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“It’s no wonder you two get along so well.”
I mutter, “She’s a precious friend. And… Kassandra, we are not married in any shape or form. Are you still comfortable living in the same house with me?”
“Listen.” She pulls back just enough to peer up into my eyes. “The more valid question is: am I willing to leave behind the color-coordinated yarn display you put together? Every single skein has its rainbow place outside of a plastic bag stuffed in my closet. It is beautiful, and I like having room to pace on soft carpet amidst all the pretty skies you painted. Counting the secret bees grounds me. On top of the fact I don’t know if I can physically sit still anymore, I think I should stay near you until we’re sure I’m not at risk of misfiring magic. We’re not doing married people things, so it’s all right, isn’t it?”
I have a biased response to that question. I don’t much care about human sensibilities or morals where this is concerned. I have zero qualms about living in the same house with my soulmate. For me, it will only ever be Kassandra. Whether we say our vows now, or tomorrow, or never.
For me, there will not be anyone else to occupy the place in my heart that belongs to a lover.
For me, from the moment we met, she has been my wife.
Tracing the shape of her cheek, I hold her close and say, “You are always welcome wherever I am. Fae words hold power, so the fae tend to marry one another in the privacy of their oaths. We can swear commitment to one another whenever it suits you. We may even get married on human terms, if that is something you would like. What would that look like?”
Heat draws out the warmth in her skin as the gold in her eyes shimmers. “Usually, it’s a big wedding ceremony, and you have to file government paperwork. For tax purposes.”
“That sounds awful.”
“Yeah, humans are really, really strange. Not get married with a kitten exchange strange, but…”
I puff a breath out my nose. “Am I ever going to hear the end of my error?”
“Does it offend you?”
“It mildly embarrasses me that I trusted Willow, of all people, and did not think to double check online.”
She smiles. “You’re adorable.”
Heat crawls up my neck, and I pull my attention off my wife—whether she actually is my wife or not. Because, yes, she is. “You may be the only person who has ever thought so.”
“Well, apparently I hold a power that could change that, so you might want to give me a good reason not to. In five…four…three—”
I drop my forehead against hers. “You’re the only person I want to think so.” My attention slips from her eyes to her lips. “Kassandra.”
She whispers, “Yes?”
“Before I teach you how it feels to remake the world around you outside of your own mind, may I claim you?”
“You want to kiss me?”
“That is not the question I asked, but, essentially, yes.”
Lifting her hand, she cups my face in her palm. I go drunk on the touch as she asks, “What exactly will claiming me do?”
“At this point?” I hold her wrist and press the sensation of her deeper into my skin. “You no longer need it to open your eyes to Faerie. At this point, it means we accept the bond between us.”
“If we didn’t accept the bond, would it eventually die?”
Those words settle like lead in my chest. Eventually, rejection can erode just about anything. However… I whisper, “Not for me.”
Without warning, her lips touch mine, and my heart jolts as the soft sensation of them unravel my thoughts and turn me into a puddle of vaguely person-shaped matter. She deepens the kiss, parts my lips with her tongue, and reinvents my entire worldview.
When she draws back, I am speechless. I struggle to gather a single logical thought. I want to do…whatever that was again. Just as soon as my heart stops hammering in my ears.
“Whatever happens,” she says, “I want it to happen with you. Whoever I become as I figure all of this out, I want it to be your problem, too.”
“That’s…” Heaven help me. I have forgotten how to breathe. “That’s a very interesting way of putting that.”
“I’m saying I love you, dreamboy. For better or worse. For richer or poorer. In sickness and in health. Til death do us part.” Kassandra shines—encompassing gold and dreams and horrors beyond my feeble sensibilities; I have never witnessed anything like…her. Smiling, she says, “That’s what humans say when they get married.”
