Page 37 of The Last of the Dark Lords

We were joined.

Chapter 11

After the ritual we changed, and then Cyrus brought me out into his city. Considering I’d entered Ashfuror in an unconscious state, this was my first time out of the palace. Cyrus exuded an air of giddiness as we burst through the ornate wooden doors and into the streets, taking my hand in his and dragging me along from place to place.

I had to admit, the city was beautiful, if drastically different from my own. Instead of small wooden houses, there were towering buildings of stone and metal. The only wood tended to be embellishment. I can imagine to many from Greatfalls it would have felt ominous and unforgiving, but as we made our way through the maze of streets, I was filled with a vibrancy, a current of speed and intention that was new to me.

We stopped first at Cyrus’ favorite bakery. He insisted that a proper tour of Ashfuror had to include his favorite pastry, a flaky bun filled with cream and some kind of tart fruit. It was delicious, crunchy and smooth and a little sweet. From there we wandered from street to street, in and out of bookstores and florists and forges.

Of which there were many. Considering Stahkla’s influence, it wasn’t surprising that metal-working was a common profession. The large pieces were impressive, of course, but I was most interested in the most delicate of them. Intricate iron pictureframes. Flowers with carefully shaped metal petals. Even iron jewelry.

We ended the tour at the Great Square of Ashfuror. As we stepped out into the open space, I gasped. Without the other buildings closing in, the great spires of the city towered over everything, glimmering in the sunlight.

“Incredible, isn’t it?” Cyrus asked.

“It is…” My head swiveled back and forth on my neck as I tried to take everything in.

“Look.” Cyrus pointed up to a grand balcony. Made of iron and embellished in gold, it loomed over the square. “That’s the far end of the palace. When we have the public wedding, it will be there. The whole square will be filled with people.”

I took in the area around me. It was a great expanse of cobblestone, with patches of green here and there.

“How?” I asked. “It could fit thousands.”

“There will be that many and more.” Cyrus winked. “People from all over Fyr will be begging to attend.”

The enormity overwhelmed me, as did the city in many ways. The scale of it made me sheepish. I slipped my arm around Cyrus’ waist. It was a show of weakness, perhaps, but I needed something to hold on, some steady thing that I could anchor myself to in the sea of change, and his strength and confidence pulsed through the marriage bond.

He pulled me in closer, kissing the top of my head and whispering in my ear.

“All this is yours.”

***

My mind was buzzing with a jumble of contradicting thoughts. I was married to the Dark Lord of Ashfuror. We shared the marriage bond, and that had only served to deepen my already confusing feelings for him. Of all the possible outcomes of my life, this hadn’t been on the list. Hell, it hadn’t even been in the same room as the list.

Jelenna was not happy with me. That was clear the minute the ceremony had concluded. The fact that our wedding had been so blatantly blessed by Stahkla had visibly disturbed her. I was sure she had concerns about my ability to perform my purpose, to sever Cyrus’ connection with the Crown of Seeing.

She wasn’t wrong to worry. My grandmother, the most important person in my life, had trusted me with the task. But I had so many questions. I couldn’t go through with it, couldn’t hurt the man who was now my husband. Not if I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

I was avoiding considering my brother and his transgressions.

It was so much to think about, and yet here I was, drifting off to sleep in a contented haze. Why?

Because of Cyrus and his very talented mouth.

Between the wildfire and our wedding, we’d been absolutely exhausted. But that hadn't stopped him from giving me, as he said, "the full treatment." I didn't think there was an inch of me that he hadn't explored with his tongue. In the process, I’d made some discoveries about new pleasurable areas on my body that I’d never even considered before.

After that, he settled down to suck the very life out of me. All of the contradictory thoughts in my head disintegrated with that mind-blowing orgasm. As sleep took me, I made a mental note to make sure that I returned the favor very soon.

The combination of exhaustion and having Cyrus by my side meant that I slept deeper than I ever had. For the second night in a row, I was dead to the world.

Sometime near the witching hour, my sleep was disturbed. Someone called my name, cutting through the heavy velvet blanket of my slumber.

"Skye..."

I dismissed it at first as the remnants of a dream.

"Skye!"

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