He was real.Wewere real.
Then his lips met mine and I was whole again.
I kissed him back, drinking him in as I wrapped my arms around his neck. My chest pressed into his. Our hearts pounded against each other, crying to join together again.
I pulled away with a small gasp. For a few heartbeats, we held each other with our lips a breath apart.
“Forge a new blood bond,” the Man of the Mountain whispered in my mind, “the eternal bargain must be in his blood too.”
A shiver of ancient power passed through my body and I suddenly understood why we could not refuse a direct order from the Man of the Mountain.
But just as Fraleigh once said, my sacrifice was a gift. After his father had ordered him to walk at the hem of Death’s robes for years, I could give Riyan an eternity away from her black shroud.
I dragged my eyes up to Riyan’s. “Ganora is gone. I took her power and reversed her curse on you.” I swallowed. “I am just like Fraleigh now. Ageless. Deathless.”
He smiled. “You will never die?”
How could I tell him the terms of my bargain? He would never forgive me when he found out. “Yes, but there are…conditions. I can marry you again, make my own blood bond enchantment, and you can be deathless too. But you do not have to be with me. As soon as we get out of here, you can live your own eternal life—”
Riyan grabbed my chin and lifted it so my eyes met his. “I do not care what the conditions are. Whether it’s for an eternity or just one day, I want you.”
My heart swelled. His lips said, “I want you,” but the way his voice broke said, “I need you.”
And I would be with him as much as I could.
I kissed him. The fingers of his right hand laced with my left. The scar on his palm opened up to meet mine.
Our blood mixed. Power surged through my veins into his. Our hearts lit up with white light as they raced.
My blood bond was not painful, it was pure. The sun and moon joined in an eclipse of eternal devotion. There was no Serafina and Riyan, there was only us.
Our tears had fallen, our blood had flowed…
“And when Alastar comes to the fortress,” the Man of the Mountain whispered in my mind. “You both shall become Death’s greatest foe.”
I broke our kiss as my stomach dropped. Our blood bond glowed in both our chests, bright as a new day.
A life for a life given in love—as soon as I knelt before Derrick, Riyan would greet the horizon of eternity.
The water rumbled and swirled around us as we rose through the well. I looked up—the moon in the center of the sky grew closer.
Riyan’s arm hooked under my legs and he held me close. My arms wrapped around his neck as we pushed through the surface of the well.
We rose from the churning rainbow water like we were floating. His hair and face were soaked and so were mine. The cold mountain air whipped around our bare bodies, but my magic kept me warm.
He took his first step out of the well. He stood in the snow, holding me tightly against him like he would never let me go again.
My heart thudded as I looked up at him. The light of the full moon blanketed every ridge and contour of his body in a soft glow.
A slight flush spread across his cheeks and the strong bridge of his nose. I pressed my hand in the center of his chest and sent a soft push of magic to keep him warm.
Riyan turned his head and his breath stilled as his eyes met mine. Whatever haze in the dark chasm between worlds that had erased the concept of modesty was gone. Riyan’s gaze roved down every curve and dip of my body that my wet hair had not clung to.
His fingertips grazed the side of my breast and my cheeks heated. My hand curled over his chest as his heart began to pound. He gripped the soft flesh of my thigh but then loosened his hold like he thought better of it.
“We, uh…” His voice broke as his gaze dropped from my eyes to the curve of my hip. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “We need to get off this mountain before you freeze.”
I looked up at him through my eyelashes. “Do I look cold to you?”
