“We will now proceed with the handfasting. Lady Cora, Lord Fyn, are you ready?” Lord Orion gestured for them to join us. Lioran lifted my hands into his so that our palms pressed together. Fyn and Cora took both sides of a silver ribbon, and each wrapped theirs around our hands. My hands stilled against his.
“All promises that are made here shall be protected by the stars,” Lord Orion announced.
Cora’s eyes caught on mine as she settled the ends of the ribbon around our hands. She smiled at me and then at Lioran. His breathing quickened—his hands trembled against mine.
“Lioran?” I whispered to him, desperate to ease whatever worried him.
“I not only bind myself to my wife, but to her bargain…” His words boomed through the great hall, lifting into the air. “I promise to stand beside you, to restore the land.”
“No—you can’t risk yourself for me,” I cried.
“You can’t just take on her bargain,” Cora protested.
He didn’t retort but only continued his promise. “Wherever we go—we go together. I choose this life above all else. The crown may pass to another if she can’t rule at my side.”
The air whirled around, the rose petals lifted and settled. Heat surged from my onyx through my hands and into his.
Lord Orion waited, he watched Lioran carefully, but my husband only nodded.
“With my magic I seal these promises.” Golden light shimmered from Lord Orion’s hands, through the ribbon—it wound around our hands until the ribbon disintegrated. “Your fate is tied. May you love each other for all your days—for as long as the stars allow.” He choked on his words.
Fyn’s audible sigh echoed, but when I looked back at him, a somber smile spread across his face.
Lioran wrapped his arms around me. He pressed his lips into mine.
I couldn’t alter his fate, couldn’t alter mine.
We would go into Myrwood Grove together, to face whatever lay ahead, bonded as husband and wife.
Lioran scooped me in his arms and carried me up the main stairs, where anyone could see—we didn’t have to hide anymore. My hands wrapped around his neck. The train of my gown flowed behind us. He walked with such urgency, as if he couldn’t lose a single moment with me.
“Lioran…how could you?” I still hadn’t caught my breath when we made it into my chambers—the chambers of his bonded wife.
“I gave us a future.” He kissed me as he put me down. “We can do this together.”
“We don’t know that.”
He leaned backward into the bed, pulling me closer to him.
“The Grove won’t just take magic from you—I will bear the weight of it beside you.” I felt relief at his words, but the guilt rivaled it.
The moment I spoke in Nythrel—I doomed us both.
My head hung, my heart grew heavier.
“It was my choice to make.”
“I thought you were doing it for the time we had remaining until I wasn’t…” I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.
He slid the cuffs off his wrist. “I did this for us—to create the life we deserve. Please, let us have our first night together as husband and wife…our first of many.” He worked at his tunic buttons, sliding them free.
“How do I live with what I’ve done to you? What I’ve caused you to risk?”
“You just live. You’ve given me…” His hands drifted down my torso, settling at my waist. “Everything.” Pain flickered behind his eyes as his hands lingered. My breath caught in my chest as he froze. “I ever wanted…everything I hoped for.”
His hand fell over his mouth, and his eyes watered.
“Lioran?” He pulled me in, gripping me tightly against his body.
