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Rain.

It fell ceaselessly until Shivani was sure it won’t let up anytime soon. This was the universe agreeing with her—she doesn’t want to meet or marry Lukov.

She made a faux sound of pain as her maid pulled at her ginger colored locks hoping to secure it into a reasonable chignon but Shivani’s hair was anything but reasonable. She would have tried a spell but she was scared of turning it into yet another scandalous color.

“Leave the hair.” Shivani told the maid tiredly. She probably won’t be meeting the infamous Lukov today anymore. “Just help me with my dress.” The black dress with the tight bodice and a corset so tight that Shivani feared will suffocate her and lead to her untimely death by the end of the night.

She stood up and let the maid ease her into the dress that will deliver her death by the stroke of midnight. She lets her hair fall to her face in unruly curly locks. She looked at the back of her dress and surely her ass stuck out like a sore thumb just like she knew it would. Her ass was ginormous and her curves weren’t letting up either. She sighed. This will just have to do.

Achlys burst into the room a minute later, her face lit with a smile. “They are here. Put a goddamn smile on your face.” She offered her daughter her arm and escorted her to where their guests were seated.

Shivani took a seat beside her mother and plastered a smile on her face. She avoided point blank looking at their guests and a man she will probably spend the rest of her life with.

“This is Shivani.” Achlys told the men as if they couldn’t already tell by her outrageous dress.

“Hello.” Shivani’s lips curled up at the corners as her lips spread in a soft sweet smile.

“Look, this is nothing formal. The wedding isn’t until next week.” Achlys said charmingly. Her daughter shrieked internally. Do the guests not know that her mother was a cruel unfeeling witch? Literally. “I just want you all to be familiar with each other, Lukov.” Shivani finally got a good look at Lukov.

He was handsome. Not that it was any surprise, seeing as they were paranormal creatures but the thing that Shivani found completely striking about him were his eyes, they were an harsh unforgiving grey and there was a glint in his eyes—a wild and dangerous light.

“Hello, Vani.” They were already onto nicknames? Shivani wondered if she should call him Lu but it sounded like loo and it sounded offensive. Her mother will have her burned at a stake if she offended him. She noticed that his voice washed over her and settled uncomfortably on her skin. He has an accent too, one that's entirely his own.

“Hello.” She finally settled on not calling him anything. She asked herself if it felt awkward to him having this conversation with her when her mother and two other guys who she suspected were Lukov’s bodyguards and who were built like tree trunks were seated but he showed no sign of discomfort. And as if Achlys read her daughter’s mind.

“Gentlemen, we should let them be.” Achlys gave Shivani a look that says; do not mess this up and subsequently left with the two other large guys.

“Little witch, you must think you are brave.” Lukov’s dark hair fell into his face. Chills ran down Shivani’s back. She knew they will kill her and she will achieve the opposite of her mission—start a bloody war between the witches and the wolves and it won’t be long before the other supernatural communities start picking sides.

“What do you mean?” Shivani straightened her back and pretended to be brave. She can’t afford to disappoint her mother.

“Do not worry, Vani.”

“Do not call me that.” The cruel light in his eyes glimmered. He pushed his hair out of his face for the fifteenth time in the last minute and put it behind his ears calling attention to how broad his shoulders was and how they tapered into the lean muscles of his waist. He has a scruff on his chin too. Shivani noticed.

“You prefer little witch then?” He bared his teeth and Shivani saw the flash of his fangs and she knew he must have done it on purpose to make her scared and he’s achieved his purpose because she was two seconds away from running away from this room like her tight bustier was on fire.

“Shivani.” She whispered. “Call me Shivani. She’s always liked the name. She liked that it signified something so important. It is the only thing that her mother has done right by her.

“Little witch it is.” Shivani refused to argue. The light in his eyes turned mischievous. “What do you plan to do after we get married? Surely, you do not intend to stay married to a wolf forever.”

“Oh, but I do.” Her temper was rising. He was trying to mess with her and she was letting him.

“That’s not a good idea, little witch.”

“I do not care. I have to do what my mother tells me.”

“Err,” He made a patronizing sound. Shivani didn’t know why but this man was dancing on every of her nerves.

“Lukov, did you wear a tux like a human to hide the monster we all know you are? It’s shinning through.” Lukov growled. His eyes turning an abnormal shade of gold.

“Do not test me, witch.”

“Be more original, wolf. Maybe then I won't. Let's tell my mother we are done here.” Shivani said with a confidence that she definitely did not feel and sauntered out of the room.

A few minutes later, she heard her mum telling them goodbye with her low honeyed tone that she usually reserved for charming people. Shivani expected Achlys to come into her room after to ask her for details but she did no such thing. Shivani pulled off her suffocating dress and went down to the courtyard to meet Zaphr— her mother’s male servant. There is usually a rumor that he's half Fae but Shivani can't tell because he is secretive and he never really talks even though she likes to think they are good friends.

“Hi, Z.” Zaphr gave a non-committal shrug but his enigmatic eyes were twinkling.

“Shivani, you are getting married?”

“The news has spread.” Shivani gave a wry smile to her only friend. “The wedding is next week.”

“Congratulations?” Those weren’t in order but Shivani threw her arms around Zaphr anyways. She was going to miss him and the companionable silence he offered. He stood there like a goldfish for a while before he awkwardly patted her back.

“I will miss you, Z.”

“It is Zaphr.”

“At least, it is not little Fae.”

“I am not even Fae.”

“Now, I know what nobody else knows.”

“What is that?”

“That you are not Fae.”

“You are not allowed to tell anyone though.” Shivani grinned, tears pooling in her eyes until they almost blinded her.

“Goodbye, Zaphr.”

That night, Shivani sobbed herself to sleep.