“May your love be like the earth—stable and true.”
Greya’s words rang out across the grove, and Ena could feel with her Knowing the birds and squirrels emerging from their homes for the day. She could feel the sun upon her face and Knew the breeze through the trees. It was as if Gaia, or…something, was present—listening, watching, Knowing—as Greya pronounced their union.
“Now the blessing of—oh, fuck,” Greya said, slapping her forehead with her hand in almost comedic fashion. “I completely forgot about the blessing of the sacred object. Do you two have something?” she asked, looking between them.
Damn, Ena had forgotten too. Handfasting ceremonies also usually entailed blessing a sacred circular object—a bowl, a chalice, a wheel—something to represent the sacred circle and never-ending bond of a handfasting union. Both couples were meant to protect the object and utilize it on special occasions as a reminder of their bond. What could she—
“Oh, wait,” she said. “Yes, I do have something!”
Reaching with her free hand into the small leather satchel attached to her belt where she kept her needle and thread and other small objects that required safekeeping while traveling, she pulled out the sapphire ring Ty had made for her.
When she’d ended things with him, part of her had wanted to get rid of it, but something had compelled her to keep it close. She’d both loved and hated having the reminder of him. It had hurt, but it was also tangible—a physical reminder that their love had been real and it had happened, even if she had had to let it go. And now, she was eternally grateful that she hadn’t tossed it into the River Wry.
“You kept that with you the whole time?” Ty asked her, raising his brow in pleasant surprise. He was so smug, as if it brought him great pride to know she’d pined over him, and she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
“Of course. Now shut up and let her finish,” Ena replied with a small smile, trying hard to keep the blush off her cheeks.
Greya took the ring from her and held it in both hands before them. “May this ring be a symbol of your union and your love, everlasting and cyclical. May you protect it as you protect one another, and rejoice in both its beauty and purpose as you rejoice in one another’s.”
Taking her own knife from her belt, Greya gently sliced the palm of each of their hands, dipping the ring into the blood on Ena’s hand, followed by Ty’s.
Ena watched as the blood flowed from Ty’s wound, and a wave of dizziness overcame her so suddenly that she had to look away.
Gaia, what was wrong with her? She’d never reacted so strangely to the sight of blood before.
Shaking it off as it passed, she turned her attention back to Greya, who held the ring out before them once more.
“Hearts as one, bodies as one, blood as one. Blessed be,” she said reverently.
Greya handed the ring back to Ena, who placed it on her left pointer finger for safekeeping.
The ceremony was complete, and Ena took a second to look around at the friends and family that lovingly surrounded them. Turner had tears in his eyes as he smiled like a gleeful child, and Perse had his hands clasped before him, a look of pride on his face. Cris gave her a small, timid smile, and even Mel looked to be enjoying themselves, or maybe it was just the brief vision-free moment they were having.
And lastly, she looked up at Ty.
His head was haloed by the sun, his strong features stark and beautiful in the light. His green eyes seemed to glow as he watched her and reached out, cupping the side of her face as he stroked his thumb across her cheek. “I love you, Ena,” he said softly. “Through whatever unknowns may come.”
Ena smiled at him with tears in her eyes—her heart filled with love and fear, hope and despair, for all that had happened, and all that was still coming.
“I love you too,” she echoed. “Through whatever unknowns may come.”
Epilogue
Cole
Heawokeinthedark, the pitch black of the room suffocating him.
He looked around, barely able to see his hand in front of his face—but he couldfeelsomething.
Was there someone in the room? Someone coming for him? The witches? His nephew? His…
No, that wasn’t possible. Haden was dead. Haden was gone—he’d taken care of him long ago. His brother could never come for him now.
Still…something wasn’t right. His sense of his Master, that pull to the chaos in his mind, that knowledge of how to please him, serve him—it had gone quiet.
Closing his eyes, he retreated into the depths of his mind, the way he often did when he sought Iblis’s guidance, and he was pleased to feel him there, but…that urge to destroy, to disrupt, to spread chaos with his Power, it was muted somehow.
What in Iblis’s name was going on?
