“What are you talking about?” He growled.
It was at that moment that the crowd collapsed, their bodies all falling to the floor, bloodless and grey. Everand’s spine went rigid, his hold on her growing tighter as he dragged her towards the dais. In the corner, with horns and a wild grin, Trio and Desi on either side of him, was Aziel.
Nymiria’s breath caught in her throat, her heart quickening as she watched him step languidly over the bodies he’d ripped the life from. Oran was walking ahead of them, his jaw rigid. “You asked for the captain of my guard. Well, here he is.” The prince snapped.
Everand bristled. “Y-you can’t—”
“Can’t, what?” Oran asked, his deep voice filled with boredom. “Can’t have my own brother amongst my high-ranking officers? Of course I can. I am the new king of Yaar, afterall.” He turned to Aziel then. “He wants you to perform their marriage.”
She couldn’t feel the blade at her throat, the weight of Everand’s arm didn’t feel quite as heavy as it had mere moments before. Even with the runes on her body that kept her power contained, Nymiria was not defenseless. She had alreadycalculated three different ways she could escape Everand’s hold on her. It was disappointing, she thought, that Everand had become so sure of himself that he let his defenses drop. But it was also a relief that she no longer had to pretend to be the damsel in distress any longer.
“I cannot perform such a ceremony.” Aziel shrugged. Nymiria saw the wild pulsing of those darkened lines that spider-webbed beneath his eyes. There was not an ounce of kindness in his gaze and Everand, bereft of color, could hardly believe what he was seeing.
“Icommandit!” Everand snarled, attempting to regain leverage. Nymiria felt the pulse of his power, the power he used to distort reality, but it was met with another force so strong that the Alvarian prince nearly lost his footing.
Desi.
Her purple eyes were narrowed in focus, her hands held out in front of her, forming an iridescent shield around herself, Aziel, and her brother.
“Your commands are meaningless, as they have been for a few days now.” Aziel continued. “You’ve lost, Alvaros. It would be best if you drop your weapon and concede now.”
Everand stepped back, hooking his arm tighter around Nymiria. “Perform the ceremony now, or I will kill her. I’ll do it!”
A dark silence spread across the room when Aziel came to a stop. His eyes were focused solely on the blade pressed to Nymiria’s throat, one that she’d forgotten was even there to begin with. Her defenses raised, her mind becoming a whirlwind of tactical thoughts. One sharp drive of her hand at his crotch and she could snatch the knife, turn it on him, and then she would have the upper hand. But she knew that now was not the time for her to react too quickly.
Just a little while longer,she told herself.
When Aziel spoke again, his voice was full of such ominous fury that Everand began to tremble. Whether with rage or fear, or a mix of both, Nymiria was not sure. “I don’t think you understand.” The god of death began. “There is no possible way for me to perform a ceremony for someone who is already married. That being said,” he grinned. “Get your filthy fucking handsoffmy wife.”
Everand’s face was nearly purple with rage, the blade in his hand trembling so fiercely that it scraped a small portion of skin off of her neck. She hissed at the sting, already knowing that blood was blooming to the surface, eyes going wide when she saw the black of Aziel’s pupils flare outwards, leaving not a single smidgen of color or white left.
He looked more beast than fae, not unlike a god, butentirelylike a walking nightmare. “Now.”He snarled.
Chapter 37
Three Days Prior…
“Are you sure about this?” Aziel’s hands were warm against her own, his thumb rubbing over the ring on her finger.
Nymiria looked down at the simple silver band and chuckled. “Don’t you think that it’s a little too late to ask me that?” She hummed.
Dieve looked between the two of them, holding the ceremonial candles in her hands—waiting. “Light represents the good of nature. In all things good, there shall be no darkness and no deception. It is a nature built from Cadaith’s love of her children, something that cannot be wavered even in the darkest of times. Each of these flames represents a soul made with love, a tapestry woven before our mother’s mothers were born. It represents a path. And when these two paths converge, they do not create other alternate paths… they create one.” She handed a candle to Nymiria before passing the other to Aziel.
There, situated between the two of them, on a pedestal engraved with unity runes, was a single candle. Both of them brought their flames to the unlit wick, watching as it sparked to life. They held it there, letting the heat melt the wax, and watching as that wax dripped down the stem of the candle. It flooded through the runes, filling each small line until it turned into a waxy cast.
Nymiria felt a tingle along the inside of her wrist, eyes going wide as she watched a white light flash along her skin. When the light dissipated, left in its wake were three silver runes—each of them matching the ones carved into the stone. Across from her, Aziel was examining his own wrist with a look of awe, tilting his arm back and forth in the light.
“It is done.” Dieve declared. “As it once was, it will always be—a blessing from the Mother, a blessing of Life, and a blessing of Fate.” She smiled, her eyes nearly vanishing beneath deep wrinkles. “You are now husband and wife.”
Nymiria felt all of the air rush from her lungs, her head swimming with a thousand thoughts and emotions that all seemed to blend with joy. She held Aziel’s gaze, neither of them realizing that Dieve had even left the room.
She remembered, months ago, that disastrous night they’d spent in the inn together. It was a night that ended in death, but one that would forever be seared into her memory. He’d kissed her. And it wasn’t just any kiss—it had been hisfirst. He’d moved his hands over her body with such determination, it had awoken something inside of her that she’d never quite been able to quell ever since.
“What if you were my wife?”He’d asked.“What if you were my wife and I told you that I wanted you to keep as many layers of clothing on your body in a place like this because I couldn't stand the way all of those men downstairs were looking at you?"
If anyone told her, at that point, that their paths would lead to this, she would have laughed in their faces. Now, it was impossible to imagine any other alternative. There was no future for her in which they did not belong together. Whether it was as mates or married, it did not matter. They’d made that decision the moment they accepted their bond.
Aziel was the first to move. One glance at him and her body tensed, her stomach coiling with a mixture of fear and excitement that she’d never felt in her life. There was a different look about him, one that she’d seen only during her Caddat and when they’d claimed one another. It was a look that could bring anyone to their knees—a look that had her entire body flushing a bright pink hue, shivering in response to his body heat when he finally cleared the distance between them.
