I looked at Nahomie in the same moment she blinked up at me.
Rot. What if she backed away? Said no? I needed my curse broken. Needed to be free of Zemshaza once and for all. And only she could do it.
“I understand and I accept,” I stated, shoulders squared, chin raised.
Nahomie looked at me for a long time, that sharp mind of hers running through every scenario and calculation. It was the mercy of the Infinite that I didn’t start fidgeting out of discomfort while I waited for what she would do. Finally, Nahomie took a deep breath. She’d made up her mind.
“I understand, Friere Zuriathelle.” A twinkle in her eyes. “And I accept as well.”
“Good,” said Zuriathelle, wasting no time. Another flash of onyx crossed his eyes. “Let’s begin.”
The Friere lifted a scroll he pulled from within his robes and recited.
“Under binding Creed, before the majesty of the Infinite, we lift our wings to you, Tassarion and Nahomie.”
My chest tightened. My hearts were in my throat as Zuriathelle continued.
“The umbrella of our wings flies in testament to the bond between you both. Before our Infinite King, for the good of all Vainyens, I decree you both will no longer be separate. From hence, you will be one.”
The Gargorètti lifted their wings, clapped them thrice, then settled back into bone-chilling silence. I swallowed hard, my gaze tethered to my Phantimèssa.
“Love is patient and kind. When one of you wins, the other shouldn’t mind. It isn’t proud or arrogant. It isn’t boastful nor selfish. Love won’t insist on its own way. It isn’t irritable...” A look at me. “Celèstian.”
I flashed my teeth, grinning. Zuriathelle’s shoulders twitched, almost imperceptibly, as if he was fighting contortion. Something was off with him tonight. I made a note to check on him afterwards.
The Friere sighed, shaking his head before continuing. Nahomie looked between us, trying to pick up on the inside joke. I wriggled my eyebrows at her, which made her lift her nose as if she didn’t care. I wanted to laugh because I knew she definitely cared. Nosey little Seraphim.
“Love won’t ever dance from wrongs, but it abides in truth. And this twinight, we come as one, in agreement and in favor of your bond.”
Zuriathelle looked between Nahomie and me, pleased with whatever he saw between us. Nervous energy blasted along the length of my bones. I could feel a shift in the air. Even though it was hot out, and we were at the edge of the shoreline by the crashing waves, it suddenly grew cold as the wintrien season. Chilly winter air curled around Nahomie and me. She shuffled even closer until our bodies were pressed together as she drained me for body heat.
“Greedy,” I whispered. “You’re the one with blackfire.”
She snorted and pressed even tighter. I couldn’t help the tug at my lips at her reaction and the glee that danced across my chest.
“Nahomie Emélie Namarielle, will you vow to give Roi Tassarion the feathers of your wings, and fly by his side until death do you part, or you choose to call the Ellelights home?”
“I do.”
Nahomie answered with such confidence that my knees wobbled. I knew this was coming. Us claiming one another for the Wingbinding to actually occur. But I never expected her to be so certain. So sure about choosing to agree to this. To us.
How long had it been since I longed to be claimed like this? Branded and bound to another? There was a passion in her voice I didn’t expect, yet I still craved all the more. I held her hands in mine tenderly. To my surprise, Nahomie interlaced our fingers, intertwining them, then squeezed.
I couldn’t make sense of the emotions colliding inside me. I felt as though I was being upheld by fraying threads. Rot.
If only this wasn’t just to break a curse.
If only this were real.
“And to you, Tassarion Celèstian Everthorn. Sovereign of Mortevain. Roi of our island. Descendant of the Orèthe. Wings of Namenthys. Do you vow to extend your wings and cover Nahomie? To love her like the Infinite loves us? To thread your wings with hers and never unwind them forevermore?”
I lowered the full weight of my gaze on Nahomie. My eyes burned. I held her tight, as though it were us alone. Then I smiled my first genuine smile in over eight centuries. Nahomie’s breath hitched. My hearts beat wildly like drums.
“I do.”
Fire erupted in my chest. A thread of gold surfaced inside my ethèr. I gasped. My Soul Bending surfaced, threads of ivory, blue lightning slipping into the air like steel tendrils and smoky shadows. I watched as Nahomie’s ethèr did the same. Her blackfire was siphoned out of her bit by bit. Beautifully elongated tendrils of the deepest black threaded together with lavender so bright I couldn’t tell where the onyx began and the lavender ended. Her power seeped out of her chest through her gown, reaching for the tendrils of mine. Our intertwined fingers grew hot as our powers started making their way towards each other, like lovers searching for their mates. I hardly registered a word as the Nanmiess spoke again.
“Your vows are spoken, established for every Age you will live to see. Raise your wings, thread your feathers, and be bonded until the Ellelights call you home.”
