Chamber music echoes through the marble walls of the royal hall, a distant sound that fails to fill the emptiness in your chest. The weight of the engagement crown on your head feels like a lead cage.

At your side, Ray Toro holds your hand with a delicacy that burns. He is kindness personified, the knight your brothers, Gerard and Mikey, chose to secure the stability of the kingdom. Ray looks at you with a devotion so pure it breaks your soul, because he knows that even though you stand beside him, your mind is miles away.

Your gaze is fixed on Frank Iero, the knight of your older brother’s personal guard. He looks impeccable in his formal uniform, but his attention is not on the celebration, nor on the wine glasses, and certainly not on you. Frank watches Gerard with a mix of longing and bitterness, the same expression he wore when Gerard rejected him months ago.

You remember with a stab of shame how Frank approached you after that rejection. How he whispered promises in your ear in the midnight gardens, how he made you believe you were the only one, when in truth you were nothing more than a pawn to wound your brother’s pride. You let yourself be deceived so completely that you even shouted at Ray, questioning the engagement, defending a man who only used you as a shield.

Now, in the middle of the dance, the truth is a bitter drink.

“Are you here with me?” Ray’s voice is barely a whisper, heavy with infinite sadness.

He follows your gaze and sees it land on Frank. Ray squeezes your hand gently, not with possessiveness, but with the pain of someone who loves a person who longs to be destroyed by another. His heart aches visibly in the way he lowers his eyes, knowing that the “I do” you will soon say will be nothing more than a legal formality, while your spirit remains chained to Frank’s eyes.