I kissed the side of her neck gently. “I want to tell you my few words.”
“But you’re meant to let everyone else hear.”
“Why? It’s not for them.”
She raised her brows but nodded slowly, understanding my reasoning.
“Do you know I never believed in luck?” I asked her. “Not until I met you. That day I locked eyes with you when we arrived at the institute, I knew I needed to know you. And I thought I had the worst luck in the world when I got to know you at first.”
Quentin laughed. “Charming.”
“And now, I think I am the luckiest being alive to have found you. It took me five hundred and thirty years, but it was worth the wait. And I would do it all again, every single second of it, if it meant that I could have you by my side. Every single thing we have been through has only made me love you even more.”
I cupped her face with my right hand, and she leaned into the touch. Quentin was a warrior who needed the right environment to soften. What a blessing to be that for her.
“You saved me in more ways than one. You’ve shown me love in the best ways possible. Thank you for everything you’ve done and everything I know you’ll continue to do. I love you, Quentin.I hope I give you even a fraction of the happiness that you bring into my life.”
She placed a hand over mine, and the other went to my chest, above my heart.
“I never expected to find you,” she said, voice breaking immediately. She laughed and tried to blink away her tears. “I never expected to find you,” she started again. “I think part of me had given up on the idea of loving someone because loving someone, anyone, meant being vulnerable, and I hated the thought of being vulnerable, but you… Gray, you made me realise there’s no shame in being vulnerable if it’s with the right person.”
The fear she held had been there at every step of our relationship, and I didn’t blame her. Quentin had lost so many people in her life. The fact she stood here with me today proved how strong she was.
“There will never be a point where I regret meeting you or anything that’s happened between us. You are my bad influence. You bring out the worst in me.”
I let out a bark of laughter. “As if you needed my help.”
“I was nowhere near as bad until I met you.”
“Whatever you say, love.”
“Thank you for supporting me so unconditionally through everything. Thank you for loving me so fiercely, and I hope those things continue for the rest of eternity. I hope that I am able to be enough for you.”
“Always,” I told her firmly.
My aura faded away from around us to reveal Erik, arms folded and looking murderous. I smiled at my brother.
“Do you two just want to run this ceremony?” he asked.
Quentin reached out and squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry, Erik.”
“Forget it,” he said with a sigh. He shot her a small smile. “I take it you exchanged your words?”
Quentin looked back at me with a smile that made my heart thump, and she nodded. We looked back at Erik, who glowed red with his aura.
“That leaves me to ask you both some important questions.”
About time he got to the point.
“Do you both promise to nurture the bond that has brought you together? Do you promise to support each other in every venture you may undertake? Do you promise yourselves to each other for the rest of eternity?”
“I do,” I said, beating her to the punch.
“I do,” Quentin repeated.
Erik’s aura flared out around him in a flash. The space was veiled in red, making everything hazy.
“Please exchange your rings,” he said, voice catching on the words.
