“No one has heard from him?” Archduke Rouche Berk exclaimed.
The knight who had come to deliver the news bowed his head low.
“No one, Your Highness.
We have lost all contact with Marquis Hanneton.”
“He must be out of his mind.
And the Saint, too.
Has he forgotten that he is to be married in two days?”
“We believe they lost their way in the snowstorm, Your Grace,” the knight explained.
“It came on so suddenly…”
A brutal blizzard had been battering the region all afternoon.
The weather on its own would have been bad enough, but now it was starting to get dark.
Rouche rose from his seat.
“Prepare a search party.”
“Sir Elliot has already begun one, Your Grace.”
“Not Elliot.
I shall go myself.”
“Whatever for, Your Grace?” the knight asked, shocked.
Gritting his teeth, Rouche strode out of his chancery.
He was all too aware of the procedures associated with marrying a Sterne.
Strict adherence to time and place was crucial.
If even one of these was violated, the divine energy within the involved Sterne would become unstable, twisting and unraveling inside them until it erupted.
In this state, the effects of the energy upon their body would be violent and painful.
The Sterne would vomit blood and writhe from the pressure building up inside their body, and in the most severe of cases, such strain would lead to death.
Rouche knew this, and Callis should have, too.
After completing the Ceremony of Vows at the High Church, Callis would have known to conduct himself with the utmost decorum and caution until the wedding ceremony was finished.
Certainly, he should not have been gallivanting about as he was now.
Had he known that Callis was such an oblivious fool, he would have had him locked up in the dungeon until his wedding day.
Whether Rouche liked it or not, one of the few places with a bridal altar suitable for a Sterne wedding was the dominion of House Berk, so the Archduke of Berk was burdened with the damnable duty to oversee it.
As he was issuing orders to Lennon, Rouche glanced out the window and could hardly believe what he saw.
Standing amidst the gathering search party was Seria Sterne.
“What does Lady Seria think she is doing?” he asked Lennon.
“Your Grace?” Lennon looked up, unsure what Rouche meant until he followed his gaze out the window.
“Oh!
She must be quite concerned about her betrothed,” Lennon replied.
“Concerned?” Rouche snorted.
“I assume so, Your Grace.”
How strange, Rouche thought.
Only last year Seria Sterne had been defiant and brash.
When she wasn’t around, the frequenters of the capital’s social circles often referred to her as the “Fiery Filly.” Could someone so unhinged and obstinate really transform so radically within a year?
Was she really that deeply in love with Callis?
And was it love that transformed her?
Rouche could not begin to fathom such waves of emotion.
“How laughable,” he said without humor.
“If I were in her shoes, I would be on my knees, praying that both of them freeze to death.
You, there!” Rouche hailed a knight who was standing idle.
“Deliver a message to Lady Seria Sterne.
Tell her that she is not permitted to set a single foot outside the castle.”
With a salute, the knight took his leave.
Rouche, cloaked in a heavy fur mantle over his armor, led his knights directly into the heart of the blizzard.
* * *
Lady Begonia had already heard the rumors.
It seemed the entire world was buzzing with the story of the handsome young marquis who’d run out to the glacier with the Saint on a winter’s night just two days before his wedding and had yet to return.
“I have devoted my efforts to this gown this season, and now it is caught up in a scandal,” Begonia lamented.
“I apologize,” I offered, feeling guilty.
“Why should you?
You have done nothing wrong.
Not you…”
I was at a loss for words.
The irony of it all was that, while I knew I was not at fault, all eyes were on me.
And with those eyes came a sense of shame.
“They should have at least tried to keep it hidden,” Begonia continued, uncomfortable with the silence.
“But out in the open like that, for all to see… The boldness of it!
A blatant disregard for your feelings, my lady.”
There was a knock on the door, and Abigail entered the dressing room.
Her hair, shoulders, and cloak were covered in a layer of fresh snow.
A maid hurriedly offered Abigail a towel.
“Thank you,” she said, wrapping her frozen hands in the towel and rubbing them together.
I looked at Abigail with a glimmer of hope, but she shook her head.
“The blizzard is intensifying near the glacier,” she said.
“It is impossible to proceed further.
There is too much risk for the knights in the search party.”
“I see,” I responded, feeling deflated.
“Half of them have already returned to the castle, and the rest have decided to set up camp on the edge of the lake.
They will resume the search at dawn.”
As the reality of what was happening sank in, I felt empty.
Lost.
Scared.
“His Grace the Archduke Berk has a message for you,” Abigail said.
“Would you like to hear it?”
“Yes, of course.”
“He says, ‘That damned wretch will be bound and gagged and then thrown into the wedding hall on time, whether he likes it or not.
Even if there is no news before the day of the wedding, you, Seria Sterne, should arrive promptly for the ceremony.
The wedding shall proceed as scheduled, on my word.’”
Abigail cleared her throat, signifying that she had finished.
I nodded.
I knew that I had to be present at the wedding venue at the designated time.
This was a point the High Church had repeatedly emphasized.
Observing the assigned time was of utmost importance at a Sterne’s wedding.
Even if the guests, having heard the scandal, openly mocked me or left to avoid the repercussions on their good names, leaving the wedding hall empty, I had no choice but to stand there till the end.
A potentially fatal end.
Begonia lightly grasped my shoulder and leaned in close.
“Now, my lady, given how sternly His Grace has spoken, I intend to fulfill my obligations to you.
If the ceremony is slightly delayed, so be it.
You will be rapturous.
The guests will forget all about this scandal when they lay eyes on you.”
I smiled, nodding in gratitude, but I was far from confident.
I couldn’t enjoy or admire the wedding dress or the jeweled necklace I was trying on.
All I could think about was whether Callis would make it to the wedding on time.
Back in my room, I prayed earnestly that he wouldn’t be late.
But by the next day, the search party still had not returned.
Nor by the morning of the wedding day.
* * *
“The blizzard isn’t letting up,” Lina said as she listened to the sound of the fierce wind beyond the window.
The snow had begun to fall almost as soon as they had reached the glacier.
When Callis suggested they turn directly around and head back, Lina begrudgingly agreed.
But the small, graceful snowflakes soon became heavy, the wind came in torrents, and the light snowfall turned into a raging blizzard.
It was so heavy that they could see nothing but whiteness in all directions, and they quickly lost their way as they scaled down the expansive, featureless slopes of the glacier.
After wandering around for a while, fortune graced them.
They stumbled across one of the huts the Berks had built on the glacier for just such an emergency.
Inside, they found a map indicating their location.
Callis scowled as he looked over it.
“How did we end up so far off course?”
“Did we really stray that far?”
“This is a dangerous situation, Lina,” he sighed.
“If we had not found this hut, then…”
The hut was equipped with preserved food, dry firewood, a small stove, thick blankets and quilts, and a bed.
It was enough.
The blizzard would not last forever.
They could hold out here until it passed.
Except Callis knew he was running out of time to get to the wedding.
I never should have agreed to this, he bemoaned to himself.
But no amount of regret could change the past.
He would have to weather the storm in any way he could.
Callis suddenly stood and donned his cloak.
Lina’s eyes widened.
“Callis?”
“I must return to the castle at any cost.”