My throat tightened. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve been good!”
His fingers dug in. “Eona knows what you’ve done. And she is not gentle.”
I stayed there for hours, my knees bruising, my back cramping, while he prayed over me, accusing me of sins I had never committed. I broke down and begged forgiveness for it all, tears blurring everything as sobs shook through me.
He knelt beside me, fingers closing hard around my wrist. “A small offering for your penance is required.”
Before I could pull away, his teeth pierced my skin. Heat flared, then numbness, as he savored my blood. When he released me, he wiped his mouth and smiled. “All is forgiven, half-breed. I’ll see you for your next confession.”
I forced myself back to the present. I wasn’t thathelpless child anymore, but my wrists ached in an echo of my many confessions with him.
Bruvor inclined his head. “Good evening, Lady Ilyana.” His gaze slid to Finn and Zane, lingering with thinly veiled superiority, as though their very presence offended the sanctity of the area. “And your devotees. How…fortunate you are in your choices.”
“Good evening, Head Priest.” My tone carried practiced calm, though my pulse thudded hard. Rage simmered beneath my skin at needing him to witness this sacred moment, but I kept my expression an untouchable mask. “We’re ready to begin.”
“Approach the altar of Eona. The Beloved stands here.” He indicated where I should go.
I drew in a sharp breath as I moved closer. The altar thrummed with ancient power, and the air carried a charge. The scent of ozone and old magic mingled with the sweetness of the wisteria.
My stomach knotted, nerves fluttering sharp and restless. My bare feet met the uneven stone. The ground seemed to pulse beneath me, and I shivered.
With Bruvor’s instructions, Zane and Finn stood flanking me. Finn’s red hair caught the moonlight like flames. Zane’s eyes burned with intensity.
Bruvor drew a ceremonial knife from his robes and held it out. “The bonding of a Devotion is sacred, witnessed by Eona herself. Blood calls to blood, soul to soul.” He moved to stand opposite us across the altar, hands clasped before him. “A blood exchange creates the connection. The Beloved must cut across both her palms first.”
I took the knife. A tremor ran through my hand—not just nerves, but the sudden, dangerous impulse to stab Bruvor through the heart. He was already on my list forhis cruelty, but this wasn’t the right time. I suppressed the impulse, my jaw tightening as I beheld Ilyana’s face in the blade.
This was it—the moment I stopped being just Sidney and became something new, someone tied to two other souls through ancient magic. The knife bit into my right palm, sharp and clean. Blood welled. Before I could overthink it, I drew the blade across my left palm.
Bruvor’s lips curved in approval. “Now, your new devotees will do the same.”
Zane took the knife, cutting his palm before passing it to Finn, who followed suit. At the priest’s instructions, we pressed our bleeding palms together over the altar. Finn’s left hand locked against my right, Zane’s right against my left. Our blood dripped onto the ancient stone, sizzling and steaming as it was absorbed. Heat sparked where skin met and magic ignited with a crackle I felt in my teeth. As the wind rose around us my shift fluttered.
“Speak the vows, and let the bond be forged,” Bruvor intoned. He announced the words, and we repeated them.
“I bind myself to you.” Zane stared into my eyes, his voice carried over the gust, strong and certain. “My power, my life, my soul. From this moment until death claims us, I am yours.”
Finn’s mouth formed the same weighty words after he watched Bruvor and Zane speak. “I bind myself to you. My power, my life, my soul. From this moment until death claims us, I am yours.”
Finality closed around my throat, fear rendering me mute. Inhaling deeply, I loosened its grip. Looking at Zane, then Finn, a bloom of love pushed back against the dread, giving me the strength to speak. “I bind myself to you both.” I met Zane’s gaze. “Zane Sevilla.” Then, I let my attentionmove to Finn. “And Finnegan O’Connell. My life, my soul. From this moment until death claims us, you are mine.”
Magic exploded through me. Lightning crackled within our joined hands. I screamed, unable to help it. The power was too vast, searing through the marrow of my bones and unraveling my very essence, just to knit it back together.
Around us, the air shimmered. Crimson moths materialized from nowhere. Hundreds of them. They swirled around the altar and the wisteria, descending to land on us. I watched them dance in the breeze with a quiet sense of awe.
“Blood moths. They only appear when the bond is true and Lady Eona herself has witnessed and approved,” Bruvor said, though his expression remained unreadable for such a romantic display.
Amid the display, Zane’s power crashed into me like a tsunami of living darkness, vast and hungry. Then came Finn’s connection, a web of threads stretching to the surrounding life: rustling birds, mice within the walls, and the rhythmic prowl of a stray cat. The power swelled, then settled bone-deep, integrating until I couldn’t tell where I ended and they began.
The moths lifted as one, vanishing into the night. Breathless, I forced my trembling body to steady.
Bruvor raised his hands to the air. “The Devotion is forged but not complete. You must consummate the union to finish what you have begun.”
Heat flooded my face.
“Beyond the altar, between the ancient oaks, there is a bed of moss.” He gestured toward the trail and stepped back. “It has been blessed by the goddess herself. Magic grows there, fed by the half-moon. You will completethe bond there, beneath her watchful gaze. No one will disturb you. The space is yours until the moon sets.”
I glanced back as Zane led us down the path. Bruvor remained beside the altar, a dark silhouette against the moonlight. The distance between us grew until wisteria and shadow swallowed him from view.
