I didn’t tell her I’d seen the city already—I let her bask in the joy of showing me her home. I love seeing her actto freely. I had seen Lennox happy—but this—without the weight of the wellbeing of an entire continent weighing on her shoulders, there was a new lightness to her. Her face glowed in a way I had only seen when she was looking at me.
After lunch, she dragged me to a tattoo parlor where she made me wait in the waiting room while she added something new to her existing tattoo.
A new something she still hadn’t let me see.
I want you to see it once it’s healed so you get the full effect,she said beforeshe distracted me so thoroughly all thoughts of the tattoo fell from my head.
“Are you going to let me see your tattoo yet?” I pressed after we were both tired and sated.
“Hmm, impatient aren’t you?”
“Always.” I scraped my fangs over her shoulder, nipping slightly.
“Do you want to see my tattoo or do something else?”
“I want to see your tattoo.”
She scoffed. “That wasn’t the answer I was expecting.” She sat up, shifting so her back was facing me, the sheet falling to the wayside. “But if that’s what you want…”
She gathered her hair over her shoulder. “You can remove the bandage.”
I dusted my fingers over the scars crisscrossing her back. The wounds had healed, but the scars would remain. A permanent reminder of what she’d suffered. What she’d endured.
We both carried scars, visible and not.
I removed the white bandage covering the ink. The tattoo she’d gotten redone while we were in the Aquatic Court sat in the center of her left shoulder. The ink was darker than it had been originally, so you could see the markings over the scar slashing through the middle. The center was still the same—the crescent moon cradling thesun with stars dusting around the two celestial icons, the entire tattoo shimmering in silver ink.
The tattoo that marked her commitment to all three of the witch covens.
But now—resting on the top of the moon was a crown made of delicate lines of gold. At the base of the moon, dripping off the bottom curve, were several teardrop-shaped droplets colored in red.
I traced my fingers across her tattoo, tracking the words written around the entire tattoo in a sloping script.
“Until the stars turn to dust,” I murmured. The words matched the ones tattooed across my heart, written between the flames covering my Vanir brand.
She looked over her shoulder. “It’s—It’s a crown to symbolize my commitment to Lethenia and the blood, that’s to represent you. My commitment to you.” The mark on my palm burned as my chest constricted.
“It’s perfect.” I kissed the top of her shoulder, over the fresh ink. “Just like you.”
“It’s not too much?” She faced me. “Getting a tattoo to mark my commitment to you?”
I brushed her hair behind her ear, letting my hand linger. “Lennox, we’re mated. We already have matching mating tattoos. And I have your flames tattooed over my fucking heart. It’s not too much. Nothing you could ever do would be too much for me.”
“What if I got your entire face tattooed on my back?”
“I mean it would be a little strange but not too much.”
“Noted.”
I stood at the base of the staircase in the grand foyer, waiting for Lennox and the rest of the females to make their arrival so we could enterNol’s ball together.
Declan, Nico, Nol, and I were dressed in our finest. We looked pretty good, if I did say so myself.
“You guys ready?” Kara and Luce appeared from behind us, each of them dressed in glimmering dresses.
Luce’s was a deep purple that brought out the rich tones of her skin; her curls were slicked back with a headband encrusted with large gems of various colors.
Kara’s hair was loose, longer than I had ever seen it, it fell past her shoulders, dusting the fabric of her pink off-the-shoulder gown.
