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wedding night.
    My tears were gone and I was wrapped in a towel and sitting on the chair, chewing on my thumbnail, when Elektra came back in.  She said nothing after pulling a small vanity table with an attached mirror over to me, stepping around behind me and rubbing at my long hair with a towel as she pulled a comb through.  My onyx hair was half-way down my back now, straight as an arrow and soft as corn silk.  I stared at my reflection in the mirror, cataloging my high cheekbones, coppery skin, and dark brown eyes with thick lashes.  I was tall and plenty curvy.
    When my hair was completely dry and combed to a lustrous gloss, she put the small basket on the vanity in front of me and reached for a long white ribbon.  She began to talk about the Centaur marriage ceremony as she braided hair from my temples with ribbon, weaving them behind my head and tucking small pink flowers into the braids.
    "You'll spend the night with Perseus here in our home and for two days we'll give you the home to yourselves.  The morning of the third day, there will be a celebration and normally plans would begin for Perseus to build your home with the other males in the settlement.  But since you are leaving to travel to the palace, then those plans will wait until you return."
    "I don't know how long that will be."  I met her blue eyes in the mirror, the same electric shade as Perseus'.
    Her smile was sweet and genuine.  "It won't matter, Daeton, the length of time that you're gone.  Today you will become my daughter, and our home, our family, will be right here waiting for you when you are ready to come home."
    As she spoke of home, I realized that marrying Perseus might mean that no matter what happened with the wizard, taking him away from his family and back to my realm would be cruel.  Clearly they kept the nature of their existence tightly under wraps, so moving my big horse husband back into the den wasn't really an option.  I lost myself in thought again as she fixed my hair, and by the time she finished I'd only come to the conclusion that I would have opportunities to see my family by going through the portal, but that here in the Medes Realm and the town of Cholas, was where I was going to call home from now on.
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
    The dress was made of several layers of sheer white fabric.  When Elektra dropped it down over my head, careful to avoid the crown of flowers she'd painstakingly woven into my hair, I found myself dressed in something from the pages of a book of Grecian myths.  The slim shoulders of the dress were gathered with golden braids that fell to my hips.  The neckline was a low v that gave me good cleavage and ended in a waist gathered with more golden braids that dusted the floor.  It draped to the ground and my feet were encased in soft leather sandals that she cushioned with fur after rubbing ointment into my blistered feet.
    She tended the wound on my wrist to ensure it continued to heal, but the pain was all but gone in the middle of my growing excitement.  Cosmo knocked on the door, and when Elektra opened it, he stepped into the bathroom wearing a leather vest with bands on his arms and his long hair was out of the tie, the sides braided.
    "Before you see your groom, Daeton, I wanted to tell you what the council has decided."
    "What is this council you keep referring to?"
    He chuckled, "Apologies.  Our herd doesn't have a ruler like your den would have, we turn to the elders to guide and rule, and we call them our council."
    "My father is king bear."  I said, nodding at his explanation.
    His brows rose in surprise.  "Then we're even more honored to have you join our family, princess."
    "No," I shook my head, "I'm not a princess anywhere but in the den and even then it's not a title that's used.  Daeton is fine, I promise."
    He nodded and continued, "Perseus will accompany you when you continue your journey to the palace.  We've spoken to your guards and they