Page 190 of Tamed By Her Touch

Kaelus wanted desperately to wipe it away, but he didn’t dare let go of her hands.

“I promise to nourish you when you forget to eat, which you do with alarming frequency,” he went on. “I promise to make your coffee the way you like it even though the amount of cream and sweetener you require remains scientifically indefensible. I promise to listen when you speak about plants I have never heard of and I promise to complain when you move my equipment, because some things are apparently beyond even the Goddess’s power to change.”

Clair laughed through her tears.

“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?” she whispered.

“I have been informed,” Kaelus said. “Frequently.”

“Because you need frequent reminders.”

Her hands squeezed his and Kaelus’s throat tightened.

This was how it might have been, he thought. If he had been an ordinary Kindred male, if Clair had wanted him—wanted to be with a male again. If yesterday had never happened.

If their Bond had formed because she chose him rather than because a manufactured virus drove him beyond sanity.

The thought brought a stab of pain, and he pushed it aside and forced himself to continue.

“I promise that your safety will come before my comfort and your happiness before my pride,” he told her. “If you need me, I will come. If you call my name, I will answer. If you are afraid, I will stand beside you until you are not. And if you ever need me to let you go…”

His voice failed and for a moment he couldn’t go on. But this was the most important vow of all.

Clair’s brow furrowed and she seemed about to ask a question.

Kaelus swallowed hard and went on.

“If you need me to let you go…then I will let you go,” he said, his voice coming out hoarse and uneven.

Something flickered through their Bond and he felt it—pain. Not his, but Clair’s.

Kaelus almost dropped the barrier entirely in shock, but he caught himself just in time. Why would that promise hurt her?

Before he could understand it, Varell spoke softly.

“There is one final part,” he murmured. “The oldest part—the one that every Titus male speaks to his goddess at the end of this sacred Vow.”

Kaelus knew the words—he had memorized them easily. He looked directly into Clair’s eyes and spoke them.

“I am yours,” he said. “My strength is yours. My protection is yours. My hands, my body, and my life are yours. Until death takes me, I will honor you as my goddess.”

Silence filled the garden, followed by quiet clapping but Kaelus barely noticed anyone else was there.

For him, there was only Clair.

Her hands trembled in his and tears stood openly in her eyes now.

“Kaelus,” she whispered. “Oh, Kaelus…”

Kaelus squeezed her hands tightly. He had done it—he had given his mate the only wedding vow he would ever speak.

And she had no idea.

Varell turned to Clair.

“A goddess is not required to make a vow in return. The male gives his devotion freely, without demanding payment for it. But if you wish to accept what he offers, you may do so.”

Clair looked down at Kaelus and for one terrible, hopeful moment, he wondered what she would say.