Glancing over my shoulder, I give him a tight smile. “I’m trying. I just want everything to be perfect.”
“Dalia doesn’t need perfection,” Steel says as he joins us. “She just needs us to be real with her.”
“Yeah, I know. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make things perfect for her.”
“She’s coming!” Phoebe announces as she bounces into the clearing behind our house.
Thank fuck.
As excited as I am for what’s coming, I can’t stop freaking out. The sooner it’s over, the sooner I can calm the fuck down, as Titan put it.
Morrigan and Dalia step out of the tree line, a blindfold over our mate’s eyes. “Seriously, Mor. What is going on?”
“I told you it was a surprise. Now stop complaining. We’re here.”
She reaches for her blindfold, but Morrigan bats her hands away. “Damn it, Morrigan.”
Morrigan rolls her eyes. “Just wait until they say you can take it off, okay? There’s no reason to ruin the surprise.”
“They? Who’s they? And what surprise?”
Steel chuckles. “You’re just as bad as Blaze, baby.”
Dalia immediately relaxes, her body turning toward Steel. “How is anyone supposed to relax when they’re being led through trees with a blindfold on?”
“Do you trust us, Dalia?” Titan asks as the three of us move toward her.
“You know I do.”
I chuckle. “Then take a deep breath and trust us.”
All tension leeches from her body as we stop in front of her.
Finally, my nerves settle.
She’s going to love this—even if it ends up not being perfect.
Once again, Steel is right—not that I’m admitting that to him.
Morrigan’s smile lights up her face as she kisses Dalia’s cheek before hurrying to join the rest of the crowd gathered behind us.
“Close your eyes, gorgeous,” I tell her as I move behind her to undo the blindfold. “It’s not super bright out here, but I don’t want you to hurt your eyes.”
“Okay,” she murmurs.
As soon as it’s undone, I rejoin Titan and Steel. “You can open your eyes now.”
Dalia blinks, smiling as her eyes land on the three of us. Confusion fills her eyes, her smile falling slightly as she looks around the clearing.
“While I trust the three of you, would someone like to explain to me what’s going on?”
I can only imagine the thoughts going through her mind. The clearing is large enough for most of the city to gather, which was done on purpose when we built our home. It’s only a five-minute walk to her sisters’ home, but it's built into the woods, so it feels like we’re alone. The clearing butts up against her sisters’ cabin, making it the perfect place for citywide gatherings outdoors.
With the help of Dalia’s sisters and friends, we strung up fairy lights—not the ones from the time before the war, but ones made by the fairies in Iero—filling the clearing with a soft glow. Tables and chairs are set up throughout the area, leaving a space for dancing. Tables run along one side, laden with food made by each person we invited to be here for this moment.
“This isn’t a moment we ever thought we’d get,” Steel begins, taking Dalia’s hand in his. “Finding you wasn’t something we dared to ever dream of. Neither was redemption, but here we are with not only a fated mate but having earned redemption from Freya. I knew you’d change our lives when I met you, but I didn’t realize you would be the beginning of the rest of our lives.”
He passes her hand to Titan, whose lips quirk up on one side. “I didn’t know there was anything left in the world that could surprise me, but you certainly did. You’re everything I didn’t know I was looking for. I love Steel and Blaze just as much as Ilove you, but there’s something different about being loved by a woman. You were the piece we were missing.”
