The raised voices behind us go quiet. Caspien and King Kiel break off their heated argument mid-sentence. They both look down at the rock altar below our feet.
Caspien’s face turns a mottled red as he glares at his father. “Don’t stop! I’m the king! Crown me!”
They feel it too.
Cillian finally registers the undeniably shaking around us. My heart freezes in my chest as Caspien lunges for us. The earth cracks open in a violent quake. Caspien lurches backwards while my mate wraps his arms around me.
On unsteady legs, we stand together through the tremors wracking the world around us. The king scrambles for the ancient text and crown that have fallen to the altar, just as a thunderstorm begins to spin above us.
I press closer into Cillian’s hold.Gaia is not fighting to keep us apart, I assure myself.
But I bury my face in Cillian’s chest, braced for being pulled back to Caspien. Kiel has retrieved the text and is hurriedly speaking the address.
“Our blessed Mother of Nature…” he shouts into the raging storm as the first crack of thunder echoes through the ancient grounds.
I have to be right. She can’t be sending another storm…
I fight not to flinch at the loud rumble and peek out to see vines emerging from the cracks in the stones around us. They form a protective circle a branch out from Cillian and me. A vine breaks from the circle and makes its way up the skirt of my dress. It snakes around my waist, binding us together. Fat droplets of rain wet our skin, and lightning illuminates the altar with a second clap of thunder.
Kiel stops abruptly. As he looks up at us, his voice is deliberate and slow, like he’s speaking to a youngling. “Cillian, you need to stop.”
I look up at the male wrapped around me, protecting me.
“No. You need to stop,” he growls back at his father, the vines tightening as he pulls me even closer. Their strength, undeniable.
“No one is taking her,” Isolde’s even voice states from behind us. “Look around.” We both twist to see her outside the circle, holding her hands out, palms up. “The Goddess has made her choice known.”
I still don’t understand why Gaia has sent this storm, but Isolde seems to agree that it’s not to separate us …
Kiel is taking slow, deliberate steps towards us. As he attempts to step over the vines into the circle, they whip out and bind his ankle. Frozen mid-step, he says, voice measured, “Princess, I need to be able to reach the prince. The ceremony cannot be complete without the crowns.”
Cillian has started rubbing circles on my exposed back with his thumb. A feeling that I have come to love. The storm has gone quiet, and the rain has stopped. But the clouds still swirl in a circle directly above our heads, like they are desperate to begin again.
My eyes widen as realization hits me.Water and earth. Our elements — Cillian’s and mine — are protecting us. Our powers are keeping us together.Weare keeping us together. This isn’t the Goddess trying to tear us apart—this is us using our full abilities to connect us.
I look into Cillian’s perfect ocean-blue eyes for confirmation. He agrees that it’s safe. He glances back towards his father and then nods firmly.
It takes me a moment, but I’m slowly able to unwind the vines from his feet, the magic much stronger than I have ever experienced. Kiel steps into the circle and places the jewel-studded crown on my mate’s head. Where we realized last night that it always belonged. The colorless stones now radiate a brilliant blue that matches Cillian’s eyes.
The King of Castara.My mate.
When Isolde looks to me for permission to enter the circle of vines, I nod. She gingerly steps over the tendrils with a tiara in hand. She places it on my head, and I can feel the magic rush through me with the weight of the metal. I’m confident that the jewels that adorn each peak of the crown now shine with the same amethyst of my eyes.
For a heartbeat, I think of my twin and her eyes. Her crown that will never find its rightful place now that she is gone.I miss you, Nova.
As the now former king completes the sacred rite, I release the wind I didn’t realize I was holding.
But Cillian tenses, preparing for battle. “Where is he?” The question is dangerously soft. A snap of lightning flashes accompanying the lethally calm tone.
His parents exchange a look. “I don’t know,” his father says. “Caspien must have slipped away after he was thrown from the altar.”
“I want every Guardian looking for him. And if he or anyone else ever lays a hand on my mate—myqueen—I will hunt them down through whichever kingdom or world they try to run to.” His jaw is tight.
Then with a look that makes my heart swell, he gently cups my tender cheek and leans down to kiss me. It’s a light, innocent kiss. His lips barely brush mine, but each piece of my bond, body, soul and magic fall into place.
We are divinely bonded.
Chapter
