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“Michael and Erika—”
But then…lights illuminated above us, and we all tipped our heads back as the crowd gasped and the judge fell silent.
The crystals above that I saw earlier were chandeliers. A dozen of them, hanging in the trees, coming to life and lighting up the leaves, their branches, and looking like a whole other world up there.
Emmy sucked in a breath, and I looked over at her, seeing her chin tremble and a tear hanging at the corner of her eye.
“Oh, my God,” she murmured.
She seemed to love chandeliers, didn’t she?
Reaching up, I wiped the tear, the lights glowing across her beautiful skin.
“Michael and Erika,” the officiant started again. “Damon and Winter. Kai and Nikova. William and Emory.”
We all looked at her, air filling my lungs and feeling Em’s eyes on me.
“Are you happy?” the judge asked.
And I blew out my breath, breaking into a low chuckle, all of us laughing within a moment.
The judge nodded, needing no further answer. “I’ve been proud to watch you grow here, and I’m excited to see everything that comes next.”
I clasped Emmy’s hand.
“Rings, please?”
I held Emmy’s, Michael held Rika’s, and Damon and Kai took their women’s back from them temporarily.
But then, all the girls opened their palms to reveal the bands they had for us.
I looked down at it to see silver rings emblazoned with a crest I didn’t recognize. A skull hovering above a bed of grass where a snake laid. Antlers stretched out of the bone against a black background.
I looked around, kind of confused. Banks had the same ring for Kai, and I couldn’t see Michael’s or Damon’s, but I assumed they were the same, too. I guess I’d missed something.
I liked it, though.
“What’s wrong?” I heard Michael whisper.
“N…Nothing,” Rika said. “I thought
I saw something.”
“Michael and Erika?” the officiant continued. “Do you promise that no matter what you do, you do it as one?”
They smiled at each other. “We do.”
“Damon and Winter?” the judge asked next. “Do you promise to give your very best to each other?”
“We do,” they said, their voices strong and sure.
“Kai and Nikova?”
My heart hammered inside me, and my pores cooled with sweat.
“Do you promise that the other will never be alone?” the judge asked.
“We do,” they answered, and I could hear the smile in their voices.
