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Not a burden or a heavy weight that I have to carry.
I’m not doing my duty as the last living Xiphias, or as the leader of the biggest Greek army this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
I’m doing what feels right… even if it all has been a bit rushed.
But even the hurry with which this wedding was put together wasn’t because of any outside forces—if Leo and I didn’t think we were ready, then we would have held off on this marriage until we were prepared to dedicate the rest of our lives to each other.
We are ready, though. And as the first kiss of the rest of our lives slowly comes to an end, I can’t help but feel like I’m the luckiest girl in the world.
“How about we get out of here?” Leo whispers, his deep blue eyes shimmering in the afternoon sun like royal emeralds.
“What about our guests?” I ask, not willing to look away from my golden-haired prince.
All eyes may be on us, but our eyes are only for each other. Even when we’re surrounded by friends and family, there is only the two of us.
It’s how I know I’ve made the right choice.
Leo is my world, and when I stare into his eyes, I know that I’m his world too.
“Would you like them to watch as I claim you once and for all?” Leo smirks.
No matter how many times he reveals those dimples to me, I still get the same explosion of butterflies.
“Isn’t that what we just did?” I blush, subtly licking his taste off the bottom of my lip.
“Nothing is final until we consummate our love.”
“I thought we’d done that already, too…”
Only a few hundred times… at least.
“I’m not looking to stop any time soon. How about you?”
“I guess I could go for one more round.”
With that savage swiftness I’ve only ever seen him move with, Leo bends down and sweeps me off of my feet.
In response, the whole crowd cheers, and we finally turn to acknowledge our wedding guests. Husband and wife.
King and queen.
The roar is loud. Louder than it has any right to be—though, I suppose it’s fitting.
Everyone is here. And I mean everyone.
Initially, we were thinking of having a small ceremony; an act of defiance that would prioritize our love over our duties. But how could I not invite the men who fought for me?
Spyros is here somewhere, surrounded by those first two dozen men who came with me to rescue Leo from Retsos’ trap.
Those two dozen men are surrounded by over a hundred more. They stretch down the left side of the aisle like a sea of grass, raising their hands in celebration.
Their princess has become a queen, and they got to see it happen.
My fluttering heart goes out to them.
I’ll be a good leader, I promise.
Leo, on the other hand, wasn’t so sentimental about his men, but he couldn’t let his own wedding be overrun by Greeks. We may have a strengthening alliance now, but he grew up with a deep distrust of my people and he wasn’t about to let himself be surrounded by them on our special day—at least, not without a similar show of force.
