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“Oh, mi hija,” breathed Papá. “Will I ever see you again?”
I ran back for another hug, startling a crow from his perch on the roof. My mother now stood in the doorway of our home, two hands pressed to her mouth. She raced out and embraced me too.
Looking at her desperate expression, I blinked back tears. This was my choice, and I would carry it without remorse. I inhaled deeply and stepped away from my parents.
“Tell Zara I will miss her.”
Rafael took my hand, snapping me out of my sadness. His hand was calloused like Papá’s, and it somehow felt achingly similar, though warmer and larger. To stave off more tears, I squeezed his hand hard.
Rafael coughed. “We must wed now.”
“Here?” I asked. “In my courtyard?”
He nodded. “If a marriage is part of a bargain,” he said, “vows may be exchanged anywhere. As long as there is a fae present to witness it, the marriage will be acknowledged as binding.”
“Acknowledged? By whom?”
Rafael didn’t answer but turned to grasp my other hand, forcing me to face him fully. His expression seemed pained. Was it really that bad to marry me?
“What is your full name?”
I swallowed. Wasn’t there something in the stories about giving a fae your real name? I couldn’t recall. “Talia Balcázar Ferrera.”
Still in a mild state of shock, I barely registered that he’d already begun speaking his vows. He spoke quickly, as if his words meant as little as an auctioneer’s calls.
“I will be your husband, bound to you by promise, bound to you in truth, entirely your own, for all the days you live. I will take on your victories and your losses, your blessings and your curses, and all that is mine will be yours, as I will take of yours and make it also mine. To you, Talia Balcázar Ferrera, I bind myself, fully and forever.”
I swallowed, momentarily unable to breathe under the weight of his glowing golden eyes. A fae—a creature I’d not even known was real until hours ago—had just pledged himself to me.
He leaned toward me—O, sun, was he about to kiss me? With a faint smirk, he whispered, “I will say it again, and you can repeat it back to me.” His breath was warm on my cheek.
“Wait,” Papá said, stepping closer. Tears stained his face. “If she must wed a fae, you will allow her to include her own people’s vows.”
“She must state our vows, or the marriage isn’t binding.”
Papá frowned and said, “Fine. But before she does, you will recite our vows. It is my requirement, if you wish to have my daughter.”
There was nothing my father could do to free me from the bargain. Even still, I closed my eyes at the sweetness of his request.
To my surprise, Rafael rolled his eyes slightly, and said, “Just be quick.”
Papá scoffed, but he recited from memory the vows I’d heard at every wedding I’d ever attended.
Rafael’s voice strained with every word he repeated, as did his grip on my hands. “I take you, Talia, as my bride, forever mine to cherish, to love, to provide for, to…”
“Protect,” Papá repeated, agitation clipping his tone.
The fae’s eyes flashed amber, brighter than I’d seen them. His fingers slipped from mine, and he averted his gaze, his brow pinched.
I glanced at Papá, who returned my perplexed stare. But before he could speak, Rafael hissed out the word.
“Protect.” The syllables spewed from his lips like a curse, and with that word, something changed in him. The unsettling magical glow in his eyes blinked out. While I didn’t understand fae magic or culture or why a fae’s eyes might glow or dim, I sensed that something significant had just taken place. My stomach dropped, for in that darkening, I feared that the light in his eyes might never shine again.
7
Rafael
Curse the suns of all the worlds.
