Page 44 of Shade of Ruin

So when Darian lets go of the gryphon’s neck, and the creature shakes his head as he gets up, a whole pile of feathers coming off, a part of me gets a little flustered. This has been the best moment in weeks, and I only got to enjoy it for a few minutes.

“Off you go, boy,” Darian says. “Stay safe out there.” He pats the gryphon on his hindquarters, and the gryphon turns. But before he leaves all the way, he stops and stares at me. It’s like he’s trying to say something, but I can’t hear him.

Then he turns all the way around, and, with a running leap, his enormous wings carry him into the air. Both Darian and I watch him sail away, looking just as magical as the drakeling. “That was…”

“Incredible?” Darian offers. “Wonderful? Magical? The best bird-cat there ever was? Yes. I agree with all of that.”

I nod, still watching the gryphon fly ever higher until he slowly disappears into the clouds hiding the top of Skycrest. Then Darian turns to me. “I didn’t understand how good at tracking you are. You knew where the gryphon was like… like a harpy would know where I was. Maeve, that’s not normal.”

I shrug. “I’ve always been good at tracking. I could tell you how I found the gryphon if you want. It’s not magic like yours. Or like Cole’s. It’s just something I’m good at.”

Darian’s eyebrow arches, and he crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s more than that. And you can use whatever logic you want, but if there’s not magic involved, I’ll eat my shoes.”

I grin because I know there’s no magic involved. My mother’s ring won’t let me have access to any magic while I’m wearing it. “One day, when I learn to do real magic, I’ll prove that it’s just pure skill, Darian. Then I’ll enjoy watching you eat your shoes. I’ve never seen someone eat shoe leather, but I bet it would be tough. Maybe your Fae teeth can handle that, though.”

Darian chuckles and pats me on the shoulder. “Come on. Cole should have the fire going by now. Lee was out gathering someherbs for a nice tea. It’s been too long since I’ve had some of her hunter’s tea.”

I nod to him and smile as I follow him out of the forest and back to the camp that Cole’s setting up. Darian and Lee may be Fae, but they don’t feel like it. Not like Cole. They’re just nice people who happen to have magic. And the knowledge of how to pet gryphons.

Cole is not that. Cole… I don’t know how I feel about him. Every time I think that I’ve gotten over my issues with him, he does something that drives me crazy. Like finding out that he’s the Prince of Flames. Orthat I’ll have to pretend to be his fiancée.

The realization hits me like a sack of bricks. That’s happening tonight. No one’s said anything about it, but we’re going to be in Draenyth tomorrow. We have to do this ritual tonight to make it real.

My stomach twists.

No one’s been willing to explain what this betrothal magic will do or what will happen in the ritual. They just keep brushing it off as perfectly fine and safe.

“Darian,” I say slowly.

He turns to look at me. I’m sure it’s the tone of voice that I used that makes him stop walking. “Darian, this was all to get me away from camp while Cole sets up the ritual, wasn’t it?”

The corner of his lip curls up. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Why didn’t someone just tell me what it was?”

Darian shrugs and goes back to walking, his steps just as loud as any human now that he’s not trying to be quiet. I run my hand over a tree branch and feel a bit of the fear fade and the knot in my stomach loosen just a little. He says, “We were planning to, but truthfully, I wanted to see the gryphon and it was just good timing. There’s nothing to do until the moon is in the sky, so you’d just be antsy and frustrated for no good reason.”

I shake my head slowly. Why won’t they all just realize that I want to know. All of it. “Next time, please ask if I want to know or wait. Please?”

Darian chuckles. “Okay. It’s a simple enough ritual, so that won’t make you nervous. It’s what happens after it’s done that might make you a little uncomfortable.”

I don’t say anything, giving him plenty of time to continue and try to explain things to me. “You humans don’t understand what marriage is supposed to be. You don’t understand oaths either.” He purses his lips as he tries to find the right words. “Maeve, marriage for Immortals is forever. We don’t age, there’s no divorce, and you can’t remarry if a spouse dies. ‘Til death do us part’ is not part of the vows. If your spouse dies, you’ll feel a hole in your soul forever.”

Darian hasn’t been serious very often since I’ve met him, but he’s deathly serious now. “The betrothal ritual is to show you what it will be like to be married. It’s to let you have a chance to turn back before it’s permanent. Because once the bond is created, there’s no one in Nyth that can break it. Not even Calyr. These are the same bonds that dragons used, and they were made to be unbreakable. A true union of two souls.”

I’m speechless. That seems so final for people who could live for ten thousand years. “But why?”

Darian smiles just a little, but there’s still a seriousness there that seems so unfitting on him. “Because Immortals are taught from birth to keep their emotions leashed. Humans have something called love. Immortals don’t know the feeling. We have honor, trust, faith, and loyalty, butlovedoesn’t make sense to us.”

I interrupt him, needing to ask a question that terrifies me. “But what about a mother’s love for her children?”

“Pride, Maeve. And trust and loyalty.” He says it as though there was no other explanation needed, and I guess myexpression convinces him otherwise. “Legacy is why males have children. Pride is why females do. Children are planned. Well, before the Shattering, they were planned. Take Cole Cyrus, our ever-smiling friend. His father mated his mother because she was a powerful House of Steel warrior. The powers of Steel would be the perfect accompaniment to his Flames. A child with that strength would be the perfect tool to maintain his position. Thus, Cole Cyrus was born.”

“Wait,” I say. “Cole’s mother and father aren’t married?”

Darian nearly cackles with laughter. “Absolutely not. No one in their right mind would marry King Casimir. That’d be like tying your soul to a piece of molten iron and being surprised when it burned you. No, Casimir mated Cora. Then he forced her to give Cole up as soon as he was able to walk and he was obviously House of Flames. Cole barely remembers her.”

Not all that different from my own life. “So if you don’t understand love, then why get married?”

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