'The pendant through which the spell was cast.'

"You may now kiss the bride." Gabriel's monotonous tone reached her ears, causing the cold object to fall from her fingers.

Time slowed down as she, carefully, raised her head up from the platinum cross, her stupified gaze clashing with a heated pair of gleaming emeralds.

She had been preoccupied previously with too many thoughts, but the moment Father Gabriel motioned for them to kiss, Ares became the sole focus of her attention.

Her eyes travelled up and down his unnaturally perfect features, drinking in the utterly breath taking specimen standing in front of her. She had never seen him this close in daylight before.

A mop of black hair framed his pale face in an inky mess much resembling the full moon nestled lazily in the curtain of a dark night. His thick arched eyebrows resting on top of the twinkling emeralds that made her fall harder and harder everytime she looked at them. And those lovely pair of lips—that had been uttering nothing but honey dipped words since her arrival in this world, were curved beautifully with a hint of smile tugging at their corners.

No matter how she looked, he appeared unearthly in every way possible.

Her admiration was cut short as his rosy lips moved lightly, disturbing the air resting between them with a lazily whispered query, "May I?"

'What is this man doing to me?'

In her dumbstruck state, she could only manage to nod her head a bit and before she knew it he had already leaned down to cover her mouth with his.

Surprised, a small gasp escaped from the back of her throat which was immediately silenced by the pair of lips attached to hers. She could feel his eager lips moving slowly over hers as he placed a soft cold kiss on top of her upper lip before moving back and pressing them lightly against her bottom one. His lips were freezing to the touch yet they set her insides on fire. She could feel herself burning deep to her core.

But the pleasure ended all too soon as, after grazing her lips one last time with his cold ones, he removed his mouth from hers causing her to part her lips involuntarily in a quest for more.

His lightly curved lips had now transformed into a full blown smile as he stared mischievously at her,

"You shall have the rest of it at home, Mrs. King."

He had said it loud enough for the nearby people to hear, especially Father Gabriel.

"Ahem."

She could hear Gabriel coughing uncomfortably from the side, but she was too busy caring about the blood rushing towards more than one parts of her body.

'Damn you, stupid bond!'