Kellan’s lips stretched into a wide grin as he tugged off the ring he always wore on his pinky. “Close enough to ask for sizing requirements.”
Kellan reached for my left hand, sliding the dull silver ring onto my middle finger. He kept my hand in his, eyes soft as they lingered on the ring. He slowly dragged his gaze up to mine.
“This will not be the last ring I slip on to your finger, Bonscaíh,” he said into the dimness of the kitchen.
A powerful force surged forward. My stomach formed a pleasant sort of knot, and my teeth pressed against my lower lip as a smile tugged.
The Obscura and Transcindiel reacted, feeding off the emotion, and joined hands. A winged horse of shadows leaped from my right hand, making circles around our heads as bits of golden dust flitted from its wings.
“Don’t you need to ask me a question first?” I asked, arching my brow and leaning back.
Kellan’s lips quirked into a smirk. “All in good time, my love,” he replied, not letting go of my hand.
My chest heaved as I blew out a sigh, and he chuckled.
“So impatient,” he teased, his lips stretching into a genuine smile as he tapped the side of my nose.
I gave him a soft shove on the shoulder, and he stood, moving to the oven and grabbing the sack of rice. He returned and placed the warm sack on my lower abdomen. My brows tilted up, and I swallowed.
“Thank you,” I said through a groan as the warmth seeped through my oversized shirt. I loosened the laces of my pants as I slumped back in my chair.
Kellan tracked the movement. His nostrils flared, but he gripped my hand, giving it a squeeze. I scanned the air around Kellan’s head, Khato’s words of caution replaying in my mind, but I had to be sure before I said anything to him.
My vision blurred, and my breathing slowed as I pulled myself out of the kitchen and dove into that part of myself where infinite threads lived, focusing on that one, single braided thread. Darkness swallowed me, before hundreds of glittering lines lit up my vision.
I swam through the threads, easily following that gentle pull I’d grown accustomed to feeling until it came into view. The braided threadpulsed. Silver and daring, it sparked to life. I reached a strand of consciousness to it, and a small pop of power sparked into existence, before traveling down its line, further than I could see.
I blinked rapidly, pulling myself out of the threads and back into the kitchen, scanning the air around Kellan’s head as he peered at me with pinched brows. Power ignited in a subtle crackle around his body, and my heart squeezed in my chest.
Emotions surged forward—worry…love…anticipation…
Kellan’s dark eyes narrowed on me, concern tightening his features as he moved closer.
“Lyvia, are you all right?—”
“Yes,” I assured him, pulling my gaze fully out of the threads and back into the kitchen. My throat bobbed, and I took a breath. “I’d say yes. I hope you know.” I scanned every movement of Kellan’s face. “To you. To marriage. I’d choose you always…”
I paused, an overwhelming certainty softening every tight and anxious piece of my being. “I’d say yes to more.”
Kellan’s face relaxed, the concern melting into something raw. It took me a moment to identify the emotion on his face… Some sort of meeting of desperation and adoration…of love.
The sight of him was all I needed to plunge ahead, to make the leap.
And I realized then, there had been a part of me too scared to tell him what I’d seen, what had connected us from the very beginning. Too scared to be doubted once more. But this was Kellan, and he was made for me, just as I was made for him. We had already chosen each other.
“A soulbinding thread links us, Kellan. I can see it right now.I can feel it.”
Kellan’s dark eyes sparked in the dim light of the candles, and his lips quirked to the side in the half-smirk I’d grown to love. His hands moved to the arms of my chair as he knelt on the ground and leaned in toward me.
“It’s always been there,” I continued as he dragged his gaze from my left hand to my face. “I saw it first in the Waters of Ascendiel last year. I wanted to touch it, and I swear I could hear it calling to me… Like it was telling me you would see me soon. Then you found me in the Death Dunes. I had seen it again there, and then I’d woken up next to you. I love you, Kellan. Would you…” I paused, my throat bobbing.
Kellan’s hand cupped the side of my face as he leaned closer.
“I would bind myself to you ineverypossible way, Bonscaíh.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
DRYSTAN
