Page 169 of Fate and Flame

Thousands of tiny flames, different than Fen’s, circled the aisle, darting in and out on agile wings of blue flame. A lump grew in my throat as I realized what they were. What they meant.

Are those—?

Icaris. They’ve come to pay their respects to their new queen.

Greeve and I walked the sandy beach, down the aisle dusted in lilies, and he placed my hand into my mate’s. Fen held me with one hand and hugged Greeve with the other, mumbling something into his ear before Greeve turned to sit beside Loti in the small group of attendees.

Umari held a ceremonial knife above her head as she chanted a song with deep tones and long notes. She sang with such emotion my skin came alive, my heart raced, and the importance of this moment settled around us as if the aria had carried us off to a different land. She held out the carved bone handle, and Fen took it first.

I faced him and placed my hand into his. He sliced the blade across my palm until deep red blood seeped out. I took the blade and repeated the motion. Handing the knife back to Umari, we joined our hands as one to begin our blood oath.

As Umari laced our interlocked hands with a vine of intricately woven flowers, I looked far into those emerald eyes and watched as the light from the flames danced within them.

I felt the deep vat of emotions pour over me as he began.“Blood of my blood, I take thee. Bound by the soul and chosen by heart. I keep you from this day on.”

I repeated the blood oath back to him while Umari used a candle and lit the vine wrapped around our wrists. Fen held my hand tight as the leaves burned into our skin. As quickly as the pain came, it subsided, and we were left marked for eternity. Fen’s grandmother held out the rings we’d chosen for each other, my birth parents’ rings we’d found while going through Efi’s things. He slid the ring onto my finger and spoke through our bond.

In all my days, Ara, I could never have dreamed of a better soulmate for myself. One who would stand on her own but still love me fiercely. I am in awe of you every day. From this day until my last day, I will love you unconditionally. I will give you the best of myself each and every day from now until eternity. I can’t promise it will be perfect, my darling. But I can promise I will always be here. I will always walk beside you and encourage you. I will protect you when you need me to and let you fight your own battles when you don’t. I will love you beyond the restrictions of time.

I took a deep, trembling breath.

I choose you, Fenlas. Until the last star falls from the sky. Until the final grain of sand is blown from the very last beach. Until my heart stops forever and then some. I don’t stand here today imagining all of the good times, but rather, I think of all the bad times ahead of us. Life is hard. Loss is hard. But there’s no one else in the entire world I would choose to go through the hard moments with. You will always be the blade in the dark. The one who protects me when I don’t know I need protecting. My shield. I wish more than anything our parents could be here for this moment, but we have each other, and in that, we have them too. I promise to love you beyond measure from this day, until my last day. Together.

We leaned into each other for a kiss, and then I knelt before him as he placed a small silver circlet atop my head.“My queen,” he whispered.

I stood from the sandy beach, shook my dress, and leapt into his arms, kissing him passionately. The gathered fae erupted and he spun me around as he kissed me back. I turned to Greeve, afraid the joy would be so painful to him, but he flashed me a soft smile as I let Fen carry me away.

I’d never aspired to be a queen. I’d never aspired to be much, really. But this was the land of the fae, after all, and anything was possible, at least according to an old king.

THE END