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My eyes found Malyr’s, who stood nearby and clapped, his smile as radiant as those eyes he kept on us. “This is so much fun!”
No rules, no expectations.
Just joy, pure and uninhibited, flowing through my veins the way I’d been deprived of for so long. For the first time, I wasn’t tripping over my steps; I was dancing with them, each misstep a part of this beautiful, imperfect tapestry of life.
Fate.
Right here.
All around me.
After a while, the music halted, the musicians pausing to gulp down cups of hard-earned drink. The square erupted in cheers and hollers, a cacophony of joy that seemed to resonate from the very stones beneath us.
Sebian pulled me tightly against him, the happiness gleaming on his features threatening to spill over, the corners of his mouth almost touching the laughter in his eyes. “That’s not a night you’ll ever forget, is it?”
I grinned back at him, my chest heaving nearly as fast as my heart drummed. “Never.”
“That’s good.” With a tenderness that contrasted the rowdy energy around us, he reached over and gently wiped a stray strand of hair from my sweat-dampened temple. For a moment, we were the only two people in that square—our eyes locked, our hearts pounding to a rhythm that needed no music to sustain it. “I never said this before, but… thank you for bringing me back to life. Thank you for giving a chance to redeem myself in my own eyes. Even just a little.”
The sincerity in his eyes seemed to magnify, and I felt enveloped in a warmth that went beyond the physical closeness of our bodies. For the first time, it struck me how reciprocal we had been to each other. In me, Sebian had found someone to care for and protect. And in him, I’d found that care and protection when I’d so desperately needed it.
I reached up with both hands, letting my palms run along his sheared sides, loving the way it tingled my skin. “I love you.”
“And I love you,” he whispered, his eyes going to something behind me for a moment before he cupped my cheek. “This is what you’ll do now while I go find us some decent wine. Turn around and show our prince what this farmer’s son taught you about midnight dances around bonfires, hmm?”
With a smile, I turned around, immediately stepping into the frame of Malyr’s arms, just as a new tune resonated in the night. “Did you pay attention to the steps?”
His lips parted, his mouth standing agape for a moment. “There weresteps?”
Hanging the entire weight of my body to his arms, I used all the force I could muster and, with a sidestep, yanked him into the whirling, frenetic, chaotic dance that was life. It was happy. It was joyful…
It did not last.
ChapterForty-One
Galantia
Present Day, Valtaris
The morning light trickled through the windows, casting golden rays across our chamber and adding a touch of radiance to the obsidian of Malyr’s hair. How perfectly straight it was. So soft, I loved combing my fingers through it each morning.
I sat behind him in our nest, my fingers parting away a strand. “One braid or three?”
“One. No doubt Asker is already pacing the throne room.” He gave a nudge at Sebian’s side with his foot. “Do you intend to get up at all today, or…?”
A soft groan was Sebian’s initial answer, but then he stretched his limbs before he finally sat up, his eyes still half-shut. “You’re not making it sound as if I have a choice.”
“Not on the day before the coronation.”
I picked up a section of Malyr’s hair, weaving it into a pattern that had taken me many days to master, his muscles lazily giving in to our morning ritual. “It’ll be a spectacle.”
As if on cue, Sebian knelt behind me, his hair already tightly braided from last night. “How do you want it done, sweetheart?”
“Not at all this morning,” I said, finishing the last weave of Malyr’s hair and securing it with a silver clasp.
“Ouch…” Sebian let himself fall back into the nest, pressing a fist to his chest in the most dramatic display. “Oh, bitter rejection, how you wound my heart.”
“No, you’re just trying to find an excuse to crawl back under the blankets,” I said with a smile. “I want to bathe in the spring and wash my hair. Tjema can braid it for me after.”
