Smiling, he grabbedher right hand to slide the ring onto her middle finger. “I would have followed you to hell and burned besideyou for eternity, Aurora Raven. When I looked into your hate-filled eyes that fateful day in my throne room, my heart was no longer my own. I just didn’t know it yet.”
Her left hand swiped at her cheek as she stared at him lovingly.
“I should have kept my promise and married you that night in my office, but I am a fool, and that night is my biggest regret. I want to be with you always, whether it’s at your feet or by your side.” He released a shaky breath. “Will you marry me?”
Silence.
“What if I don’t want you to?”she had asked him the day she regained her memories. The beating in his chest was so loud it could be heard in the aether.
“You are an arrogant fool,” she said hoarsely. “But you’remyarrogant fool. Yes.”
His head fell forward as happiness and relief thrummed below the surface of his skin, threatening to burst free. Rising to his feet, he grabbed her face gently and kissed her with everything he had.
He prayed to Lora, begging her to grant them a successful union in the soulscape. It was her magic, and he needed this to work.
Please, he begged the goldenSeraphagain.Please.
“There’s one last thing we have to do, and if this works, you’ll be safer until I can find my way to you,” he said when he broke their kiss.
Her eyes moved between his before flaring slightly. “You think if we marry here, it will make me immortal?”
“Yes.” Releasing her, he walked to his dresser and removed a dagger from the top drawer. “The awareness will alert Gedeon of your transformation, but he’ll find out about you anyway, and this will at least give you more protection when he does. Besides,” he added, “it only tells him a newRoyalexists. It doesn’t tell him your location or identity.”
Her breathing picked up, and worry prickled Caius’ spine when her panicked expression worsened. “You can’t just spring immortality on someone with no warning.” Her hand went to her throat. “I need water.”
Rushing to the drink cart, she poured herself a glass and gulped it down. He followed her and took it from her hand, setting it on the cart. “You knew immortality was part of the deal when you agreed to marry me.”
“I thought I’d have time to get used to the idea,” she said, running a trembling hand through her hair. “I’m being dumb. I know that. I’ve always known this would happen.” Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths and shook out her hands. “This is ridiculous.”
He cracked a smile. Even flustered, she was the cutest thing he’d ever seen.Cute. That was never a word he thought he’d use for The Butcher, but as he watched her flap her arms to calm down, he could think of no other word to describe her.
Her demeanor calmed little by little, and when she finally turned to him, she looked embarrassed. “I don’t know why I did that. It just took me by surprise.”
He tugged her closer and bit back a smile. “Immortality is hard for any lesser mystic to fathom, and it’s difficult to watch your loved ones die while you go on living, but I promise, we will meet them in the aether one day.”
“I know,” she replied softly. “The thought of marrying you makes me happier than I’ve ever been, but I’m still a normal person who had a tiny case of cold feet.”
He ran his hands down her bare arms, his eyes never leaving hers. “I’ll buy you warm socks, but first, I’d like to marry you.”
The beautiful smile that spread across her face was all he needed. Stepping back, he picked up the dagger again.
“That’s my dagger,” she said in awe, taking it from him. It only seemed fitting to spit on Nina’s grave by getting married with the very weapon that killed her.
“I’m going to cut our right palms, press them together, and then recite an incantation you’ll need to repeat,” he explained as excitement built in his chest.
“Can I do the cutting?” she asked as she inspected the handle and looked up.
He threw his head back and laughed before kissing her hand. “You can do whatever you want.”
They held their hands palm side up, and Rory pressed the cold blade into each, drawing the smallest amount of blood before laying her palm on top of his.
Caius looked deep into her eyes and repeated the lines he’d memorized since childhood, and when she repeated them back, he felt their bond strengthen.
Next came theawareness. It was a warm tingle in his chest, moving up his neck. His eyes closed as he relished in what it meant, and when he looked at their palms, the UmbraAeternumsigil, a U surrounded by swirling shadows, was imprinted on their skin.
She lifted her hand, staring at her palm. “If I’d known we were getting matching marks, I wouldn’t have gotten a tattoo.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’d still have bitten you.”
