The Substitute Bride He Could Never Replace

Neriah's pov 

I was seated in front of the mirror, looking at a stranger.

The wedding gown was excellent. I could hardly see the woman in the reflection, she seemed so calm. Composed. A sharp contrast to the always bleeding, bloodstained neriah. 

I looked over to the little bag of medicine on the dresser next to me. I touched the edge of it, just to remind myself of its reality.

"It's  for you," I whispered to myself. "Not for him, not for this family, for you."

I said it in my mind like a promise, because I had to have something to cling onto.

The door was opened and Darius walked into the room without knocking, holding a folder in his hand. He placed the vows and the papers that will be required to be signed on the dresser next to me, "The vows and the documents you'll need to  keep once you're married. Don't lose them."

"I wouldn't," I said without looking him in the eye.

He straightened his white suit jacket, and then his eyes fell to his sleeve. He rubbed at a small dark stain near the cuff, and frowned.

He cursed, "Damn it!"

He stripped off the jacket, tossing it over the back of a chair as he looked for something to wipe it with. While he was stretching the fabric taut a small foil packet dropped from the inside pocket onto the carpet. He didn't notice.

"Hurry up here," he said, looking at his watch. "In twenty minutes we will be on our way. I need to change this suit." Then he turnedto leave, thinking about his stain.

The second he jest,  I bent and retrieved the packet. Empty, foil cut open on one side and no pills inside. I turned it over in my hand, searching for a label.

I took my cellphone out, and  took a pic of it, send it to an AI, I needed answers. 

It took a while to load the results. I scanned them and my stomach clenched with each word. Confusion. Impaired awareness. Memory gaps. Higher doses: Hallucinations. It was not something you'd take on a whim; it was the type of medicine that people would use when they wanted to change a person's mind. 

"What is father up to now?" I mumbled.

The door opened up again before I could think any more.

Now Darius was wearing a new jacket, he said, "Let's go. The car's waiting."

I didn't really know what I was doing when I put the packet in my clutch, I think there was something in my brain that told me to keep it, and I followed him out.

---

There was a silence in the car, only the sound of the engine. I looked out the window, my hands clasped tightly in my lap.

"Will he be angry?" I asked eventually. "When he realizes that I am not Elara?

Darius neither looked at me nor did he give me a reaction. "It's none of your business, I got  it sorted out."

"It's not an answer," I replied, unsatisfied.

"That's the only one you'll get," he said. "Stop worrying about things that don't concern you and focus on getting through today."

I shut my mouth and didn't say a word more.

I looked at the little waiting room when we got to the courthouse, thinking he'll be here, Cassian, the man I'm going to marry, I've never seen his face. The room was almost devoid of other people other than a clerk behind the desk and a handful of witnesses.

"Where's the groom?" I said to Darius.

The clerk flipped through a folder, "He's already signed. All we need is your signature and we're done.l

"He's not here?"I asked what I didn't understand further.

Darius said simply, "just sign it."

I scanned the papers before me, then my father's face, trying to find some comfort. He didn't say a single thing, merely stood there, his face inscrutable.

I had no other option! I took up the pen and signed my name at the spot where the clerk marked, my hand shaking a little.

"That's all, I am  married to a guy I never met."

Afterwards, Darius took me to a hotel room, the one set up for the wedding night. I was standing in the doorway, looking into the room and feeling uneasy in my stomach.

"Why must I remain here when he's not even here?" I asked.

"He'll be here," Darius said. "This was the deal, Neriah, you agreed to this. Remember what I'm getting for you."

The reminder hit the bullseye.

"He is likely very tired due to the day," Darius added. "He will not bother you tonight, just get some sleep. And don't do anything stupid."

I went in grudgingly and the door shut.

The suite was elegant, beautiful and quite new to me. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, waiting, with my clutch still beside me, clutched in my hand while still holding the empty medication packet I couldn't get rid of.

Time passed slowly. I can still see myself sitting there looking at the door, worrying about all the anxious thoughts in my head about who I was supposed to be in the room with.

But, at some point during the wait, everything started to get fuzzy.

My mind began to wander, like smoke I couldn't see. I can recall at that moment, I felt heavy and strange, my vision blurred with the edges swimming around.

I don't remember how long was elapsed after that.

The next clear moment I will have is when I wake up on the bed, stark naked, with a foggy head, and my body unresponsive to my commands. Cassian was beside me, and was heavily drunk; his eyes only partly open, and he was muttering to himself.

He reached toward me, his hands around my waist, but he didn't look, he whispered "Elara. Come here." 

I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I was trying really hard to figure out what had happened in between sitting at the edge of the bed and this moment, but I couldn't find anything.

On that night I didn't drink a drop of alcohol.

Then, out of the fog that was my mind, I recalled what I had in my clutch: an empty foil packet. These are the search results on my phone. Confusion. Memory gaps. Impaired awareness.

The bits of the puzzle fit in together in a sickeningly clear manner.

"I was drugged by Darius....but how?"