Page 131 of Crown of the Dunes

“I’ve never been able to heal anything before either,” I conceded. “But maybe we can figure it out together.”

He finally looked up from the Heart. “Together,” he echoed.

At the sound of the word on his tongue, some of the churning uncertainty that had plagued me for the past days settled. I tilted my head in contemplation. As the months had passed during my time as Queen in Kelvadan, loneliness had crept up on me—responsibility forcing me further from Erix and Neven and even Aderyn.

Now, I had been cast out into the desert that had been my prison of loneliness for too long—thrown from the city where I was supposed to find home, now as a fallen queen. But I was no longer alone.

I had brought a family with me and stumbled upon new allies.

I had Erix, whose life and magic pulsed within me with every shared breath. The path before us may be changing as constantly as the ever-shifting sands, but I refused for either of us to face it alone anymore.

Rising from my seated position onto my knees, I turned to face Erix. He looked at me curiously as I pulled my dirk from my belt.

“I know in Kelvadan, the archons perform weddings, but out in the clans, there are no such formalities,” I said. “The desert respects blood, so blood is how we bind ourselves to each other.”

Erix’s gaze dropped to my hand, which I held out palm up. I offered him my dirk, hilt first, with the other.

“You’re marrying me?” he asked.

“I’m choosing you,” I said, squaring my jaw. “So many decisions lay before us, and I have very few answers, but I am certain of one thing, and that is my love for you.”

Erix let the heart fall from his lap into the sand with a quiet thud, rising to his knees facing me. Slowly, without breaking eye contact, he took the outstretched dirk from me. I shivered under the heat of his gaze, his silver eyes reflecting the twinkling blanket of stars above.

Finally, he lowered his gaze. I copied him, staring as he pressed the tip of the dirk to my palm and dragged it across my skin. I hissed at the sudden burn, and a line of crimson blood bloomed.

As my blood welled in my hand, he offered the dirk back to me, holding his other hand palm up, just like I did. My heart thundered in my chest as I slit his palm the same way he had done mine. He barely let out a sharp inhale of pain at the sensation, and his luminous eyes stayed fixed on my face the entire time.

Once it was done, I let my dirk fall in the sand between us. I met his eyes, and slowly, we clasped hands, our blood mixing and pooling where our skin pressed together.

“Together,” I said. “For better or worse.”

Erix dipped his chin. “My heart is yours, from now until the sands drink my blood. And even then, she will taste it and know that I belong to you.”

A droplet of our combined blood slipped from between our hands, dripping onto the dune below. A gasp escaped me as colors and sensations filled my mind in a rush. I heard crashing waves and felt the spray of water on my face—the scent of salt that permeated Erix’s skin.

Then I was back in my own body, staring into Erix’s eyes, which were wide as my own. The desert had taken our blood, and our promises were sealed. Using the hand he held, Erix pulled me toward him and I fell forward into his chest and raised my face to meet his lips as he lowered them to mine. Our slippery hands parted and instead, he brought it up to cup my cheek, as his other arm wound around my waist.

His fingers smeared warm blood on my cheek, and I reveled in it. He was mine, and I was his.

The Heart of the Desert might be broken, but for a moment, mine was whole.