“I vow on my life to cherish Calabez Vartik for the rest of my days,” she recited. “To provide comfort, warmth, friendship, and an abiding love. I will forgive him his faults as he will forgive me mine.”
You have no faults, he wanted to interrupt.
“We will build a home upon a foundation of trust, one that will not be shaken, despite what disasters may come.”
No disasters. There could never be a disaster that could take me from your side.
“We will dwell in the Light for all of our days, and we will seek shelter only in each other, until the Goddess welcomes us into her warm embrace. This, I do vow.”
Cal felt the tears welling in his eyes but was not ashamed. This was the most powerful moment of his life, and he wanted to experience it in its entirety.
This woman loves me, has just pledged her life to me. I am unworthy of such an awesome gift, but I will not let her go now that she’s been given to me. I will cherish her as my only treasure and will keep her close to my heart.
Because she is my heart. She’s the beating lifeblood inside me. Without her, there is no me. Existence is with Gemma, and with no Gemma, there’s nothing.
“I love you,” he said when Marek announced them joined. “I will never love anything as much as I love you.”
Tears were flowing down her delicate cheeks and he wiped them away before bending to kiss her. It was a sweet kiss, a soft kiss, one that had the crowd around them cheering with abandon.
“All right, you two,” Marek said. “Save the rest for the honeymoon.”
Cal laughed and put his arm around his wife.My wife, he thought with wonder.Amazing.
He led her down the aisle and toward the waiting carriage. They climbed inside, and the moment the doors shut behind them, he pulled her into his arms for a proper kiss, one that didn’t end until the carriage pulled up outside the palace, the crowds left behind.
Even then, he couldn’t tear himself away from her.My wife, he kept thinking.Gemmaline is my wife. I get to keep her forever, and nothing will ever take her from me.
His thoughts turned dark for a moment. If any force tried to harm his wife or steal her from his side, he would bring all the power of family, of his people, and of the Goddess of Light herself down on the perpetrator until they were ground into dust.
No one will take her from me. She’s mine, forever.
