When it’s my turn, the binding promises race through my blood. The moment I finish, a powerful jolt of magic nearly knocks me off my feet. Griffin steadies me with a firm hand on my waist and another on my elbow as lightning flashes beyond the stone columns and thunder rumbles overhead.
Griffin removes my veil, handing it back to the holy man. Myhusbandsmiles down at me, his eyes brilliant, and my heart gives an elated thump. He’s mine. Forever. In this world, and in the next.
Carver appears at Griffin’s elbow with two rings. Griffin slides the smaller one onto my finger and then gives the other one to me. They’re gold and completely simple. I love them. I love him.
I slip Griffin’s ring onto his hand, short of breath from sheer happiness. “I can’t believe you did all this in one day. You must be exhausted.”
He flashes me a tingle-inducing grin while the holy man lays my veil at Athena’s feet. The statue is ten feet tall and dominates the back portion of the temple. “I’ve still got plenty of energy”—he winks—“for an old man.”
Giddiness swoops through me in a light and heady tumble. “I’m breathless with anticipation.” Flippant doesn’t work. I sound ridiculously eager.
Griffin chuckles softly, obviously knowing exactly what he does to me. “How did you spend your day, Wife?”
A spasm hits my chest, a shock of pure joy. “Buying this dress and soaking in milk.”
Griffin’s eyebrows lift. “Milk?”
“Yes. I’m very soft. Everywhere.”
His eyes smolder in the torchlight. “If there wasn’t one more thing to do, you’d be over my shoulder and we’d be headed for the nearest dark alley right now.”
“In the rain? In my new dress?” I gasp, mock-horrified, completely on board.
“A cyclone couldn’t stop me.”
Heat dances up my spine.
Looking like he almost wants to cancel whatever else he has planned and find that alley, Griffin finally waves Egeria over. She unwraps a cloth, revealing a crown nestled in the protective folds. Just one. Fiery red gemstones. Sleek uniform pearls. Gold.
The symbolism is instantly clear to me, and my heart drops with a hard thud.
Griffin places the circle on my head. “Sintan gold. Tarvan rubies. Fisan pearls.” His voice carries to every corner of the temple, and I break out in a wash of goose bumps. It’s almost a cold sweat. He just made a statement about a unified future. He crownedme. There aren’t many people here, but not one of them is stupid.
My breathing turns erratic. I feel ambushed. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”
Griffin lifts my chin, gently but firmly forcing me to look at him. “Thisisthe plan. This is our family, your closest friends. These are our allies.” His knuckles glide along my jaw. “I was wrong when I talked about you being the shield and me being the sword.”
I swallow. That’s when he said we’d forge a new world. Plan in motion. Apparently.
Griffin’s eyes capture mine and don’t let go. His steadiness grounds me when it feels like all of Thalyria is tipping sideways, and I’m sliding off. “You’re the shieldandthe sword.”
I stop breathing, but something in his words and the deep, even cadence of his voice realigns me, helping me to find balance again. An unfamiliar calm suffuses me, replacing both air and blood. It spreads within my body—quiet, inevitable—the kind of calm that heralds the breaking storm.
My lungs fill again, and my voice comes out surprisingly steady. “So what does that make you?”
He smiles, his expression sure. Unflappable. “Whatever you need,agapi mou.” Griffin raises both my hands to his lips. His breath is warm against my skin, and his quietly spoken promise crushes the lingering fear inside me, compressing it into a small but unbreakable nugget of hope.
CHAPTER 27
“THERE IS A WAY TO GET INSIDECASTLETARVA WITHOUTanyone knowing why you’re really there.” Frowning, Aetos swipes a huge hand over his blue head, rubbing the back of his tattooed skull.
“And that is…?” I prompt when he doesn’t go on. The circus residents stayed overnight in the castle after the wedding feast. This morning, everyone but Aetos, Desma, Vasili, and Selena returned to the venue, leaving me the day to more or less reveal all, including my true identity, my Kingmaker Magic, my destiny to tear down borders and unify the realms, and the serpent’s nest Acantha Tarva has been stirring up.
Cool and composed, as always, Selena processed the information better than the others, making me wonder how much she already knew. Griffin’s family is here, too, and now that everyone has wrapped their heads around me being Beta Fisa and apparently the new Origin according to (pffft!) Artemis, ideas are starting to flow.
Sort of.
Aetos keeps his mouth shut, clearly regretting having said anything at all, and I glance out the deep-set windows, attempting patience. The courtyard is already darkening beyond the row of marble arches, each day closing faster than the last with the now usual show of rolling wet clouds racing each other toward the horizon. A damp, storm-charged breeze hits the back of my neck, lifting the wisps of loose hair there.
