NOVEL NEXT 98: Secret Wedding
RYST
"Two minutes, Ryst. Whaddaya think, Annika?"
"Perfection. You're gonna love this, Ryst."
I could feel Nayth waiting for me, and I just wanted to get this over with and get to him. Two hours! Two hours I'd been sitting with Freya and Annika, my eyes closed while they primped and pampered, getting me dressed and made up for the wedding.
I hadn't seen anything yet. They'd done hair, make up, and even dressed me. I was wearing leotard-like shorts under a dress that left my legs bare beneath the knees, and that was all I knew about my appearance.
"Alright, step a little to your right. Great! Open your eyes, Ryst."
My eyes opened and found my reflection in a full-length mirror. My jaw dropped. My hands went to the dress. I twirled. I did a few dance steps and lunges and laughed. "Oh my stars, Freya. This is perfect! I look like—"
"You look like you fell from the sky and dropped into my brother's heart, Ryst Nova."
All I could do was nod. Because not only did I look like it, but that was actually what had happened, wasn't it? I could feel Nayth wrapped around my whole being inside. If I wanted to, I could talk to him in my mind at that moment.
I love you, I sent him.
I can't wait to see you, he said back. I love you, Methela.
A smile graced my lips. "Freya, I'm wearing this at the Shurwinn wedding too. It's perfect! This is exactly how I want to look every time I marry Nayth."
The white dress had a bandeau top, but with small spaghetti straps, and a small ruffle around the top that was made of the palest pink tule. Then where I would normally have my midriff showing, there was magenta tule. The white just-above-the-knee skirt flared so I could dance in it, and it had a pale pink tule ruffle at the bottom.
Freya had dusted my face with barely there makeup, minimal turquoise and white highlights around my eyes, and dark khol liner on the lids. A magenta lip topped it off. The pale pink shoes were the only thing I didn't love because I disliked heels, but they were designed for the Floreno dance. I planned to kick them off as soon as I could.
"Come on, Freya, Annika. Let's go do this! I want to see my husband!"
This is a Starlend custom. I'm binding you to me, I told Nayth in his mind, showing him an image of the handmade dark grey and olive green rope I was pulling through his belt loops and around his waist, knotting it on his left hip. Our eyes were closed.
Freya had given me permission to tie this handmade rope around Nayth's waist, but she'd insisted we not see each other or talk until we were inside the banquet hall for our wedding. So we were talking mind to mind with our eyes closed just outside the door.
He felt me about to pull away and wrapped his hands around my waist, not needing open eyes to find my lips with his.
I'll see you soon, Ryst. Freya led him away.
She returned for me less than a minute later, and I entered a transformed banquet hall. I should've noticed how beautiful it was— ponds of water lilies and floating candles.
But all I saw was Nayth across the floor, waiting for me with his arms open, like the first time I had seen him in my dreams. I didn't care about anyone else anymore, I ran to him and jumped. He caught me and spun around as I wrapped my legs around his hips, "Marry me, Nayth Carmidee!"
"Yes, Ryst! Every time! Now and always! Come on, baby, be my wife!"
Borden started the ceremony which was a very brief exchange of "For life and love, I choose you" promises. Calls of "Ho! Ho!" rang out, and then the Floreno started.
Nayth and I danced the Bride and Groom dance— the one we'd been rehearsing for days, even though we both already knew it. When that dance ended, a beautiful song started playing from Ren's violin.
I recognized it. It was the song Nayth always hummed when he held me, content, against his chest. He sang the words for me for the first time, and his inner self told me this was one of the surprises he'd been keeping secret for weeks.
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He'd written the song three years ago. The violin turned into a soft rock song as Nayth began singing quietly to me. Then the music grew into a power ballad to end all power ballads, written by Nayth and performed by Ren's band.
Play Helix by Nayth Carmidee.
"Helix"
Songs tell us of star-crossed lovers.
Tales of ships passing in the night.
But that's not our story, baby.
Let others curse destiny.
I'll take issue with fate.
Lovers are never separate.
Stars collided. Nucleus divided.
Strands unwound. Then rebound.
We came apart. And wove back together.
Lovers are not separate.
You and me; we will be.
Nothing and no one can stop it.
I know you, and I know me.
Lovers are never separate.
Stars collided. Nucleus divided.
Strands unwound. Then rebound.
We came apart. And wove back together.
Lovers are not separate.
So let's tell the story we want to tell
And tell it our way.
You and me, never separate.
Stars collided. Nucleus divided.
Strands unwound. Then rebound.
We came apart. And wove back together.
Lovers are never separate.
- Nayth Carmidee, 2734
We danced to a song I'd never heard but felt like I'd always known—our eyes closed, our beings intertwined. We danced as though in a dream. I felt Nayth laughing as the song shifted, and he said in our private language, This next bit is all Ren. He calls it "Stars Dancing."
The music shifted back to violins as Ren began singing a haunting melody that wasn't Nayth's song, but blended with it. Nayth's grandpa joined in harmony with Ren, singing a beautiful song about Stars Dancing and all things that could be. Nayth and I kept dancing, and I felt myself floating.
I saw the stars and two moons and dancing with Nayth for all eternity.
I felt Ren's mind showing me how he'd composed all of this in his most recent storm of music. It was glorious, and I felt free as I soared; high on music and love, and always dancing with Nayth as though in a dream.
Play Love Friday Mix
The live music stopped as dinner was served and eaten. Nayth and I ate with our friends and had Shurwinn chocolate off of a single plate.
Then a dohl drum beat started and Peydran and I jumped up whooping! The two of us showed Florians how the Shurwinn dance— Bhangra!
It didn't take long for everyone to join in, legs bouncing and arms flapping, whole bodies joining the beats of the drums. Halfway through the song, the music took an edgy turn with a techno boost and kept going straight down to nasty.
Freya pulled Pedyran into a grind, spanking him when he shouted, "Oh yeah, Ren, give me that banjo baby!" I felt Ren cackle with glee in my brain as he wailed on his twangy stringed instrument, and Nayth and I joined in the grind, laughing at a joke only the four of us knew.
The evening wore on, and I danced with Nika, Freya, Klear, and Nayth's grampas while Nayth danced with Peydran, Borden, his mom and grams. He kept finding his way back to me, and as soon as he noticed me tiring, he nipped my earlobe with his teeth and said with a wink, "I owe Ren the last dance. Enjoy this."
Play Elastic Heart, Love Me Like You Do by Conor Maynard.
NAYTH
When it was time for the last dance, my eyes found Ren's amongst the instruments. I owed him a shirtless dance didn't I? Approaching the band, I said "Before" and the bongos started while I unbuttoned my kurta and took off the blue-green tank beneath.
Ren's eyes traveled over my torso, and Ryst watched me with satisfaction across the room, Madrano already moving with her to the drums.
I pulled Ren's back against me, my right palm on his solar plexus, my left pulling our hands out to the side while my right thigh slid between his legs. My lips against his left ear, I commanded in a whisper, "Blush for me, Ren," the way I would for a woman who needed a little help coming a third time.
Ren pushed his ass against me in response, and the movement started. My pelvis undulated, showing Ren how to move and exactly what Florians meant by calling a song "Foreplay."
"Before" wasn't a song; it was seduction. It wasn't a dance; it was the moment clothes came off. It was hot, humid Florian nights and cold ocean water in the dark. It was hips and thrusts and two pelvises rocking in synchronicity.
When you danced "Before," you didn't need preamble. Ren wasn't an accomplished Floreno dancer, but he was made of music and passion and love. Ren was every song ever written and every note not yet sung, and I was every dance to his songs.
Our bodies swayed across the dance floor in perfect rhythm as one chord. When I turned him around to face me, his left arm wound around my waist, and his right hand rested on my belly, our bodies moving together like we danced this way every moonrise.
As the song came to a close, I whispered softly against his earlobe, "See you in your dreams, Ren," while Peydran handed Ryst back to me.
Monkey? I asked her in our silent language. She jumped on my back, and we ran for the porter before anyone could stop us.