Page 67 of Mating Her Dragon

She grinned at him like that was exactly the correct answer. Then, she took his hand, and they walked to the bluff together.

No, it wasn’t a sacred Dragon site. Not some ancient temple chosen by prophecy or Council decree. It was just the stretch of California coast they'd found because Garrett had mentioned, almost as an afterthought, that he had never seen the Pacific, and Sydney had looked at him like that was the most obvious problem in the world to solve.

Then let's start there, she'd said.

He let himself have one full beat of remembering that, walking toward the small gathering of people who'd come to watch him choose her in front of witnesses. He had spent thousands of years going wherever duty sent him, doing whatever the Guard required, standing wherever he was stationed. No one, in all that time, had ever asked him where he wanted to go.

But Sydney had. And somehow that single question had led him here, to this cliff, to this woman, to this life he had never once been trained to want and now could not imagine surviving without.

Carrick began the rite the moment they reached the small half-circle of people gathered at the bluff's edge. Bonnie and Maggie were already damp-eyed, dabbing their cheeks with embroidered linen handkerchiefs. Ginnie was quietly glowing, and the two Commanders were standing straight enough to make Garrett's spine ache in sympathy.

Carrick's voice, when the ceremony began, dropped into something older and heavier than his usual dry humor. It was solemn without swallowing the whole morning in centuries of liturgy, with just the right amount of happiness and cheer.

As they'd discussed, he started with the original Mating Ceremony. It was the part Sydney remembered from her parents' ceremony, and she wanted it to be part of theirs.

“Long ago, when Knights and Dragons fought side by side for King and Country, it became clear that Dragonkin were no longer safe from those who would expose and destroy them. They sought to join the Knights who had so valiantly fought alongside them to continue their mission to protect all from Evil. Thus, through Magic and the will of both the Dragon King and the Knight, the Dragon Shifters and the Dragon Guard were born.”

“We are here today to honor what the Universe put into place all those many years ago. We are here to acknowledge and bless the Mating of Garrett Acheson to the one the Universe made for only him, Sydney Kavanaugh. Will those seeking to witness this union please step forward?”

From the side came Kellan and Raven. The first to speak was Kellan. “I am here today to witness and offer our blessing to the union of these two souls, two halves of the same whole. May they live long, fight hard, love harder, and produce many young to flourish when their souls have gone to the Heavens.”

He was instantly replaced by Raven, the seven-foot-six-inch man with long dark hair, who stood tall and looked Garrett straight in the eye. “May the blessing of Light be on you, the Light from your soul and from each other. May the blessed sunlight shine upon you and warm your heart until it glows like Dragonfire. This is the Universe’s greatest wish, and it is my honor to bless your union on this great day.”

Garrett had heard some version of those Blessings a hundred times over the centuries. However, they were always delivered to men marching toward a war.

He heard something different in it today. Not survive the battle. Have something worth coming home to.

Carrick began again, “Your witness and blessing have been acknowledged and accepted, Blue Thunder Dragon Clan and Onyx Dragon Clan of the Duntulm. Garrett Acheson, please escort your Mate to the center of the Blessed Circle.”

As soon as Garrett and Sydney were in the middle of the circle of red roses, Carrick continued, "No Bond may be taken lightly." Looking between them, his ancient words fell easily and with the practiced finesse of a man who had clearly done this before and never once stopped meaning every word he spoke. "No vow may be compelled. No blood may be claimed. What is given here must be freely given– by both, to both, or not at all."

Garrett looked at Sydney.

She looked right back at him.

Neither of them moved.

That was the whole answer, and Carrick, watching them, seemed satisfied with it. Then Carrick nodded to him, and it was time for the vows.

Garrett had written and rewritten his more times than he'd admit to anyone, including Han. He hadn't wanted it to be enormous. He wasn't a poet. He was a Dragon Guardsman who loved a woman more than he had ever loved anything, including his own survival, and he wanted her to hear that plainly, in words that sounded like him and not like some vow lifted out of a book thousands of years old.

Garrett took her hands in his. He looked her right in the eye, praying that his expression said what he wanted it to. Then he started.

"I choose you," he said. "Not because the Universe made you for me and placed you in my path, but because every step I have taken beside you since I met you has made me want the next one." His voice didn't shake. He was faintly amazed by that. "You asked me what I wanted, when I had forgotten that I was allowed to want anything for myself. You gave me somewhere to stand, Sydney. You gave me the Pacific, and cake nobody needed, and a hundred small, ordinary things I didn't know I'd missed until you handed them back to me one at a time."

Her eyes were already bright with unshed tears. His weren't far behind.

"I promise I will never mistake loving you for making choices for you," he said. "I will stand beside you. I will fight beside you. I will come home to you. And when tomorrow becomes today– I will choose you again… Every time."

Somewhere behind them, Bonnie made a sound like she was trying very hard not to sob and failing enormously. Maggie wasn’t far behind.

Sydney took a breath that shook a little on the way in, and then she began. "The Universe made you for me," she said. "And some might think that means I had no choice, but I did. I chose you for myself."

Garrett felt the words land somewhere deep inside him, exactly where they belonged, and was so very glad he hadn’t found her notebook before the day.

"You've seen the prophecy," she went on. "The Magic. The Dragon. The Queen. Every single thing I'm supposed to be. And somehow, you still see Sydney. You've held onto me without ever once trying to hold me back." Her fingers tightened around his. "When I lose direction, you tell me which side is home. So, I promise you this– wherever we go, whatever comes through whatever damn door I accidentally open…"

Garrett felt his mouth twitch, helpless, at that.