Undesirable

Chapter 17

Signora Russo doesn't even give me chance to wipe the tears from my eyes before she is forcing me into my dress and pushing me out of the door of the bridal house towards the villa. Christina's blood-stained back is engrained in my mind, I can't remove the picture of it from my sight. I see the rivers of her blood snaking down every wall and pillar we pass, reminding me of the pain I have caused the innocent girl. The guard was the one who branded her, but I may as well have been holding the knife. Christina's suffering is on my hands and no one else's.

Signora Russo drags me all the way to a set of arched, wooden doors that tower feet above our heads. She grabs me by the shoulders and forces me to face her, her usual scowl imprinted on her evil face.

"You need to pull yourself together, girl," She snaps at me, scraping her thumb along the skin underneath my eyes to remove my tears. "There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in there waiting to see you, and I will not allow you to make a disgrace of Lord Pernice or this household." She clamps my hands together in front of my stomach, one on top of the other, and tilts my head up by pushing one of her sharp fingers under my chin. I look down my nose at her, my jaw clenched shut, my lips a thin line. I don't even care if she knows that I hate her and neither does she.

"That girl has been branded because you couldn't follow the rules. Take that as your one and only warning, your punishment will not be passed onto someone else again." She turns me to face the wooden doors and carries out the last inspections of my dress. "Everyone in that room wants you to fail. Prove to them that you are more than just some land fisher from a rundown village. You are a Lady of the Higher Tier."

I say nothing back to her. Even if I had the words, I wouldn't grace her with a response. If she wants a Higher Tier Lady, she is going to get one. The second I say my 'I do's', she works for me, and I will not forget what she deems appropriate treatment of someone's inferiors. She has created her own executioner.

The doors swing open and the orchestra bursts into song. A marble aisle awaits me, with two crowds of onlookers either side. Thousands of eyes dart in my direction, judging every step I make and inspecting every inch of my being. I hear their whispers and their insulting comments before I even take my first step into the room. I have to ignore them, block out their voices, and focus on what I came here to do.

Cesare waits for me at the bottom of the aisle, Luca by his side, watching me walk towards them. I keep my head high and my eyes on them, willing myself to keep a steady pace forward. I want to run down this aisle, just so I can turn my back on the gawking eyes, but it would only give the crowd something else to gossip about. I have to stay firm. I'm the one they came to see, not the other way around. I will give them a show to remember.

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The ceremony is quick, at a lot shorter than the ones back home, and before the sun has fully risen, I am no longer a Lykaios. I am now Lady Savanna Pernice, a citizen and Lady of the Higher Tier.

The celebrations go on into the late hours of the evening and by this time I must have danced with over half of the guests. I haven't seen Cesare since we had our first dance together, he is likely off somewhere entertaining his friends.

I manage to break away from the dance floor, after a rather unfortunate partner managed to knock a cup of wine out of a servant's hand, staining his pale blue clothing a deep red. He excused himself, allowing me to slip away to the sidelines. I watch them all dance and overindulge on food and wine without a thought or care in the world.

People are going hungry on the Middle Tier, and without question on the Lower too, yet here they have food to waste. It's sickening to look at, but it's now my life. I'm going to have to deal with it.