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Separate beds, for the first time since we repaired our quaternion. It’s traditional. Doesn’t stop me from missing my boys like mad, or tossing and turning all night despite how comfortable the beds at the Ember Palace are.
This is the last night I’ll sleep in this bed. In any bed in the Ember Palace. The palaces within Thistlemist are reserved for the princes of the blood. Which Darwin ain’t anymore. Although the Ember Palace is swish and I’ll miss that lovely library, I’m very happy with the deal we’ve made.
Almost as happy as I am to go back to Bevington.
I’m awake before my alarm, too excited to sleep in. I shower carefully, using a wintergreen scrub to purify my skin. This is as much a ritual as any other and I want to do it right.
After I dry my hair and do three small plaits on each side that I tuck behind my ears, I pull on a deep purple, silk robe. There’s no white at a magi handfasting. Pink or green is traditional for the bride, but I’ve never been a traditional girl. Besides, the violet silk matches the streaks Gabe and I have put in my hair.
I put on my rings, fasten the string of moonstones around my wrist, and pick up the three wreaths I’ve made from rosemary and gold wire. Barefoot and wincing when my soles touch the stone floors—you’d think apalacewould have underfloor heating—I go to find my boys.
They’re waiting for me in the kitchen. They’re barefoot, bare-chested. Probably bare-bottomed under their kilts, too. I’ll be finding out soon enough.
They’re clean-shaven and I already miss Charlie’s blond beard. I bet he’d grow it out again if I ask. A little raiding role-play with my own personal Viking could be all sorts of delicious.
“Ready, bean?” Charlie asks.
I have a perma-smile stuck on my face already, but it brightens to a freaking spotlight as I nod.
I hold out my hands. The boys shuffle the things they’re holding until we can all join hands. Once the circle’s complete, I drag us into the Earth.
We step out into a dark, warm, humid space. Dry sand under our feet. The drip of water echoing off stone walls. I drop the boys’ hands so I can take off my moonstone bracelet. Breathing over the stones, I wake the magic stored in them.
The moon’s pale light fills the cave, revealing its long bottle-neck shape, glinting off the pool in the far corner.
The cave’s empty, waiting for the years to come in which I’ll find it and make it my hearth room. There’s a bit of an odor, mustiness and maybe something that used the cave as its final resting place. I hear Gabe blow out a breath and the smell whisks away under a mint-scented gust of Air.
He turns to me with a grin almost as wide as my own. “Baby girl.”
“Baby boy. You want to go first?”
We’ve planned our vows. Written them out. Revised them. But we haven’t talked about the order.
Gabe shakes his head. “Charlie claimed that privilege.”
Charlie puts his hands on Gabe and Darwin’s shoulders and draws them back into a tight circle from where they’ve drifted as they’ve looked around my cave. “I’m your oldest friend, bean. It’s only right I go first.”
“You’re right, Chaz.” I bow my head. “You first.”
He steps into the middle of the circle. He takes the first thing off his wrist: a hairband decorated with tiny purple-blue flowers. Faesuckle. It’s a powerful talisman but almost impossible to find in or outside of Faery. I wonder if Struan helped him collect it. The Cait Sidhe seems to know where all the good stuff is.
He sets the band carefully in my hair, sliding the prongs between my plaits. “Teddy, I’ve known since we were eight that you were my girl. I haven’t been brave enough to be your lad until now. I’ve had your back, but I wasn’t ready to stand at your side. Now I am. You’re my beginning and end, bean. I will always stand beside you. Your troubles are my troubles. Your battles are my battles. Your highs, your lows, I’ll be beside you for every one of them. Together, forever.”
Charlie’s strong, square face blurs in my vision. I blink rapidly but it doesn’t help. I’m going to scryke through this no matter what I do.
I take the first wreath off my wrist and set it on top of his sandy shag. “Charlie, you’re my oldest friend. You’re the one person in the world I’ve always known I could count on. I haven’t always been there for you like you’ve been for me, but I will be from this day forward. I will be there to love you, comfort you, hold you up, and help you achieve everything you deserve out of this life. Together, forever.”
He pulls me into his kiss and I relish it, lapping at his tongue when it presses into my mouth. He tastes like a cup of good tea, mince pie, and bacon. A laugh escapes me, buzzing between our lips. Charlie draws back, eyes twinkling emerald. “Love you, bean.”
“Love you, my lad.”
He steps back and turns to Gabe. “I’m not just handfasting Teddy today. Gabe, I came into this tolerating you because I could see from the start you were Teddy’s person. But you’ve become mine as well.” He unwinds a thin, gold chain from around his wrist. Gabe tips his head forward and Charlie loops the chain over his head, settling it around his throat. Gabe swallows hard, his own eyes misty. “I’ll never leave you to suffer alone again. I’ll never make you wait in the car. You’re my warrior-poet. You found the song I was hiding in my heart. Sing it with me.”
“Every day,” Gabe promises, his voice breaking.
“Together, forever.”
When they kiss, I can’t help it. I break into a teary cheer. The boys part, laughing.
