“Why so fast? Are you pregnant?” Serena asked, her lips quirked into a smile.
Iliana laughed. “Not pregnant. My mother and father were taken from me abruptly, and now Demetrius is giving me a new family as suddenly. Maybe that’s how my life works.” She wouldn’t kick a gift horse in the mouth.
“You’ve been tight-lipped about your relationship with Demetrius, but if this is what you want, I support you.”
The event planner, a powerhouse named Eleni, rushed into the room carrying a wedding gown in a light blue garment bag. “I had to pull every string to get this dress in your size, but it’s here. The seamstress is on her way to make adjustments.”
Eleni hung the garment on a dress hook and removed the light blue bag. It was a dress Iliana had seen months earlier when shopping for another friend’s wedding. It was simple and elegant, all flowing satin covered in lace. The top was fitted, and the skirt flared at the bottom.
Eleni and Serena helped her slip it on. Iliana was worried it wouldn’t be as beautiful as she had pictured when she saw it on the mannequin. When the final button was fastened, she turned and caught her reflection in the mirror. Breathtaking. It was what she had hoped for. Demetrius was making her wedding dreams come true. She was still reeling at how quickly it was moving, but why question good fortune?
Serena teared up beside her. “Oh, Iliana, you look so beautiful. Demetrius won’t be able to catch his breath.”
The next hour was a flurry of activity. The seamstress measured, pinned and sewed. Iliana’s hair was arranged, some gathered on her head, other pieces left over her shoulder, and light makeup was applied. Before she had time to think, Serena was leading her to the private garden where she would marry the president of Icarus.
“You know he isn’t the bad person that people say he is, right?” Iliana said quietly to her cousin. She needed her good friend to assure her that she was seeing Demetrius for who he was, as he was, and that this wasn’t a mistake.
Serena squeezed her hand. “Casimir tells me that Demetrius is a good man. I questioned him the entire flight here.”
“Demetrius is wonderful to me.” Despite rumors and media spin portraying Demetrius as a dictator and a tyrant, Iliana saw the real side of him, the warmth, the compassion and his absolute love for Icarus. Everything he did was for his country and, now it seemed, for her. They’d had misunderstandings in the past, butted heads politically, but this was different. Their relationship wasn’t professional anymore. It was on a whole other level.
Casmir came to the garden door and greeted them, kissing Serena’s cheek and patting her belly.
Iliana curtsied to the king of Rizari, out of habit more than a required formality. “I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I?”
Despite his royal status, he and Iliana had become close friends since he and Serena had married. “I can’t answer that question. You know if it feels right.”
She touched her stomach, which was fluttering with butterflies. “I feel nervous.” She was fully aware of the gravity of the step she was taking. “But happy.”
“Then, I think you answered your own question. He’s waiting for you. Are you ready?” Casimir asked.
Iliana nodded, and Casimir opened the door to the garden.
Iliana stepped across the threshold for the second time that night. Once inside, her worries and doubts melted away, and all she could see was Demetrius waiting for her at the end of the petal-strewn aisle.
He was incredibly handsome, refined yet rugged. She liked that about him. She could envision him swinging an ax as easily as she could imagine him planting seeds in his garden.
Walking toward him, her body felt light; her feet floated on air. She was doing the right thing, allowing love and joy into her life. Iliana welcomed her future with open arms.
* * *
The reception following their intimate wedding ceremony brought several more important faces. Demetrius introduced her to generals in the Icarus army and navy and his political advisers. It seemed everyone who had a hand in running the country was celebrating with them in their home. Despite the last-minute plans and the late-night festivities, their guests were in high spirits.
A few times Demetrius seemed to be in a serious conversation with someone, but then he would find her face in the crowd and they’d share a private smile. He was the president of the country. He had work to do. But tonight was about them.
After a couple of hours, Demetrius swept Iliana into his arms. He addressed the room from the doorway. “Thank you all for coming tonight, but I bid you good night. My wife and I have plans.”
The crowd roared with laughter, and Demetrius’s military men banged their beer mugs against the wooden tables and cheered.
“Demetrius, everyone will know,” Iliana said as he carried her toward his bedroom. Their bedroom.
“That I’m having sex with my wife? So what?”
She wasn’t a prude, but some topics were private matters. “It’s so...intimate.”
Demetrius kissed her on the mouth. “Which is why I did not invite anyone else along.”
She laughed, threaded her fingers around the back of his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. He took the stairs with her in his arms.
“Thank you, Demetrius, for tonight. For making this special for me.”
“You’re my wife. There is nothing I would not do for you, and I expect the same in return.”
A shiver of concern coursed over her as doubts pressed at the edges of her emotions. She had given him her loyalty, her heart and her life. Though they had not explicitly discussed it, she would resign from her position as the queen’s personal secretary. She would live in Icarus with Demetrius. Wasn’t that a lot to give up for him? Did he expect more?
Demetrius entered his bedroom and kicked the doors shut behind them. The room was overflowing with flowers, lilies of all colors set in vases, petals strewn on the floor. Candles flickered in glass containers, illuminating the room.
Demetrius laid her on the bed. “I suppose you’ll be angry if I tear your new dress. You look so lovely in it, and that makes it much harder to be patient.”
She ran her hand over the soft, intricate lace. “You can’t tear it. I want to use it to make baptismal gowns for our children.”
He lifted his eyebrow. “Already we’re discussing children?” She could tell by his expression he liked the idea.
When they were alone, he made little effort to conceal his emotions. In public, he was stone-faced and cold. This warm, spirited side of him stirred her emotions. She felt connected to him, as if she alone got to enjoy this side of him.
“Will you help me remove my dress so I might make love to my husband?”
He loosened his tie around his neck. “Yes. Absolutely. I want you naked of everything except my rings. You must wear my rings.”
She touched the rings on her left hand. “And you must wear mine.”
He removed her dress carefully and laid it over a chair. When they rushed together, Iliana felt the supreme rightness of being in his arms.
* * *
Iliana awoke in Demetrius’s bed. Not Demetrius’s bed. Their bed. Demetrius was gone. She stretched beneath the sheets and then looked for a note. But she found nothing to indicate where he had gone. She ignored the twinge of disappointment. She had wanted to wake with him beside her on their first morning as husband