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It was time. We couldn’t put off this conversation any longer.
“I will, but I feel like it should come with a disclaimer.”
“Go on then, oh wise one,” Dare replied, smiling against my shoulder.
“Just because we knowhowto reestablish the bonds, doesn’t mean that we have to go ahead and do it right away. The bonds are permanent, but they aren’t limited in number or by time-constraints. We can all move at whatever pace we’re comfortable with. That is my disclaimer,” Riot finished lamely, very consciouslynotlooking at Bullet.
“I’m pretty sure you said that for my benefit, and I appreciate you for it,” Bullet replied cheerfully.Same, same, but different.Still merry, still brightly self-assured in his own way, but less confident when it came to things like teasing any of us or needling Riot. It was okay. It’d come in time, or it wouldn’t, and I’d adore him anyway.
“You’re welcome,” Riot said with a smirk. “Anyway, it’s not so complicated—hold hands and repeat a vow to each other as the sun sets.”
“Romantic,” I murmured, surprised the Fates would bother with romanticism. Especially after the way the bonds had been sealed in the past.
“Sure,” Riot deadpanned. “The Fates are all about romance. They love fresh air and golden light and physical touch. Anyway, the added safeguard they built in is preexisting mutual feelings. There can be no bond until both parties reach a certain level of trust, love, and confidence—that kind of thing. If it doesn’t go both ways, the bond won’t take. Not like before when it was meet your soul bond, physical agony until you couldn’t take it any more and boned, then you’re bonded for life with no return policy. Not that I ever wanted to return you, Gracie,” he added hastily. I attempted to give him a chastising look, but couldn’t inject any real heat into it.
Preexisting mutual feelings.That was the way it should be, the way it should have always been, and yet I couldn’t help but be nervous. What if itdidn’ttake? I loved all of them more than I could comprehend, but what if it wasn’t enough?
Riot was watching me closely, and Dare’s arms tightened around my waist, his lips brushing lightly over my shoulder.
“We’re not going to have a problem with that.” Riot’s voice was confident. He looked out the window, where the sky was just beginning to turn orange. “I’ll show you that myself right now.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to rush you—”
“I lied when I said we canallmove at whatever pace we’re comfortable with,” Riot interjected. “That was just for Bullet. I want you right now, Gracie. I don’t want to wait.”
I pressed my lips together to stop myself from smiling. “You’d wait if I asked you to.”
“He’d be a real surly prick about it, though,” Dare laughed. “For what it’s worth, I don’t want to wait either.”
I nodded, looking at Wild, a silent conversation passing between us as we’d got so in the habit of doing before his voice came back.We’d wait. As hard as it would be, we’d wait until Bullet was ready or until he decided what he wanted, even if it wasn’t us.
“Alright. I’m ready,” I said with a decisive nod.
Riot grinned. “We need to be outside, with the setting sun on us.”
Dare half dragged me off the bed, spinning me around until we were facing each other. “Me next?” he confirmed.
I went up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “It’s not a question. I’m not waiting.”
“What did I do to deserve you, hm?”
We left the room with Wild and Bullet walking ahead, scouting out a place for us to have our ceremony away from any prying eyes. They both seemed to actively want to be involved, which soothed some of my internal anxiety at us all moving at different paces. They certainly didn’tlookresentful.
“Here?” Bullet suggested, leading us into a small grassy patch between a copse of trees, the golden sunlight filtering through the gaps, giving it a wholly magical feel, while maintaining a good level of privacy.
Sometimes, I still felt like this wasn’t real—the grass between my feet, the scent of flowers, the buzz of insects. I’d never grow tired of being outside, and I wished I’d appreciated it more before.
“It’s perfect,” I breathed, turning in a circle to admire it before sitting cross-legged on the ground at Riot’s encouragement, laying my palms flat against his. Already, there was a tingle of magic in the air, a strange sense of fizzy lightness mixed with a feeling of weight and duty. Though that made sense, didn’t it? The bubbly joy of love and the gravity of commitment, coming together as one.
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Join our hands, and repeat the three magic words to each other.” Riot’s lips twitched. “They definitely made it easy because Atropos thinks I’m an idiot who can’t follow instructions.”
He didn’t seem upset, so I chose not to renew my irritation at the Fates for the way they’d spoken to him. No, he seemed happy. Happier, maybe, than I’d ever seen him.
Riot stared into my eyes, looking so perfectly content that my simmering insecurity that this wouldn’t work just melted away. He believed in us, and I was going to believe in us too. I was going tochooseto believe in us.
“Pístis, elpís, agápe.”He said the words clearly and calmly, and I smiled at the perfect simplicity of them.Faith, hope, love.
