The inner circle is the congregation. Elena beside Marcellus, posture straight. Seraphina at the front. Isabelle and Caleb and Ethan in a row behind them. Dr. Dalton and Dr. Sullivan near the garden wall. Carson three paces behind them, clean shirt, crooked tie.
Alexei at the back. Outside the circle. He's watching Simone.
And at the tree line, arrived within the hour, Lanthar. He stands apart from the others, still in the armor he wore through the Veil crossings. Veyran a step behind him. He inclines his head when I glance toward him. He came back for this.
Maximus is at the arch.
He's in black. His shirt is open at the collar. The M and C crest on his finger catches the candles. He isn't smiling. He's watching me walk toward him, and his jaw is tight, and his eyes are bright.
Julian walks me to him. His arm is steady under mine. When we reach the arch, Julian steps back. Simone squeezes my hand once and lets go.
I reach him.
Marcellus speaks.
"We are here because two people have chosen each other." His voice carries without volume. The garden holds it. "In this compound. In the middle of a war. In front of the people who have fought beside them."
He looks at Maximus. Then at me.
"The old forms ask if you come freely. If you bind willingly. If you understand that what is joined tonight is joined in front of witnesses who will hold you to it."
He pauses.
"Maximus. Do you come freely?"
"I do."
"Celeste. Do you come freely?"
"I do."
"Do you bind willingly, knowing what you are to each other and what you will be asked to carry?"
"Yes," Maximus says.
"Yes," I say.
Mira steps forward. She's holding two cards.
"I wrote these," she says. "You may read what I gave you. You may read what is in you. You may read both."
She gives me mine.
I read it once. The handwriting is hers. The words aren't. They're mine. She listened.
I look up at Maximus. He's holding his card. He hasn't read it yet. He's looking at me.
"I had a speech," he says. "Mira wrote one that's better. But I'm not going to read either of them."
He takes my hands.
"I said everything I needed to say in the garden." His voice drops. "But I'll say this. I have lived a long time. I have built territories, held alliances, buried people I loved. None of it prepared me for you. You don't belong to me. You never did. But you chose me, and I'm going to spend whatever time I have earning that."
Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.
I cry.
"I had a speech too," I say. My voice is wrecked. "I was going to be cool about this."
