“Very well.” She folded her arms and turned to her husband. “You can marry them right here.”
I stifled a laugh, but could not stop grinning when he bobbed his head at his wife and then turned an anxious face to the bear. “It’s just as well. You’d never fit inside the church, much less my office.”
I patted Abigail on the arm and walked back to where I could set a hand on the bear’s leg. It seemed appropriate to touch him while we agreed to a marriage.
“I’ll need your names,” the mayor said.
The bear responded first. “Bylur, Lord of House Umbran.”
Lord? Did that make him some kind of fae ruler?
Reginald interrupted my thoughts. “And you, my dear?”
I rolled my shoulders back. I hadn’t used my full name in over a decade, and I suddenly found it difficult to share. I hadn’t shared anything personal with anyone in years. Maybe this really was too much too fast. I didn’t know this fae. I didn’t know what he looked like or why he was cursed. What if he deserved it? What if the bear form actually trapped a more terrible monster that needed to be contained for the world’s safety? What if I freed him and he destroyed—
“You will be safe.” Bylur rumbled slowly. His words settled in my core. “But if you have changed your mind, I will leave—”
No. No. No. I wasn’t changing my mind now. “Auria.” My words came out breathy in my haste. “Auria Davina Stonesetter.” I had memories of my parents saying my name with love and adoration, but it didn’t have nearly the same elegance or power thatBylur, Lord of House Umbrandid.
“Very good, very good.” The mayor rubbed his hands together and clasped them at his waist. “I knowyou said you were in a hurry, but I would be negligent if I did not take a moment to tell you that committing yourselves in marriage is the most meaningful promise you can make in life. Take care—”
He paused to swallow and focus on Bylur. “—of each other. Do not let any selfish thoughts interfere with the joy you can find—” He swallowed again, and then finished. “—together.”
His chest heaved with a deep breath, and his wife elbowed him again. “Right,” he said, avoiding looking at her. “Do you two have vows prepared?”
Vows prepared? Of course not. We’d only just decided—
“Yes,” Bylur’s deep voice answered. I turned to look up at him in my surprise, and he swiveled his great, white head toward me. “I vow to do everything in my power to keep you safe and happy. It is both the most and the least I can offer.”
I nodded. That made sense. He couldn’t offer his heart or affections when we didn’t know each other at all. And I’d worked so hard just to survive that I would take “safe and happy” any day.
But what could I offer that would be comparable? He was only doing this to break his curse. He’d said there was more involved than this, but we didn’t have time to discuss it.
His curse. That is how I would make this worth his effort.
Withmy brightest smile, I focused on his blue eyes. I imagined them in a human-like face. “And I vow to end your curse.”
The mayor turned a hesitant expression to his wife, and she pointed at us with her chin. He cleared his throat. “Then, by the powers vested in me by the Sun King, I pronounce you… er… fae and wife. You… are married.” He shook his head. “I will go prepare the documents. Would you like to wait for them or have them sent somewhere?”
“Does the Sun King provide courier services for you throughout the fae realms?” Bylur asked. I did like having a name for him in my head.
“Yes,” the mayor answered, “as long as the addresses are recognizable.”
“Then send them to the Winter Palace in Kalshana.” Bylur dropped the instructions as if they weren’t completely mindblowing (the winterpalace!) and then turned to me. “If you’ll return to my back, we can—”
“Wait.” I stepped closer to the mayor and Abigail. “Is there anything you can do for my bird?” The poor thing hadn’t moved since he’d hit the ground in the grotto.
Abigail ran the tip of her finger along the edge of Rat’s wing. “What’s wrong with him?”
Bylur blew out a huff. I didn’t know what he meant by it, so I ignored him. “He thought Bylur was mad at me earlier, so he flew into his face. He’s normally very smart, but… well, he didn’t realize that Bylur’s face was ashard as a brick wall. After he crashed into it, he fell to the ground and hit some stones.”
The mayor folded his arms. “We could watch him to see if he wakes up, but if you want to heal him, I’d ask your new husband. A fae lord should be able to fix a concussion.”
I whirled around and found Bylur with his head hanging low, looking very much like a scolded puppy. “You can heal him?”
He dropped his head even lower. “I… yes. If he isn’t dead.”
I had so many questions. Far too many to start dropping here in the field of curious humans. But Rat—
