Walker sighs. The relief is plain on his face. “Yes, My Prince. I’ll report back whatever I discover.”
“Thank you.”
Walker’s gone so quickly you’d think the man was a sprinter instead of a ghoul. I feel a little guilty. I’m sure his life is crazed today, and it’s all about helping us.
“Don’t worry about Walker,” says Lincoln.
“Who said I was?”
Lincoln gives me a sly look that says, I know you, Myla.
And he does.
Lincoln weaves his fingers with mine. “Let’s show you the Chapel.”
“Right.” I shake my head, trying to get my thoughts back into wedding stuff. “We’re getting married there tomorrow, and I haven’t even seen it.” In my mind, I picture a cute little chapel with carved wooden benches and stained glass windows. “Do you have ceremonies there a lot?”
“Not often.”
With that, we head off into the tunnels. Lincoln starts explaining thrax traditions that relate to the Chapel. It’s super-sweet. Lincoln’s gets all excited when he talks about thrax history. It’s charming. Even so, he goes so fast, it’s hard to take in everything. That said, who cares? And as long as no one ever asks me to repeat every little thing he just said, I’m solid.
Eventually, we leave the secret stone passageways and return to the main corridors. Out here, it’s all golden walls, House pennants, and suits of armor as decoration. Finally, we reach a small golden door and pause.
“Is this it?” I ask. “It’s kind of dinky.”
“It’s a side entrance.” He rubs his palms together. “Well, are you ready to see the Chapel?”
“Sure.” That’s what I say, but to be honest, Lincoln’s palm-rubbing puts me off a little. My guy only does that when it’s a super-big deal. I frown. What could be so huge about some chapel? I’m starting to wonder if I should have paid closer attention to the walk over when Lincoln opens the door.
I step inside and gasp. Damn, this place is huge. Like, truly unbelievably massive. And I know large places. After all, I fought in Purgatory’s Arena. Yet this Chapel could eat four of Purgatory’s Arenas and still have room for dessert.
“This isn’t a chapel. It’s an indoor stadium.”
The place is all grey marble threaded through with veins of white stone. The space is oval, like Purgatory’s Arena, and has tiered stone seats that stretch off into forever. The floor is flat and covered with more folding wooden chairs than I ever knew existed. Candelabras and pennant poles dot the floor.
Wow.
All the veins of white rock wind into a single spot on the opposite floor of the Chapel, where a raised stage has been set against the first tier of seats.
“This wasn’t what I expected. At all.” My voice echoes through the huge space, so my last words are “at all, at all, at all.” I decide to whisper-talk from now on. That echo stuff is a little creepy.
Lincoln purses his lips. “You didn’t catch half of what I said on the way over, did you?”
“Who me?” My tail taps my chest for extra innocence.
“You.”
“No, not really. You talk super-fast sometimes.”
Lincoln winks. “I’ll work on that.”
From across the massive floor, a small group of people wave and cheer in our direction. It’s both of our parents as well as Cissy and her boyfriend, Zeke. The place is so massive it takes forever for us to meet up at the center of the main aisle.
Octavia looks radiant in her black gown. “Isn’t this exciting? Tomorrow, the Chapel will be filled to capacity.”
I try not to wince. “What’s capacity here?”
“Sixty thousand.”
A pang of worry moves up my rib cage. “That’s a lot of people.”
Lincoln steps in to chat with Octavia, while Connor hangs back and talks with Mom. That’s fine with me. Lincoln’s father is on my Jerk List.
Meanwhile, Dad rushes to wrap me up in a big hug. “My lovely Myla-la.” He steps back and eyes me from head to toe. “You seem a little out of it. Are you feeling well?”
Oh, crap, I forgot about the fact that I didn’t get read-ready. Plus, my hair is a post-sexed-up mess, which is doubly embarrassing.
“There’s a long and totally believable story about how I ended up this way. I’ll tell you once I think of it.”
Dad chuckles. “Nothing to worry about. I’m just so happy I can be here to share all this with you.”
Warmth and happiness spread through me. “I’m so glad, too.”
Dad leans in conspiratorially. “By the by, that was some excellent work at the Wheeler Institute.”
“You’ve been following it?”
“My daughter and her warrior excursion on Earth? I was thrilled when the call came in for Lincoln’s private demon patrol to clean things up.”
“So what happened after we left?”
“The thrax cleaned up everything. Officially, Prescott had a heart attack.”
“And the Acca warriors?”
“The live ones are in custody.”
“In Antrum?” My upper lip curls. I can only imagine how quickly Connor will authorize their release.