Angelica Vorona died today. The thought was still parading through her head hours after she had signed the documents marking her rebirth. She could read the strain in her husband's - her husband's - face, Emrys was maintaining his composure, as he always did, but she could read the nerves in his too-tight smile, in how stiff he went at a congratulatory word. She had her own fears about their future, but the worst of her fears was behind her. Once they spoke the words and signed their marriage license, a knot in her chest unraveled. He hadn't left her alone at the alter, he'd come and he was still here. They were legally bound and she no longer worried if her Emrys would prove a flight risk. It didn't matter now, not to her. Whatever happened now, she was Mrs. Emrys Selwyn and she was safe. She could finally move from her fear of losing him to proving him wrong. There was nothing simple about marriage, not really, but it could bring joy, if both parties were willing. Angelica was more than willing, but her husband would take some work. Apparently, the work began now.
She'd heard him perfectly, but she ignored the statement momentarily to reach her luggage trunk. Her maids had done well in remembering the small gift she'd ordered for the occasion. With the madness of the last two months, they could both use this gift tonight. Pouring a healthy measure of the firewhiskey, she approached him with the bottle and glass. "Not how I imagined giving you your gift, but it will have to do."
Free of bottle and glass, she was out of ways to avoid this conversation. It was difficult not to scoff at the vow she made today, the expectations of her were nothing new, but swearing to obedience to anyone was galling. She was his wife, not his servant. Her first wedding had no vows, it had crowns to reflect the glory of the union. It was two lavish days where she was a queen and subject to nothing but some higher power to which she was ambivalent. But now?
"I meant what I said in my letter. The vows we made today are to appease society at large. Between the two of us, they are inconsequential. We will make our own vows."
She'd heard him perfectly, but she ignored the statement momentarily to reach her luggage trunk. Her maids had done well in remembering the small gift she'd ordered for the occasion. With the madness of the last two months, they could both use this gift tonight. Pouring a healthy measure of the firewhiskey, she approached him with the bottle and glass. "Not how I imagined giving you your gift, but it will have to do."
Free of bottle and glass, she was out of ways to avoid this conversation. It was difficult not to scoff at the vow she made today, the expectations of her were nothing new, but swearing to obedience to anyone was galling. She was his wife, not his servant. Her first wedding had no vows, it had crowns to reflect the glory of the union. It was two lavish days where she was a queen and subject to nothing but some higher power to which she was ambivalent. But now?
"I meant what I said in my letter. The vows we made today are to appease society at large. Between the two of us, they are inconsequential. We will make our own vows."
WC: 390
![[Image: NpMgQU7.png]](https://i.imgur.com/NpMgQU7.png)