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But...why couldn’t it happen right here? In the very sea where we met, beneath the very moon that guided me to her?
Desire suffocated me, and the ever-growing desperation that I’d never been able to outrun slammed into my heart and made me blurt, “Marry me. Right now.”
She blinked. “What?”
I had no idea what they said at wedding ceremonies. I had no idea what made them binding. But...before our bodies joined...I wanted us to be official.
Screw age and race and circumstance. Fuck fate and fear and law.
Call me old-fashioned but the moment I entered Neri, I wanted it to be as man and wife. A consummation witnessed by the stars, even if that was all we could ever be.
“Do you, Nerida Taylor, take me, Aslan Avci...previously named Aslan Kara...as your husband? Do you promise to trust me, love me, challenge me, frustrate me? Do you vow to give me your heart in return for mine? Do you promise to let me slay your demons, fight your nightmares, and keep you safe in my arms? Do you accept that you are mine until your dying day, just like I am yours, and trust that we will find each other again and again, always together and never apart?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, but these seemed different.
They didn’t gleam with sadness but glittered with healing. These were the tears of my terribly young wife as she gave me everything that she was, letting me shoulder her shadows and her light, knowing I accepted her for exactly who she was.
“Yes. A thousand times, yes.”
I kissed her, my heart racing faster than it ever had before.
Pulling away, she whispered, “Do you, Aslan Avci...previously named Aslan Kara...take me, Nerida Taylor, as your wife? Do you promise to trust me, love me, push me, protect me? Do you vow to give me your heart in return for mine? Do you promise to let me stay by your side, hide you in plain sight, and do whatever it takes to keep you alive? Do you accept that you are mine until your dying day, just like I am yours, and trust that we will find each other again and again, always together and never apart?”
“Evet, askim,” I whispered. “It means, yes, my love. A million times yes.”
She laughed softly. “A million yeses are a lot.”
“And somehow not nearly enough.”
Our lips touched. Our breaths mingled. And I whispered into her mouth, “By the power of the luna and the mare, the ay and the deniz, the moon and the sea, I pronounce us man and wife. And seeing as I’m already kissing the bride, I think it’s about time I fucked her...just so there’s no confusion on the legalities of this union.”
Her laughter made me whole.
Her kisses made me ache.
And her trust in me, as I plucked her from the seafloor and carried her to shore, made my heart burst with everlasting fate.
Chapter Forty-Six
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Nerida
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AGE: 17 YRS OLD
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(Sea in Finnish: Meri)
ASLAN HADN’T JUST BEEN NAMED AFTER A lion. He didn’t just share the title of a creature in a children’s book: a creature loved by generations and graced with the symbolism of being a king and God. He also shared that magic. That epic evil-defeating power where just being with him made me heal.
Beneath his touch, I could forget.
Beneath his kisses, I could move on.
I’d asked him to replace the memories of what Ethan had done. I’d fallen into his arms, hoping to enjoy it but fearing that I wouldn’t. That it would be too soon. That I’d suffer flashbacks and ruin this incredibly important connection, this soul-stitching bond by forcing my body to do something it wasn’t ready to do.
But all those fears vanished the moment Aslan wed me beneath the moon. Standing in the sea that’d brought us together, he gave me a new life. He ripped me from the one I’d been living as a young girl with only herself to rely on and gave me everything that he was. His past, his future—he put me above himself in every way.
And that sort of blind devotion cracked open my last remaining shell of teenage-hood, and I grew up. I accepted that this was my mate in life, soul, and heart. This was the man who would take my potential and make me soar—all because he believed in me, supported me, and gave me exactly what I needed to be me.
His lips crashed against mine as he waded onto the shore with me in his arms, heading up the beach. Our lips tangled and tongues touched; I’d never felt so exquisitely safe.
During the day, the sand was pockmarked with tourist’s feet as they explored around the tiny island. But tonight, it was just us. No signs of humankind. Just the soft hissing of the sea, the bright sparkle of the stars, and the bone-deep knowledge that Aslan hadn’t just married me with words but with his very essence.
