Itanya crept up the side of the stage, holding out a small leather bag with a giggle before retreating hastily back down the steps to her mother and Lex. I smiled gratefully, opening the bag and dumping the two rings into my palm.
The crowd gasped and tittered when they nearly fell onto the platform, but I caught them in a shaky fist, holding it aloft for all to see.
Ellowyn’s joy was infectious as she threw her head back and laughed.
“Gods, you’re so beautiful,” I said, sobering once more as I held her ring between my fingers. “I want to hear that sound every day for the rest of our lives. Laughter and love, time together and peace. That’s what I want. That’s what I promise you, Ellowyn. Wherever you go, I will go. Whatever you want, I will want. You are mine, and I am yours. I will always promise you that.” There was so much more I wanted to say, so much that words could not adequately express, but I hoped my actions over the rest of our lives would suffice.
With a trembling hand, I slid the etched gold band onto her finger. It was engraved with a rune from each of the people closest to us and imbued with Fay’s Blood Magic. Mine was a mirror to Ellowyn’s, just wider.
When Fay had approached us with the idea, Ellowyn cried before throwing her arms around her friend in excitement and acceptance. It was the greatest gift our friends could give us and a way for them to feel close to us in our marriage.
“Torin,” Ellowyn said, her voice clear and strong. “There is so much I want to say to you, so much I want to promise, yet I don’t know if I have the words. When many would have run, you stayed. You helped; you gave me the space to grow and become without demanding I do so in a way that fit best for you.” Her voice broke as emotion filled her eyes. Ellowyn paused for a moment, forcing the tears back as she took calming breaths. “Everyone in my life has tried to warp me into something I’m not, to tell me who to be and how to be it. But not you. At least, not after I made it clear what would happen if you did.”
A watery laugh accompanied her words, one that set off chuckles in the audience as well. I shrugged self-deprecatingly, fully aware of—and apologetic for—my previous actions toward my wife.
“But you listened and you loved me through it all. Maybe, when all this is over,we can go somewhere quiet, just a place where you and I canbewithout obligations. That is what I want for us, Torin. Just peace. And I want to find it with you.”
Ellowyn’s warm fingers gripped my hand, pulling it toward her as she slid the cool metal onto my finger, where it rested snugly above my last knuckle. I flexed my hand, admiring its weight and the small comforting zap of magic.
It was perfect. Just like her.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride,” Lord d’Leocopus exclaimed, and I wasted no time scooping Ellowyn into my arms and pressing my lips to hers as I dipped her toward the floor. Shouts and cheers rang out, but they were drowned completely by the feeling of her lips against my own.
Our mouths moved in a sensual dance as our tongues collided. Ellowyn’s arms wrapped around my neck, pulling us ever closer, before someone wolf whistled, breaking our embrace in a flurry of embarrassment and sheepish grins.
“Shall we?” I whispered against her lips, falling into the urge to peck her mouth once more.
“Shall we what?” Ellowyn parroted.
“Make this thing official? Consummate our marriage?”
My wife threw her head back once more, arms still wrapped around my neck, at my proposal.
“Yes, husband.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Ellowyn
Our consummation was quick and messy; our clothing never removed, in an effort to feel each other’s skin as fast as possible. Torin simply pulled the hem of my dress up to my waist and pushed his pants down to his knees before thrusting inside me in one swift movement.
We groaned together, the sounds of wet skin slapping skin echoing in the empty bedroom as the tinkling of revelry from outside floated through the open window.
I lost myself in the feel of him, in the glide of his cock, in the way he lit me from the inside.
I was hopelessly in love with Torin.
The fuck was fast, more of a quick way to partially satiate our lust before the longer affair tonight, but I still found release as his whispered growl of “mywife” caressed my skin and lit my nerves. My cries were punctuated by the hard thrusts of Torin’s hips before he stilled, sweaty forehead pressed against my back as his cock twitched with his orgasm.
Torin carefully eased his spent cock from my pussy, cum immediately rushing out to coat my inner thighs.
“Ack, hold on,” Torin rumbled against my back as warmth from a wet cloth suddenly enveloped my most private area, cleaning me of any residual evidence of our quick consummation.
The rag was tossed somewhere haphazardly, landing with a loud, dampplopbefore Torin’s hands returned to me once more. This time, his calloused palmsrasped down my exposed legs before gripping my panties and pulling them back up, dropping delicate kisses on my thighs as he worked.
I hummed at the overwhelming sensations and whined a bit when I was covered once more. The hem of my dress shortly followed from where it was lodged at the top of my hips.
Torin laughed at my frustration, his chuckle shaking his chest and my back as his arms encased me once more.
