Sahara Ashdell: Rebirth of Patreek (Book 3)
Chapter 23: The Royal Wedding

Sahara drops the sword to the ground as she moves around the bed toward her mother. She isn’t sure if it is just a dream or perhaps a projection from the triangle. She sees her mother’s eyes fill with tears as she speaks, “You are so beautiful.” Sahara stops moving wondering how the projection could look so real and be crying. “Could I hug you?” Her mother asks holding out her arms and Sahara can’t seem to make words come from her mouth. This seemed so real and it broke her heart. She dives into her mother’s arms and feels the warmth of her body against hers.

Sahara cries hard as her mother holds her for a moment. “I have not much time, Elfie.” Her mother says patting Sahara on the back. “I just wanted to see you on your wedding day.” Sahara moves back so she can see her mother’s face. Her mother wipes her tears away and kisses Sahara on the forehead.

“It is also my eighteenth birthday.” Sahara says not knowing what else to say.

“Happy Birthday my love.” Her mother caresses her check. “Did you receive the crown?” Sahara nods her head and points toward the bed where the crown is still lying. “Ah.” Her mother sounds pleased as she reaches over to pick up the crown. “I had it specially made for you. It is the new crest for the Tari of all. Just having the Kinderton crest was not appropriate. Now that you will be marrying Brystol and joining the tri-kingdoms, you will also become the Tari of the other realms.”

“Hexaria told me.” Sahara says with a faint smile.

“You know Hexaria?” Her mother asked with a large smile. “She was the best of friends to me.”

“She also mentioned that.” Sahara replied.

“Do tell her hello when she comes to the wedding today. And, oh!” Her mother looks toward the right of them as though she hears something but Sahara doesn’t notice any sounds. “We are almost out of time. I must hurry.” Her mother removes the ring from a necklace she is wearing. “This is for Brystol.” She hands her the ring and Sahara sees the same crest on the ring as it is on the crown. “I am so proud of you my love.” Her mother says wrapping her arms around her again. “I am sorry your father and I could not be there with you as you grew up.”

“It is alright. I know it was the only way to save the Elvan world.”

“One last thing.” Her mother reaches into the box Sahara had gotten the crown and triangle from and removes the bottom. “This will help you defeat Patreek.” She hands Sahara a small flat square she retrieved from the bottom of the box in a secret compartment. “You must touch it to his skin before you wound him with your sword.” Her mother moves over picking up the sword Brystol had made for her and hands it to Sahara. “Teleport these two items to you the moment you see him or it will be too late.” Sahara is not sure why this was important to tell her on the day of her wedding. “It is time for me to leave Elfie.”

“But...” Sahara has so many questions but her mother gives her no time.

“Happy Birthday and trust Brystol with your life. He loves you dearly. Bye elfie.” Her mother turns back to smoke and rises toward the ceiling disappearing.

Sahara can’t help but cry some as she sits down on the bed looking at all the things her mother just left her. Sahara realizes how odd it was that her mother knew about the sword Brystol had given her. She realizes that means that her mother must have been going off a vision the declure had shown them. “Why would she give me all this on my wedding day?” Sahara moves over looking out of the window at the buzzing cobblestone streets of Holestroy. Then she looks up at the protective walls of the kingdom and sees the dragons flying around in the sky with their riders. Everything seems normal she notes before looking back at the items on her bed. She quickly grabs the flat square and puts it in the drawer of the table next to her bed when she hears the door knob to her room turn.

She smiles at the large group of elleth that enter her room as she turns back to face the door. “Morning.” She says wondering why so many elleth need to be there with her.

“Shall we begin?” One of the elleth says and the next thing Sahara knows she is being poked and prodded again. The elleth bathe her, shave her, and wax her first. Sahara had never been waxed before and she hated it more with every scream she let out. After all that torture, they painted her nails and scrapped her feet for what felt like an eternity. Then, they fixed her hair and make-up before forcing her body into an extravagant wedding gown. Sahara could barely breathe by the time they had her laced up inside the gown.

“Step in.” An elleth says placing shoes at her feet and Sahara complies.

“Oh Elfie!” Sahara hears Tari Nathila and it causes her to look toward the now opened door to her room. The process of getting her ready had taken all day and now it was growing dark outside. She didn’t even get to leave the room to eat. They fed her as they worked on her. “You look beautiful.” The Tari says sweetly.

Sahara smiles at the Tari excitedly, because though the dress felt tight and it had been a long tortuous day, she did feel beautiful. “Ah!” Verdiwild says suddenly appearing in her room as well. “Arenal. I mean Tari Sahara.” Being called Tari makes her feel odd. She had thought there would be a crowning ceremony for her to be called that.

“Do I not need to have a crowning ceremony before I am called that?” She asks.

“It is not required for you Sahara. The only requirement for you to be the Tari of your kingdoms was to be eighteen. Brystol was required to be crowned in a ceremony because he had a sibling and I am still alive. I passed the crown to him, but there was no one to pass the crown to you.” The Tari says glancing over toward her bed where the crown still sits. “Though, I think you might have received your crown in the appropriate manner. May I?” The Tari asks motioning towards the crown.

“Of course.” Sahara says nodding her head. The Tari looks over the crown and smiles at its beauty.

“It is a beautiful crest and very fitting for you.” Tari Nathila says moving toward Sahara with the crown, signifying she wanted to place it on Sahara’s head. Sahara bends down slightly, allowing the Tari access to her head and feels the cold metal brush up against her forehead.

“A perfect fit.” Veridwild said with a smile.

“She also gifted a ring for Brystol.” Sahara says pointing toward the bed hoping the Tari would retrieve it also, because she was not certain she could bend over to pick it up in the dress she is wearing. “It matches.”

“Ah.” The Tari says replaceing the ring and smiling. “So it does.” She hands the ring to Sahara before looking at Verdiwild. “Shall we?”

“It is time.” He nods toward Tari Nathila and holds his arm out for Sahara. “I will lead you down.”

“I will see you both down there then.” The Tari says squeezing Sahara’s hand gently before they exit the room.

Sahara feels nervous as they move closer to the downstairs ballroom. She wonders what Brystol will think of her in the dress. And she wonders what he will look like in his suit. “Are you cold your majesty?” Veridwild asks and Sahara shakes her head in response. “You are shivering.” She didn’t want to tell him how nervous she was but looking him in the eye and seeing his concern turn to a smile, she can tell he knows. “Well,” He says releasing her from his arm, “You shall travel alone from here.”

“Thank you, Verdiwild.” She says before leaning over and kissing his cheek.

Verdiwild bows to her, “Your Majesty.” Then, he opens the door to the room filled with guests.

She looks down to the other end of the room and sees Brystol standing at the front of the room. He grows a huge smile when he notices her and Sahara can’t fight her smile in response.

The ceremony seems to flash by and before she knows it the elder elf conducting their ceremony is asking for them to exchange rings. “Our new crest.” She whispers to Brystol in response to his inquisitive look at the ring she placed on his finger.

She had expected a kiss the bride ending like she had heard about in the human world but to her surprise the elder instead says “You may bed your wife.” Brystol bites his bottom lip as he grabs Sahara’s hand and pulls her toward the back of the room. Sahara quickly understands what is happening as they exit the room and begin to move up the stairs.

“We do this now?” She asked feeling concerned by the loud cheers coming from the room they just exited.

“Yes.” Brystol says not stopping nor slowing down as he races up the stairs. “This is how an elvan wedding ends.”

As they run down the hall, she feels her shoe coming off her foot. “Wait my shoe!” she says trying to stop and get the shoe but Brystol grabs her and throws her over his shoulder leaving the shoe in the middle of the hall.

“We don’t need it.” He says briskly continuing down the hall causing her to giggle. A moment later, she hears a door open and feels Brystol place her feet down on the ground.

She is uneven, wearing one shoe, so she takes the other one off. “This is not your room?” Sahara says noticing she had never been in this bedchamber before.

“This is to be our bedchamber.” He says nodding toward the two elves in the room to leave. The elleths curtsy toward them before quickly exiting.

“Are those our swords?” She smiles noticing the sword he gifted her is now sitting in a case next to his sword on a large fireplace.

“Indeed.” He says pulling her back up against him. “But we didn’t come in here to talk about decor.”

Sahara feels her heart quicken in realization that this is the moment she has been dreading. She feels him remove the crown from her head before turning back to face him. He then removes his crown and she doesn’t like the look in his eyes. It causes her to step backwards from him. “Why do you look like that?” She asks, causing him to smile as though he is making fun of her.

“Because you are my wife.” He says walking toward her as he removes his jacket. She steps backwards again but he stops her as he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her to his lips. The intense kiss causes her to lose herself and before she knows it he has her dress loosening and falling to the floor. He steps back from her and looks at her up and down causing her to move her hands over her breasts. “You are so beautiful.” He says looking amazed by her nakedness and moving her hands down from covering herself. He then kisses her breasts and Sahara hums in pleasure. She had never felt such a pleasant kiss. She watches Brystol remove his clothing and swallows hard remembering what Tari Nathila told her happened to an ellon’s parts when they mate. She feels Brystol’s fingers pulling her chin up toward his face, causing her to close her eyes as their lips meet again.

The next few minutes are confusing for her and a bit painful, but Brystol seems overly pleased with everything they are doing.