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They’d all gone to so much trouble to make everything amazing. We walked on a continuing ribbon of silk, that remarkably remained free of snow, to a pool at the base of the waterfall. Instead of thundering into impact, the skyscraper-tall sheet of glassy water sliced into the aqua pool like a blade, soundlessly perfect.
We stepped up to the snowy bank and Rogue moved to step into the water. I hesitated and he untucked my hand from his elbow and laced his long fingers with mine. “Trust me,” he repeated, in a sterner tone. Demanding it of me.
It went unspoken that I’d failed to. That I’d come this far and there would be no turning back, regardless. Feeling as if I might be stepping off a cliff, I went with him, our booted feet touching the surface simultaneously. The water rippled out at the contact, then firmed, buoyant but solid.
Extraordinary.
We walked out to the center, our guests fanning out in a wide circle on the banks. Starling and Athena stood with Darling Hercules at the forefront. Larch stood just behind Athena, and a man I vaguely recognized flanked Starling. Walter? I must not have paid enough attention to him in the vision, because he looked like a different man than the one I had dumped on Marquise and Scourge’s doorstep.
Rogue stopped and faced me, taking my hands in his. My ribbon train floated on the water, the otherwise invisible current pulling it into a lazy spiral around us. The guests were far enough away that I thought they wouldn’t be able to hear the vows, or whatever.
“Who is marrying us?” I asked after a long pause.
“We are marrying each other.”
I laughed a little at that echo, then realized he meant it. “Really? I did ask around and that’s not how it’s usually done.”
“No. Usually someone of greater rank seals the marriage. But, think on it, my Gwynn. There is no one in Faerie who outstrips our united power. Thus we’ll marry each other.”
“Not even…” I trailed off, unwilling to name her, even in oblique reference, given his particularly strenuous warnings.
“As you so ably demonstrated the other day, not even her.”
Wow. “So, how do we do this?”
“No one recalls sorcerers of equal power marrying before.”
“Did you say equal power?”
Inclining his head slightly, he looked wry. “Yes. Thus I’m making this up as I go along.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “The ever so powerful control-freak Lord Rogue is winging it? You sound like me.”
“There are merits to your techniques.”
“To my wantonly reckless behavior?”
He didn’t take the bait. So much more disciplined than I with such things. “Even so. Are you ready to marry me?”
Okay, I could do this. “Why not?”
“I need a real answer, my Gwynn. This won’t work unless you can mean it with all your heart.” His words, his face intense. “You have to be absolutely willing.”
“You didn’t mention that before.”
“It seemed wiser not to give you time to think about it.”
To talk myself out of it, he meant.
“Always maneuvering, stacking the deck.”
“Yes. You know me well. Once you said you loved me anyway.”
Dammit. I took a deep breath, realizing I was clutching his hands hard enough to make a human’s numb.
The moment of truth.
“Yes, my Rogue, I’m ready to marry you.”
