Page 123 of On Brutal Thrones

Thorian doesn't seem to want to let go, but eventually, he does. He comes back to stand beside us. None of us moves.

Then Nyx looks at me. “Is that it?”

I shake my head. “One more.”

Her brows lift.

“Your vow to your family.”

Something changes in her expression. Nyx looks at the three of us standing before her. Me. Talon. Thorian. Then she steps closer to the us.

The flames paint gold across her face, and I forget the dirt on her clothes and the exhaustion beneath her eyes. I forget that we're standing in the middle of the Trials with death waiting somewhere beyond the trees.

All I see is my bride.

Nyx holds out her hands. Without anyone telling us to, the three of us step forward. Thorian takes one. I take the other. Talon covers our joined hands with his. Nyx looks down at all of us connected together. When she lifts her gaze again, tears are slipping down her cheeks.

“I came into these Trials for my sister.” Her voice trembles. “I thought that was the only thing that could ever matter enough for me to risk my life.”

My throat tightens.

Nyx looks at each of us in turn. “I was wrong.”

The night seems to go silent around us.

“I promise to be yours. All of yours. I will love you when we're frightened and angry and broken. I'll love you through drought and famine and the shaking of the earth. I'll love you when the gods themselves stand against us.” Her fingers tighten around mine. “I'll love you through the worst days of my life.”

Her voice breaks completely. “And I cannot wait to love you through the best that are still to come.”

Something inside me breaks, or maybe it opens. Happiness floods through me so fast and fiercely that for a second I can't breathe.

For most of my life, the future has been something I tried not to think about too much. People like me don't grow up expecting grand estates or easy lives. We learn to appreciate what we have while we have it. Family. Food. Laughter. One more safe night beside a warm fire.

But suddenly I can see a future so clearly it hurts.

Nyx’s manor, with every room full of people I love. My family visiting whenever they please, because no one owns them anymore. Lyra safe. Thorian with nowhere he has to rush off to, Talon with no reason to keep one eye on the door. Nyx beside me, knowing we’ll all still be there when she wakes up tomorrow.

And Fenric-sized portions at every meal, because if I’m living in a manor, I’m taking full advantage of it.

Years. Decades. A whole lifetime. With them.

I want it so badly that tears finally spill down my cheeks.

“Oh, fuck,” I mutter, wiping at them.

Nyx laughs through her own tears. “Are you crying?”

“No.”

“You are.”

“It's smoke.”

“The wind is blowing the other direction,” Talon points out.

I glare at him. “This is my wedding. I'll cry however I want.”

That makes Nyx laugh harder, and I wipe at my face again, not even bothering to pretend this time.