“Nio?” He started back toward her. “Are you okay?”
“Just catching my breath.” She cocked her head, smiling. “It’s beautiful here, don’t you think?”
Andrian’s chest swelled. It was so rare that she paused like this.
He wished she would do it more.
He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her into his chest. Leaning his cheek on the top of her head, he inhaled a deep breath of her sweet, perfect scent.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Beautiful.”
He wasn’t talking about the view, and she knew it.
Mariah chuckled softly. “Thank you for taking me with you today.”
Andrian scoffed. “As if I could imagine meeting a family member for the first time with anyone else.”
Mariah paused for a long moment, her finger tracing a pattern on his forearm.
“I think today—and thestaor—have made me realize something.”
“Hm?” Andrian pulled back, leaning to the side so he could see her face. “What’s that?”
Mariah worried at her bottom lip. “It’s made me realize I don’t have time to live with regret.” She twisted in his arms so she faced him fully, forest green eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Her newly awakened magic glimmered there too, something he hadn’t realized how much he missed.
“I meant what I said on the Solstice,” she said.
Andrian arched a brow. “What thing, specifically?”
Humor glimmered down their bond as she smirked. “That I don’t give a fuck about traditions. I never have.”
“I’m well aware of that, princess.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s one of the things I love most about you.”
Her smile softened. “Good. Then hopefully you’ll understand what I’m trying to tell you.”
He paused, mind blank. He searched through his memories from the Solstice. So much of it was hazy with happiness and love and pleasure, all her soft sighs and sweet tastes and whispered words?—
The memory slammed into him. His gaze dropped to her left hand, pressed against his chest.
To the simple tanzanite ring sparkling on her third finger.
His eyes widened, flashing back to hers. His heart thundered under his ribs, shadows slipping into his veins.
“When Kol is defeated,” Mariah said, her voice nearly a whisper, “I am going to make you mine. I am going to stand before everyone—the kingdom, the continent, the gods themselves—and declare that Onita has a queen…anda king.”
Something buzzed in Andrian’s chest. Energy hummed through him, his shadows writhing beneath his skin. Warmth crawled up his throat, down into his stomach, melting every frozen inch.
“Why?” he croaked, struggling to find the words. Struggling to comprehend what this woman—this beautiful, strong, broken, perfect woman—had just said to him.
No one had ever claimed him like that before. It was more than a bond formed by gods. This was a choice—one she didn’t have to make. She wanted him to be hers so badly she was willing to upend five thousand years of tradition to do so.
He didn’t deserve that kind of devotion. He would never be worthy of something like that.
“Oh, yes.”Mariah’s voice pushed into his mind.“You do. You deserve it and everything else that is good in this world. And I’m tired of hearing that you think you don’t.”
“This bond is becoming incredibly annoying.”
“You’re only mad because you can’t hide your destructive self-talk from me anymore.” She spoke her retort out loud, smiling as she did. Tears lined her eyes, but they didn’t spill free. “I’m being serious. I have never been surer of anything in my entire life.”
