She was right about that. “Only when crossed. Or annoyed.”
Which was probably most of the time, and easily done, but that was another matter.
Braden let out a tired sigh. “All right, then. So long as she only feeds from you, Urian, she can stay. But she can’t leave here.”
“I’ll make sure that she knows that.”
“Very well then. We’ll make sure she’s taken care of and given a place to stay.”
“Thank you, and Davyn and I will make sure you have extra protection.”
“You better, because I’m holding you both personally responsible for everything she does.”
August 23, 1990
Urian took a deep breath as he waited in the small Apollite temple for Phoebe. Dressed in a kilt with his long hair worn loose about his shoulders, he feltsoridiculous. He even had what was tantamount to a furry purse hanging over his junk, and making him nervous as hell that it was going to accidentally pop him too hard and put him out of commission. But this was what Phoebe wanted him to wear for their wedding. So here he was.
Looking like an idiot to make her happy.
Gah, what part of you’re marrying a Greek Daimon and not a Scottish Highlander did you miss, woman?
If he ever met her sister Cassandra he was going to beat the holy hell out of her for her sick romance novel fetish that had put this idea in Phoebe’s head.
But as the doors opened slowly to show Phoebe on the other side dressed in a shimmering gown of flowing white silk that hugged her lithe body to perfection, all complaints scattered. Mostly because all the blood drained from his brain and pooled to the center of his body.
Um, yeah. For her, he’d set himself on fire.
Especially when her gaze met his over the single white rose wrapped in red and white ribbons that she carried, and she gave him that sweet, shy smile.
His heart pounded as she headed toward him with Braden at her side to be her sponsor for their union. How weird that after all the times he’d been married, he was actually nervous.
Phoebe couldn’t believe her eyes as she stared at the sexiest man alive. He was completely gorgeous. Tall, lethal.
He was hers.
The only thing that could make the day better would be to have her family with her. For a moment, her eyes teared, but she refused to be sad. Not tonight.
She wouldn’t regret what she’d lost. For weeks now, she’d been crying. There was nothing to be done about that. It still burned and hurt and ached. Worse, was knowing that her father and Cassandra were still alive, and that they both thought her dead. But the truth that she was a Daimon would be even more cruel.
So she was learning to live her new life.
With Urian.
And tonight, they would be united.
With a ragged breath, she took his hand. Braden pulled the ribbons from her rose and wrapped them around their combined hands to join them together. Then he moved to stand in front of them to act as their officiant for the ceremony.
Phoebe licked her dry lips as she stared up at her gorgeous Daimon.
His blue eyes glowed with warmth and love as Braden began their ceremony. “It is through the light that we are born and through the night that we travel. The light is the love of our parents who greet us and welcome us into this world, and it is with the love of our partner that we leave it.
“Urian and Phoebe have chosen to be with each other, to ease their remaining journey and to comfort one another in the coming nights. And when the final night is upon us, we vow to stand together and ease the one who travels first.
“Soul to soul we have breathed. Flesh to flesh we have touched. And it is alone that we must leave this existence, until the night comes that the Fates decree we are reunited in Ouranlie.”
Ouranlie was the highest point of Katateros where only the purest of souls could reach. It was considered the highest point of Atlantean heaven. Reserved for saints, heroes, and soul mates.
Braden moved to the sacred font where they kept an elaborate gold cup housed. Engraved with an image of the three Fates, it was reserved for weddings and special feasts. He took it to Phoebe first.
