Page 113 of Last Rites

“Penny, it has been my privilege to watch you grow into the man before me today. I’ve no doubt you’ll continue to live a life of honor and love. I’m so terribly proud of you.” She wavered a bit this time, reaching for me the same way she had Kit. Before she got hold, I released Kit’s wrist and threw my arms around her, dragging her into a tight embrace.

She sobbed once against me, clutching the ribbon in the tight space between us.

“Your father would be proud too,” she whispered.

I dipped my head to kiss her cheek, tasting the salt from her tears before she pulled back.

Kit and I renewed our hold, wrist to wrist and arms braced.

Ben wasn’t the only one who’d practiced.

I’d made Kit rehearse this night after night, though I’d kept my vows to myself. Those would be special, spoken once and with all the devotion in my heart.

Once our grip was sure, Mother wrapped the ribbon carefully around our wrists. She lifted her hands to her lips and kissed them, then pressed them to our cheeks.

“Thank you,” I mouthed to her, and she nodded while blinking watery eyes.

She returned to her place, and I faced Kit again.

He was as dashing as ever. Buttoned up in brown and black brocade that made his eyes look rich and impossibly deep. He stood tall, back straight and shoulders squared, and I decided he must have been proud, too. Of us.

Ben lifted his ribbon—simple linen dyed blue—and draped it over the one Mother had used to join our hands. Kit’s fingers twitched beneath mine, his thumb brushing against my skin, a quiet promise that steadied me even as my heart thudded like a drum.

“With this cord,” Ben said, looping it once, then twice around our wrists, “you are bound not by law or by land, but by choice. By the keeping of one another.”

I swallowed hard and blinked against the sting in my eyes. Breath caught in my lungs, going stale as I rehearsed the promise I’d made to myself not to cry.

“May the seasons turn kindly upon you,” Ben continued, his voice softening, “and may your bond hold fast through storm and harvest alike.”

He looked between us then, and a knowing glint lit his eyes. “Speak your hearts, if you wish.”

Kit’s breath hitched, and despite the breeze and the birds and the people clustered around us, that was the only sound I heard. He leaned in until his forehead nearly touched mine. “Penwell Oliver, I don’t belong to you, but with you, for every day that I have left, and what is mine will always be yours. I will spend every night by your side, and be the first thing you see when you wake.”

His fingers tightened around my wrist, not needing any cord or ribbon to hold them there.

“You will have my first, and my best, and I will gladly keep you for all of your days. You have my life, and you have had my death, and you will have everything that comes after. We are partners, always. Equals, to the end. This is my vow to you, my husband.”

My promise to make it through this with dry eyes was broken long before he finished speaking. I wasn’t sure how Kit endured it without even a lip wobble. He smiled, still so close I could feel the warmth of his breath, and I straightened back long enough to mop my shirt sleeve across my face.

“Gods, I should’ve gone first,” I sputtered, already choked.

Soft laughter rippled through the crowd as I tried to get my wits about me.

I’d known my vows for months. I started writing them the day we returned to Forstford and began building this life. They were a promise I’d put into practice, long before today, because I simply couldn’t wait for this moment. Now it was here, and I finally had my chance show Kit everything I hoped he already saw in me. To tell him all the things I prayed he already knew.

Despite the urge to throw myself into his arms, I kept my footing steady and my spine straight. My eyes were lined with tears, but focused, and I swallowed down a swell of emotion to speak before I was overcome again.

“Kit Mosel, I vow to you the first and best I have to give. Every morning when I wake, it will be for you. Every night when I cry out, it will only be your name.”

Kit’s face darkened with blush, and my stoic mask cracked in a smile. I stepped into him then, chest to chest and hands gripped so hard between us they’d begun to tingle.

“I will be a shield for your back as you are for mine,” I told him. “Your partner and protector. And beyond this, I will cherish and honor you through this life and into the next, my forever darling.”

Kit’s thick lashes fluttered, beading up with tears that made me almost giddy. I wanted to kiss the wobbly smile off his lips, but there was a bit more to be done to seal our union, and I wouldn’t forestall that for anything.

I loosened my fingers, cueing Kit to do the same, and we drew back, sliding our arms apart and pulling the twin ribbons into a tight knot.

Beside us, Ben wiped his own damp face and declared, “Then before all gathered, and before the gods who keep watch, your hands are fasted. What you hold now, hold always.”