“Everything happens for a reason. With heart and soul. Such is the way to the stars,” we said in Latin, voices mixing.
The officiant threw her arms above her head.
“Stet fortuna domus!” she shouted.
We repeated in unison, “Let the fortune of the House stand.”
The last syllable rang through the silent atrium.
The storm slammed into me.
White-hot pain seared my heart. I was skewered on a phantom sword. Gasping for air, bent over, I clutched at my sternum as agony burned relentlessly.
The pressure was astronomical. Unfathomable.
Harsh grunts echoed as Augustus and Kharon leaned back, jaws clenched as they gripped their chests.
The three of us burned together.
Abruptly, as quickly as it had begun, the pain stopped.
All was still.
What did I just do? I should have run.
But a dull ache still simmered deep within my heart, like the calm was just an interlude, not the end.
The worst is still to come.
Hands on my knees, I coughed as I struggled to catch my breath. Someone rubbed my back soothingly.
When I finally found the strength to stand straight, Kharon and Augustus had recovered. They stared at me with laser focus.
I grimaced.
Why aren’t they blinking?
The officiant exhaled loudly, scroll clattering.
“I knew you three would be electric, but that was... unexpected.” Her voice was grave. “What a—powerful union... There will be consequences for sure—dark consequences.” She shivered. “There always are.”
Numbness spread.
If I wasn’t experiencing the worst panic attack of my life, I might have worried about her unsettling abstruse comments.
As it was, I felt nothing.
I’d reached my limit.
She clapped her hands together and smiled widely, like she was overcompensating. “Now you may exchange rings.”
Augustus pulled a long, thin velvet box out of his toga.
Inside were two matching black bands of snakes eating their own tails, with rubies for eyes. Attached to the bands was a chain of blue diamonds that formed a bracelet at the end.
Augustus and Kharon put the serpent bands on each other’s ring fingers and clasped the attached bracelets around their wrists.
The jewelry pieces were much flashier than a human wedding band.
