A movement in the forest caught his attention, just beyond the crimson scale tree. Ragnar stood there and then lifted his hand to indicate they were all ready for him. His brother melted into the shadows once more, and Gunnar sprang into movement.
He reached out his hand for her to take, always allowing her to make the first move.
She didn't even hesitate. Rose reached for him with a smile and allowed him to pull her up to standing. "What now?"
"It didn't seem fair that everyone else gets a ceremony while you and I had ours in a cave." He tugged her through the woods, closer and closer to the blue glowing glen that wasn't too far from this tree.
He'd always loved this spot. The stone above their head was much lower, so all the glow worms that looked like stars so far above them were actually visible here. They dangled above their heads in long strings, pulsing with light so bright it almost looked magical. The trees around them were cerulean, and the grass beneath their feet glowed the moment it was touched.
Their family stood waiting for them. Ragnar and Maia. Bjorn and Astrid. And in Astrid's hands was a pretty blue dress, not white like he had always thought humans got married in, but blue, like the sky beyond this mountain.
"Oh," Rose said, halting the moment she saw everyone. "You... You want to get married?"
"We're already bonded," he replied. "I want you to feel as special as I know you are."
She turned to him with tears in her eyes, happy tears. He could smell it on her. And then she was whisked away by her sister. He stood there watching as she drew the blue dress over her white one, and Astrid wove tiny blue flowers through her hair. The sisters whispered words to each other before she was right in front of him.
Perfect in every way.
Perfect for him and his life and all the things that he had done. So perfect that she made his heart stutter in his chest as he reached for her hands.
"I don't know what to say," he said. "Other than to tell you how beautiful you are. Inside and out. The first moment I saw you, I knew there was still a fight inside of you. Not because of what you said or did, but because I could feel your soul wandering. The husk of a body you left behind was for other people to do with as they wanted, but your soul was always yours. And that strength called out to me. I had to know more about you. Where you came from. Who you were."
She grinned, the expression so bright and lovely. "I knew that you were going to stay when I realized that you just wanted me to live my life. You allowed me to wander, to experience new things, to grow all on my own, and you waited until I was ready. That is the most beautiful gift you could have given me, Gunnar. No matter how long it took, you were... there. For me. Endlessly and without question."
He squeezed her hands and leaned forward to whisper, "I know nothing about human weddings. Is this all we do?"
Bjorn snorted and then cleared his throat. "Since my friend is an idiot, I thought I would give you wishes. All of us here. What I hope for you as your love continues is that you support each other. Not just blindly, but with the helping hands that only lovecan give. My wish is that you build a life together, stone by stone, that you are proud of."
Astrid wiped a tear from her eye and gave a watery smile to her sister. "I wish for you to be happy. Because happiness in our life has been fleeting, and I know you deserve a life free from all that. From now on, I hope it's only happiness moving forward."
He hadn't expected them to plan all this. But then he looked at Ragnar when his brother shifted, and he knew that he was about to get emotional just like Rose was getting.
Ragnar took a deep breath and said, "We haven't had it easy in our lives. I thought our purpose was labor and to give to others. Now I have learned that my purpose was finding my wife, because she gives me more than any job or role ever did in this kingdom. So what I wish for you, my brother, is a steady hand and a calm heart. Because I don't think either of us knew what that calm felt like until we found them."
He nodded, trying hard not to let the tears burning in his eyes spill over.
But then Maia said very quietly, "My wish for you is that your love grows like the plants here. I've seen it take root over the past year, but now I want to see it flourish. Just like Rose has opened her petals, my wish for you is to bloom."
Then Rose squeezed his hands, and he looked down at the love of his life with happiness near to bursting in his chest.
"Use your magic," she said quietly. "Think big."
He didn't even hesitate. He tugged hard on their bond and then realized they were surrounded. Not only by his living family, but by countless other trolls. His father, his mother, the queen herself, and countless other trolls who all stood around them. Witnessing this bonding. Witnessing their love.
And then, behind Rose's shoulder, he saw Tindra. She had happy tears rolling down her cheeks as she met his gaze and said, "Well done."
Gunnar hadn't cried since he was a child. But he cried then and there, as trolls and humans, both living and dead, surrounded them and embraced them with love.
Thirty-Nine
Rose
Rose hadn't realized she could ever be this happy, with all these people surrounding her, and all the love that she could literally feel in the air. She hadn't known life could be like this. It was a feeling that was hard to ignore.
She'd always known that love was a reality for a lot of people. Plenty of folks talked about it, even in the labyrinth. Many of the women there had experienced it before, although Rose couldn't say that she had. She'd been taken so young, compared to a lot of the women who’d been there. But they’d all talked about love as though it was more than just something that a person experienced.
Love was felt. It was in the air, all over their bodies. It made them do foolish and strange things that Rose would never understand, because she hadn't been able to feel it for herself before she had been stuck in that prison.
