“Yes. Do you still want me?” From shyness, I’m turning to desperation. I trust him. I want him. In all ways.
“Of… of course. I just… I thought you didn’t want this kind of bond.” He grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. As always, he’s asking me, caring aboutme, but I can sense how much he craves this. Not just my shadow, which we both know is pretty useless, butme.
I’ve never felt like this about anyone, and I don’t think I ever will again. He will always be the only one for me.
“I also thought that, but I was wrong. And selfish, and I just want…” My dreams about true love and commitment always caused smirks and doubtful shrugs, as if it wasn’t something I should even bother hoping for. But this is exactly what Tristan offers. I want to be his spouse and for him to meet my grandparents. “I want everyone to know how much we mean to each other. I want to wear your colors and be your Dark Companion, even though my shadow’s not very impressive. You can be strong enough for us both.”
Tristan takes my hand and slides it into his coat at the chest, settling my palm over his drumming heart. “Do you feel this? It beats for you only. I cannot promise to be perfect, I will make mistakes, but always, you will be at the front of my heart and mind. Can you trust me, despite all my flaws?”
“Flaws?” I ask as my heart cracks, opening to truly let him in. “What are you talking about? I’ve never met anyone more perfect. And I do trust you. Today, you really proved the worth of your word, and I won’t settle for anyone else.”
Tristan pulls out a thread of my shadow, and I shiver despite being ready. I was so stupid to go on this wild goose chase when my destiny was in front of me all along.
“May I?” Tristan asks, as he plucks a thread out of his own shadow as well, and I ache to sob again.
“Yes. I’m yours.”
And then it happens. He closes his palm with both our shadows, and when he opens it, it lies on his hand as a single thread. I take a quick gulp of air, and I feel it again. Feelhim. It’s faint, not some intricate mind and emotion recognizing device, but I understood how much it means when I lost the connection. By tethering me to him that first time, he actually made reality more bearable after what Gloombane had done to me, and all I did was berate him for it…
He grabs the rose he attached to the saddle and looks at me with so much warmth it could melt the snow around us. He squeezes the thorny stem, making me reach for his hand, because that must surely hurt.
“The shadow wielder makes their vows holding a midnight blue rose, protecting the future Dark Companion from the sting of thorns. From now on, I will have access to your shadow’s power, but I will always put myself between you and danger. I will not abuse the privileges you grant me. I vow to cherish and protect you. Provide for all you need."
I bite my lip when I spot blood trickling from his fist, but if this is how he wants things done, I’ll just kiss it better later. His shadow is almost black when it rises behind him, then falls over us like a veil, and I gasp when my own stands to attention as well.
I can feel it swelling, and then a tickling sensation buzzes between my chest and feet.
“And because I also can’t wait to make you my husband,” he continues, “I vow to love you, to be there for you, to guide you through this Realm you don’t yet know, and to make Lady our ring bearer at the official ceremony.”
I love him.
I love him so much it hurts, and I want it to hurt even more, because it’s so good.
“And I promise to always love you. Support you, and never doubt you again, my knight,” I say, making Tristan chuckle as he gives me a brief kiss.
“Repeat after me,” he says. And I do.
“I am yours. Body, soul, and shadow.” And I mean it, with all my heart.
The surge within me is so much stronger than when Tristan tied our shadows. It’s warmth, it’s excitement, it’s an energy I never experienced before, then I sense a tickling on my chest that moves up my neck. This is… unsettling. Like a caterpillar crawling up my face. I paw at my jaw, trying to grab whatever it is, but there’s nothing there.
“Calm down. It’s all right. That’s Gloombane’s eel. It’s moving again. But it’s yours, it won’t hurt you,” he says quickly, eyes wide.
“Please! Get it off!” I whine, but Tristan was already reaching for it.
I can finally see it, a dark, solid shadow as he pulls it off my face right in front of my eyes. It slips out of his grasp and flops right into my shadow on the ground where it… disappears. Darkness spills from where it fell in, spreading like a drop of ink, and coloring my faint shadow to its very edges.
I whimper, face partially hidden in Tristan’s chest as we both stare, because the shade I cast is now far darker than Tristan’sand compares to the depths of the ocean clashing into the rocks under the Nocturne Court.
“It changed… Is this good?”
Tristan’s frowning, which is making me nervous. He dips his fingers into my shadow, and when he pulls them out, it’s like they’re dripping with tar.
“This is good.Verygood.”
“Is Gloombane’s soul now inside me or… something?”
Tristan’s eyes turn to me, sharp and attentive. “No, sweetheart. His power is yourtrophy, and it seems that becoming my Dark Companion has awakened it. No one will dare criticize your shadow ever again.”
