'So what would you have worn back in the days when you were human?'
'A bedsheet.'
Tory nodded as she thought about it. 'See I knew that's what they made chitons out of. Geary said I was crazy, but I always suspected as much.'
Ash froze as he realized that she hadn't understood his reference to being a whore. She merely thought he was describing the fabric of his clothes. To her, he was a man. Nothing more and definitely nothing less.
Lifting her up and twirling around with her, he held her close, savoring the way that she never reminded him of his past.
And when he set her down, she was dressed as an Atlantean princess.
Tory gasped at her long, flowing gown. Bright blue, it fell in pleats from a deeper blue underbust bodice that was covered with pearls and sapphires. But what made her face flame bright was the sheer material that barely covered her breasts. Her nipples were plainly visible. 'Oh no! Tell me they didn't wear this.'
Nodding, he turned her to face a mirror that appeared out of nowhere so that she could see the entire outfit as they swayed together. Gold chains draped from her bare shoulders to her elbows and her hair, which was curled into ringlets, was covered with a gorgeous gold headpiece. Tory stared at herself, adoring the clothes but hating that she was too tall, too skinny and too plain to do them justice.
And as she looked at Ash over her shoulder, still dressed as a punk rocker, she wanted to weep. He was gorgeous and she looked like the booby prize.
'Ash,' she said, her voice catching, 'can you do one thing for me?'
'Anything, Sota. You name it and it's yours.'
'Make me beautiful.'
He turned her to face him and he laid a kiss on her lips that set fire to her blood. Pulling back, he smiled down at her. 'There you go. You're the most beautiful woman in the world.'
Tory spun back to the mirror, dying to see what she looked like.
As she saw herself, she scowled.
She hadn't changed. 'Ash!'
'What?' he asked innocently, pulling her back against his front so that he could stare at her in the mirror.
'You didn't do anything.'
His gaze met hers and the sincerity in those swirling silver eyes scorched her. 'You are the most beautiful woman in the world, Soteria. This is the woman I fell in love with and there's nothing about you I'd ever change.'
Leaning back against him, she reached up to touch his cheek. 'Really?'
'Absolutely. And I hope that one day, we have a houseful of kids who look just like you.'
EPILOGUE
Ash stood in the doorway, looking out in the church that was teeming with people. For the first time in his immortal life, he was actually scared. He didn't want to mess this up or worse, embarrass or shame her in front of her family. This was Tory's dream wedding and he wanted everything to go off exactly as she wanted it.
Her side of the church was packed to capacity from her family. The only one missing was her grandfather who was waiting to walk her down the aisle.
On his arrival in New Orleans, they'd taken Theo aside and told him the truth about Ash.
At first Theo had refused to believe it, but in the end, as Ash told him every detail about their journey across the Atlantic together when Theo had been a boy and about their chess games in the park over the years since, Theo had had no choice except to accept the truth. Then he'd been thrilled to have Tory marrying the man who'd saved his life.
The rest of her family, with the exception of Geary, who knew the truth about Ash, they told that he was the grandson of the man who'd saved Theo. It was a small lie, but so long as it kept peace and the secret of the world Ash lived in, it was a necessary one.
'You ready, T-Rex?'
Ash nodded at Talon who was one of the groomsmen. Since Tory had eleven bridesmaids, Ash had been grateful for all the Dark-Hunters. Her friend Pam, as the maid of honor, was paired with Ash's best man… Savitar. Kim was with Vane, Geary with her husband Arik, Katra with her husband Sin, Danger with Alexion-both of whom were in temporary human bodies. Simi was with Zarek, Justina with Kyrian, Katherine with Styxx and Aimee was there with Dev. Sunshine was with Talon and Tory's cousin Cyn, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Artemis, was with Urian-something that had irritated the woman who hated being stuck with a Greek groomsman.
For some reason only Tory seemed to get, that amused her and so Ash had accommodated her request to give Cyn the most Greek of all his groomsmen.
Talon vanished as Savitar came forward. 'You nervous, Grom?'
Maybe he should be and yet he couldn't wait. He pulled the three-carat canary yellow diamond wedding ring out of his pocket and watched as it flashed in the dim light of the church. The center stone was flanked by smaller white diamonds in a very antique and unique setting-Tory had decided to go with the more traditional ancient custom of having a single wedding ring with a stone-just as they would have done in Ash's lifetime.
It would be beautiful on her.
'Not a bit,' he said to Savitar. 'But you look rather ill.'
'It's all the clothes I'm wearing. Tuxedos make me itch. I told you the third outcome would be grisly. Marriage.' He shuddered.
Ash shook his head, especially as he noted the fact that Savitar was wearing sandals. 'You're barely one step up from the Australopithecines, aren't you?'
He cocked one condescending brow. 'Hey, be respectful when you say that, snot nose. Haven't you seen the commercials? Us cavemen are very sensitive people.'
Ash laughed, relieved that for once he wasn't the oldest person here.
They left the room to stand by the altar and wait as the long procession of bridesmaids and groomsmen began.
Jaden and Takeshi sat in the first row with Tabitha, Xirena, Grace and Amanda-the latter two were riding herd on their hyperactive children as well as Kat's daughter.
Ash was actually stunned by the number of current and former Dark-Hunters who were here. His side of the church rivaled Tory's. Of course that was probably more from the shock value of Ash getting married than anything else. Last he'd heard they were betting on the Dark-Hunter.com Web site that he'd get cold feet and bolt.
Still, it was good to see them for whatever reason and their presence here was why they'd held the wedding after dark.
As Simi came down the aisle, she lifted her bouquet to her lips and started nibbling the flowers. Ash shook his head, grateful she didn't pull the barbecue sauce out of her purse and pour it over the gardenias. When she drew near her sister, she mouthed the words, 'Good eats. We'll get you one later.'
Then Kyrian's daughter Marissa and Geary's daughter Kalliope came down the aisle, sprinkling red and pink rose petals on the floor.
Ash looked at the door as they started playing the wedding march. For the first time, he was actually anxious.
Then he saw her.
His breath caught in his throat as Tory came down the aisle not in white but wearing black. She'd explained her choice of color to her family by saying that since white was the traditional color of Greek mourning, she wanted no part of it in her wedding. But the truth was, she knew how much he hated it because of Artemis.
She even carried a bouquet of mavyllos-the sacred black roses that had been created by Ash's mother. The
