But the next second he stepped in front of Laurel, shielding her, and the look he gave me was the look you give an enemy.
"Constance, what are you doing here?!"
I took a step forward, my voice flat.
"What do you think? Praying for fertility."
The words had barely left me when Laurel began to cry behind him.
"Jason, see? I should have known. The moment you marry, you won't be able to spare a thought for me. Look, the wedding isn't even done and she's already chased me all the way up here to glare at me…"
The look Jason turned on me changed in an instant.
"Constance, are you ever going to stop?!"
"I said I'd marry you, so I'll marry you. What are you following me here for?!"
"Can't you see Laurel's upset? Let me tell you something. Even after we're married, you'll have no say in how good I am to her!"
"I don't care."
I stepped around him, walked up to the mountain shrine, and with my back to Jason I said quietly,
"Because my husband isn't you."
Clutching the red wedding veil my mother had embroidered for me by hand, I knelt slowly before the shrine, pressed my palms together, and prayed in earnest.
But before my forehead could even touch the cushion, two large hands clamped down hard on my shoulders.
"Constance, what is that supposed to mean?!"
"What do you think it means—"
Laurel cut in ahead of me, her voice thick with tears.
"She's just angry about what you said before. She just doesn't want you being good to me…"
"Jason, I'm the one who doesn't belong here. It hurts so much…"
The hands on my shoulders tightened, as if to crush the bone.
"Constance, why are you always so snide with Laurel?!"
"Get up! Apologize to Laurel!"
The prayer to the mountain shrine couldn't be stopped. Gripping the red veil in my hands, I fought to wrench my shoulders free of him. Jason lost his temper and shoved me forward, hard. My head hit the iron corner of the table by the cushion with a loud crack. Warmth spread across the top of my head. I gritted my teeth and finished the prayer.
I stood, stepped past Jason, and headed for the door. But I'd taken only two steps when he seized my wrist, his voice angrier than before.
"I told you to apologize to Laurel. Are you deaf?!"
I turned my head slowly to look at him.
"I did nothing wrong. I won't apologize."
"Jason, I wasn't being snide, and I'm not marrying you. So whoever you're good to, whoever you kneel to the mountain god for, none of it has anything to do with me."
"Let go of me."
Something uncertain flickered in his eyes, and in that moment of distraction his grip loosened. I shook him off and turned to leave.
Then Laurel suddenly stepped in front of me, eyes brimming with tears, her voice all wounded grievance.
"Constance, these little tricks of yours only work on Jason. Anyone can see it. You're using the marriage as a threat on purpose, just to push him away from me!"
"You've looked down on me since we were children! Fine, I'm not lucky enough to marry Jason. But did you have to corner me like this?!"
"You know perfectly well I didn't even have a proper veil on my wedding day, and today of all days you come up here with the veil your mother embroidered for you. What are you trying to do? You just want to hurt me, don't you?!"
"Fine. I'm the one who doesn't belong. I'm just in the way for even being alive!"
With that, Laurel suddenly threw herself against the wall behind her.
She put no force into it at all. Her head met the wall without so much as a sound. And yet she crumpled straight to the ground, clutching her head, moaning in pain.
Jason lunged forward two steps and swept Laurel into his arms.
