Page 131 of Pretty Savage: Defy

Only me.

I press my bleeding palm harder against his and kiss him back. When I open my eyes and pull away, the room is in chaos.

The Order wanted witnesses. Now they have them.

The same people who rose, bowed, and recited every response as one now spill into the aisles, shouting over each other. Benches are pushed back so hard that one tips over. Fathers point toward the dais while Sisters clutch their crosses and demand to know whether the bond is valid.

Carr raises both hands and orders everyone back into their seats, but his commands disappear beneath the uproar.

“It is valid,” Thom shouts at a Father beside him. “The right to a solo bond is written into the bylaws. Once spoken in blood, it cannot be revoked. Carrson has spoken the vow. He can bond only her. No one else.”

The Father argues back, but his words vanish into the surrounding noise.

Carr’s voice finally rises above the others. The shouting breaks apart, then dies, leaving the hall in an uneasy silence.

Then Jack rises. “We have not finished the bonding.”

His voice carries clearly from the front row. He looks past Carr and fixes his gaze on me. “Laurel Turner has yet to speak her vow.”

The triumph inside me fades. He’s right. Carrson has bound his entire future to me, but I haven’t spoken a single word in return.

Carr turns toward us. His expression is strained, but when he speaks his voice is once again controlled.

“Laurel, speak your vow.”

Carrson pays no attention to his father. His eyes remain on mine as his grip loosens around my wounded hand, enough that I can pull away.

He’s just rejected every other woman The Order might have chosen for him. Sacrificed the alliances and power those bonds would have brought. He made that choice in front of hundreds of people, knowing there would be no way to take it back, and still, he doesn’t assume I’ll choose him.

The question in his eyes is unmistakable.

Are you sure?

I curl my fingers around his and press our bleeding palms together.

Yes.

“I, Laurel Ann Turner, under the laws of The Order, bond you, Carrson Rowe Ashford. In blood and will, I claim you as mine. I take your house and your purpose as my own. My strength is yours. I accept your power and protection in return. From this moment forward, we stand as one, unbroken, unchallenged, and unending.”

My final words fade away. That’s where the vow is supposed to end, but Carrson went beyond it, so I do too.

“I choose you, Carrson. Not because they brought me here. Not because they cut us open and put words in our mouths.” I hold his hand against mine, letting our blood run together. “Because I love you.”

His composure shatters. His lips part, and the devotion that crosses his face is raw and open, so unlike the future High Father he presented to the room, that my own voice nearly fails me. But I force it loud, making sure he hears the rest.

“Only you.”

Carr lifts his hands before Carrson can kiss me again.

“The bond is complete,” he announces.

Silence answers him.

Carr’s eyes narrow as he looks over the benches. “Bonded…”

The response is delayed, scattered voices gathering strength until the words fill the hall.

“By blood.”