It parts around me, only to enclose us both in together. There’s barely an inch separating us, and I lean into the warmth emanating from his skin.
“Don’t be afraid.” His rumble is low, and husky, and I look up at him. He didn’t seem so tall back in the castle, nor so broad, but he surrounds me now.
I’m at eye-level with his bare chest, and I fix my gaze there rather than looking up. Bands of muscle ripple as his arms close around me. “Lyra. Look at me.”
I cannot lie here.
Not here, in this circle of shadow, with Erevan watching. So I look up, our eyes locking, and I pray that this will not force me to reveal anything I would rather keep private. Licking my lips, I force the words out. “I did not expect this to be so… intimate.”
Eres’s cheeks flush at that, and I feel a responding heat in my own face. His hands are warm on my back, the dress Duskbane provided barely enough to cover essential areas. Although givenEres’s state of undress I’m inclined to blame the ceremony rather than any nefarious thought on his part. “I don’t know what to do.”
His eyes flicker, as if he’d look to the shore, but he leans forward. My lips part as our foreheads press together. Eres speaks quietly. “Repeat the vows after me. Think about them if you must. This cannot be reversed, Lyra.”
Irreversible.
My throat threatens to close. “And after the vows?”
His hands tighten on my back. He is… everywhere. “If Erevan accepts the Binding, the riftlines can hurt. I won’t let you fall.”
I’m not trembling anymore. I can’t feel the cold anymore, not from the water or the air. “All right.”
“Those on the shore stand as witness to Erevan’s will. There can be no trickery, no falsehood. Do you understand?”
His thumb strokes the bare skin at the base of my back. “I understand.”
“Good.” One hand wraps around the back of my neck, beneath my braid. The other wraps around my waist, pulling me closer to him, pressing us together. With our foreheads still connected, I can feel every part of him. And he can feel me. The trembling starts again.
His thumb rubs gently at my neck. “Mirror my position.”
I lift my bandaged hand to his neck, wrap the other around his waist.
We could not be any closer. Our breathing syncs. “Look at me. Do not look away.”
Our eyes meet. “Repeat what I say, word for word. I open my shadow to you. Let no falsehood live between us.”
I take a breath. “I open my shadow to you. Let no… falsehood, live between us.”
“I will stand in your shadow,” he breathes. “By truth, I will remain there.”
I choke on the words. More, repeating every line, not looking away. That heaviness in my core grows, expands, until it feels as if his hands are the only thing holding me upright at all.
My fate is bound to yours.
I stand where you stand.
My step shall not betray your path.
If I betray you, let my heart fall silent.
If you betray me, let my heart fall still.
We ask for this Binding from Erevan.
And may the darkness not find us wanting.
It feels as though the river attempts to drag me down. It wraps around my legs, tugging, and Eres holds me tighter. “I have you. Bound in shadow.”
“Bound in shadow.” There’s wet on my face. On my cheeks.
