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“I just love hearing you sayour.” He kissed my forehead. “We’ll get you whatever you want, little gem.”
I nestled into him further and continued to read the horribly dry history text. A few minutes later, Ryker cleared his throat.
“I wanted to ask you something.”
“Hmm,” I hummed without looking up.
“I’ve mentioned before about…about you becoming my wife.”
My stomach fluttered. I tilted my head back to look at him, meeting his gaze. “You have,” I said quietly.
He kissed my temple lightly. “Kya, would you do me the honor of being my wife and allow me to bind myself to you through the Spirits?”
My heart skipped a beat, pure love pouring down the bond between us. “Yes, Ryker.”
He released the breath he had been holding in a shuddering exhale. His hand came up to cup my face. “And will you, Worthy of the Goddess Kleio, lead and protect our people, by my side as Lady of Oryn?”
I searched his eyes, unsure what I was looking for. Being Lady of a Nation, under a God that didn’t choose me… Uncertainty flooded through me. And Ryker felt it. A pang of hurt crossed his features and came down the bond.
“If you don’t want to—” He shook his head.
“No. That’s not it.” I closed the book and set it aside, then turned to face him. “I don’t think I should. Xareus didn’t choose me to lead Oryn. He choseyou.”
I couldn’t be Lady of a Nation by a God that didn’t choose me. The Nation I was deemed Worthy to protect didn’t exist anymore.
He smiled brightly which caused me to bunch my eyebrows in confusion.
“Theychoseus,” he breathed. “We are two Worthy. Mated. And weloveeach other. I think that they, Xareus and Kleio, want both of us to lead. Together.”
I sat up and grabbed both sides of his face. “Do you really mean this?” I whispered.
“Yes.” His voice was sure and steady.
He reached down and grabbed something from the floor, then grabbed the wrist of my arm with our mating mark. He brushed his lips in a feather-light touch against the unmarked skin of my wrist, and unfolded a cloth to reveal four half circles.
Marriage bands—an unbreakable band of metal, forged around the arm between the mating mark and the palm of the hand, a representation of the spiritual coupling. I picked up the two smaller ones and studied them. They wouldn’t be secured together around my wrist until a Sage performed the ritual. The other two were for Ryker.
“You will be bound to me through the divine and the Spirits and the Nation, where even death will not break them,” I whispered.
“Until the stars die out.” He leaned forward and kissed me deeply.“I will have you in every way. My mate. My wife. My Lady. For eternity.”
I stared into those irises of swirling silver.“Yes. My mate. My husband. My Lord.”
He claimed me again. And I lay there in blissful contentedness, heart full, and bond fully sealed, feeling the rise and fall of Ryker’s even and heavy breaths while he slept. Relishing theselast few hours of the night alone with my mate. I soaked in the short time of isolation with him, knowing that come morning, it would be time to return.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Kya
Deres was waiting when we arrived at the temple before dawn, hand in hand, bearing our mating marks. He was, in fact, expecting us, having felt our merging of souls through the Spirits. Theron and Odarum had appeared without us having told them. They knew it as well. While it was unusual for others to be present during a marriage ritual, it had felt appropriate for our Spirits to be present during such a spiritual moment.
Deres performed the marriage ritual, reciting the sacred words, and our guardians bowed their heads. Then our bands were placed around our wrists and sealed seamlessly—unable to be removed or broken. Not even in death.
Ryker flew us back to the palace, holding me in his arms. I wore the top and skirt that I wore during Nailu and wrapped a blanket around my waist to stave off the cold bite of the wind, nestling into his body for warmth. My hair was twisted up into a bun, the whipping air causing strands to come loose. I glanced at the marriage band around my wrist and smiled. The black metal was surprisingly warm against my skin despite the cold as it rested comfortably at the edge of my mating mark.
Ryker continued to carry me even after he landed on the balcony, through the corridor of the upper floor, and into the bedchamber. He sat me on the edge of the bed and kissed me softly, longingly, lovingly. My mate. My husband. Forever bound to me by the Gods and Spirits, through our hearts and souls.
Our sweet, gentle kiss turned into something more, and he took me. Then again in the bath before we washed each other. And I still couldn’t get enough of him.
