His eyes darted between hers. “You wouldn’t have?”
“Of course not. I never thought... I didn’t believe you desired anything beyond friendship. I was content with that.”
“So was I,” he confessed, savoring the way his thumb glided along her cheekbone. “But that changed.”
Gently, she ran her hands down his arms and stepped closer. “Thom,” she whispered now, “there are many challenges ahead for us. I spoke with my grandfather about his marriage; my grandmother was non-magical, too, and their life together, while beautiful, was fraught with difficulty and pain. He had to watch her age while he stayed the same. She endured ridicule for being with a man presumably so much her junior. While he remained in his prime, she became frail and weak. We won’t have an easy life, you and I.”
Hearing the warning she was giving him—hewould endure ridicule from those who didn’t understand as he grew old and gray while she remained youthful, andhewould age into feebleness while she maintained her vitality and vigor—Thom couldn’t find it in him to care.
“Easy is boring,” he said.
Brea raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smile forming on her full lips, drawing his attention to her mouth as she continued, “You’ve always been difficult, haven’t you?”
“Absolutely,” he affirmed, dipping down toward her. Their lips nearly met just as she tugged back lightly.
“Well then,” she said playfully, her breath mingling with his, “perhaps I should make this a little more challenging for you.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“I thought easy was boring?”
“Brea.” He wound one arm around her waist. “Mi’cara,” he whispered in her ear. “There’s nothing about you that could ever be boring.”
“And nothing about you could ever be easy,mi’eló.”
Thom smiled and leaned in, laughing softly as he brought his face closer to hers again. “I love you,” he repeated. “Though I’ve foolishly said those words to others in the past, I now know—with complete certainty—that you are the only one I’ve ever truly meant it about. The only one who’s made me fully understand what love is.”
“Thom,” she whispered, setting a hand along his jaw.
“What?”
Brea didn’t speak but drew Thom closer, rising on her toes to press her lips to his in a long and far-overdue kiss.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
24TH OF PYRA, 1574
The Alliance spent the next two weeks preparing for the coronation of the Allundan oligarchy. While Deckard and Evylin were brought up to speed on the finer points of Allund’s structure and administration through various meetings, the ministers worked to find suitable replacements for Ethenn and Ilain.
As the Loxleys had effectively abdicated, they moved into the Loclight suites, along with Vayden and Reyana, granting their troop time to be together again. Though Deckard and Evylin were often busy during the days, they spent the evenings with their friends, and he could feel how grateful she was for that. They would still have to part from the Loxleys and Calders before long, but they wouldn’t be as far as West Allund. And when they discovered the cure, they hoped to join the rest in Loclight.
During their meetings, Deckard and Evylin also met with the other chancellors and commanders. During their mission to retrieve the Relics, they’d met the Night Mage, Grey Trumane, in Mouroc, but this was their first chance to meet Alma, his Warrior bride. They were a unique pair; Grey displayed a bright, dry sense of humor, while Alma reminded Deckard of a femaleversion of Hewitt, her manner gruff and no-nonsense. Evylin liked her tremendously.
When Deckard met the other Bonded couples, he assessed their character with thoughtful care. These were the individuals set to take on leadership roles in their country. He was desperate to ensure they were capable and pleasant. He was relieved to find that, overall, they fit the bill.
Once all preparations had been finalized for the coronation, the date was set, and the ministers granted the troop a three-day leave to recuperate and unwind. These were to be their final days in each other’s company for a considerable duration. After the coronation, their lives would set out on different paths. With the future they’d worked for closer than ever, a sense of unease settled in Deckard’s stomach; he still didn’t feel ready for the responsibility he was about to assume. However, he knew that with Evylin and Thom beside him, he couldn’t fail. They wouldn’t let him.
On the night before the coronation, the troop gathered in the parlor. Sitting in the Loclight apartments wasn’t quite like the old times around the campfire. So much had changed, yet the same laughter and companionship prevailed. They missed Hewitt, Auden, Rafferty, and Isla but were joined by Calyn and Cris—who were officially courting, as he had received a letter of permission from Magistrate Glaas only the previous day—and Reyana, who often spent her time with her father or Brea.
Only a day after meeting with the ministers, Thom and Brea had married. They didn’t want to wait, opting for a small ceremony with only the troop as witnesses. Although Deckard still wasn’t thrilled about the discrepancies in their age and magic, he was genuinely happy for his brother. Thom had grown significantly as a man over the past year. Deckard attributed this growth largely to Brea’s influence. She had a way of bringing outthe best in Thom and pushing him in ways no one else seemed able to accomplish.
In Deckard’s eyes, Brea was surprisingly companionable. As she was to be their head of the guard, she had already begun working closely with Deckard and Evylin to plan how they would run Loclight. The more time Deckard spent with Brea, the better they got along. He found her levelheadedness and candid manner refreshing and often sought her advice on difficult decisions.
With their time together in Aulton, Deckard was able to see that the rest of their friends had grown as well.
Over the last nearly two months of marriage, Ethenn and Ilain had become a synchronous team. They worked well alongside each other, tempering their more intense traits while encouraging their more subdued ones. The young hunter had become confident and caring, and the highlady was attentive and knowledgeable. Although Deckard felt they would have made admirable rulers, he was proud of them for choosing to seek a cure for the Deep. He considered it a noble pursuit befitting them both.
Even Vayden wore a steadier smile than he had in quite some time. Isla’s death still seemed to haunt him, but over the last two weeks, he had spoken with Deckard and Thom about his plans for the future. Although he didn’t regret the effort he and Isla had put into the Alliance, knowing it had secured the fate of the country they dreamed of for their daughter, he mourned the years lost with his wife. While he would work to help Ethenn and Ilain find the cure, he was determined to dedicate the rest of his life to cherishing his time with Reyana. The teenage girl was healing from her own grief, but she was coping better than Deckard had expected. Vayden attributed this to the influence of his parents.
