Page 61 of The Mirror in the Mountain

Adrian pulled me closer, those golden-brown eyes seeming to stare right into my soul. “No wonder you weren’t interested in another thing preordained. Or did you think I also wanted to…” His jaw clenched. “…useyou?”

I winced. “I’m sorry if I made you feel unwanted.”

“No apologies necessary, Princess,” Adrian murmured. “As long as you understand that the only thing that I’ve ever wanted is you. I don’t care whether you’re High Queen or the court jester. I just want you to be mine.”

My lips were on his before I even realized I had leaned in. Something slid into place, some final piece of the answer I had been waiting for. Something I might’ve known since this whirlwind began but had been too scared to allow myself to believe in.

Because maybe I could trust in someone—and let myself belong to him just as he belonged to me. Maybe I didn’t have to do this alone.

Something fluttered wildly in my stomach as we breathlessly broke apart. “Let’s do the bonding ceremony right now.”

Adrian barked a laugh that quickly quieted at the look on my face, his smile turning more than just a little wobbly. “And here I thought tomorrow’s grand event was still tentative.”

“I don’t care about that one,” I insisted, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’ll show up and wear the dress and smile and do whatever it is our parents planned and we had no say in. But I want one that’s forus. Just us.”

“Are you sure?”

The slightest of smiles curved my lips at the hope on his face. And I knew that if I were to say no, Adrian wouldn’t hesitate to face down the whole realm to stop the proceedings tomorrow, even if it was the opposite of what he wanted.

Maybe that was why it was so easy to say, “Yes. Are you?”

“As if I’d ever say no to you, Princess.”

We snuck into the garden, under the willow tree that had become ours. The full moon’s light trickled through its leaves as we circled each other the traditional seven times, one after another. Adrian’s gaze only dipped once—as he slipped the ring that had once been his grandmother’s on my finger, its gray diamond seeming to ripple in the dappled light. I placed a matching silver band on his finger, stolen by a sneaking tendril of darkness from the jeweled box marked for tomorrow’s proceedings, as we whispered the words that would bind us eternally.

“You are my beloved.”

“And I am yours.”

His hands tightened on mine. And then there was magic, mine and his, surrounding us unbidden in an explosion of light and dark. As we glowed like two stars—my light surrounding us with its warmth as his darkness wove throughout it, the willow’s leaves fluttering wildly as our magics whirled around us.

And I felt it then. The bond indelibly linking us, our souls forever joined. His love for me was so pure, I felt embarrassed to have ever questioned his intentions. A belonging so definite, I knew I would never feel lonely again.

When we came together this time, it was with one heart. Mapping each other’s bodies in a way that was far more intimate now that I could feel his every emotion, and I knew he could feel mine. Adrian’s darkness wrapped us in a sanctuary as tiny balls of my light flew around us like fallen stars—a realm for just the two of us, an eternity in which time itself seemed to stand still.

“Estelle.” Adrian breathed my name like a promise, as sacred as any wedding vow.

He is mine. And I am his,was my last thought before I came apart—my release taking him over the edge right along with me.

Adrian’s lips brushed against my brow as we lay there, sated and still entwined. Watching as our magics gave way to the beams of moonlight streaming through the tangled leaves, mottling our naked bodies in light and shadow. He picked a leaf from my hair as we found our clothes, laughing softly before I stole the sound from his mouth with a kiss I never wanted to end.

With his hand in mine, we snuck past the still unsuspecting guards, tiptoeing through the silent castle. Muffling our breathless laughter as our eyes met in the darkness, the dizzying current of his delight infectious.

I laughed aloud as he picked me up, spinning me around before carrying me past the threshold. “You know it’s bad luck to see me the day of the ceremony, right?”

Was it possible to be drunk on joy?

As I looked into his eyes, it occurred to me that this was what happiness must feel like.

His answering amusement across our bond only added to it as he shut the door behind us. “I’m willing to risk it if it means I get to stay with you.”

Chapter 27

Bash

The first thing I felt was the heat. My eyes closed automatically against the harshness of the midday sun, my shadows shifting uncomfortably under my skin like they felt unwelcome here. One brave strand circled around my arm before hiding under my shirt sleeve, as though it didn’t dare venture farther. Even with winter quickly approaching, the Esterran desert was still uncomfortably warm, the sweat already forming a trickle down my back under the cool linen of my tunic.

I had been here before though it had been years. The outdoor courtyard in the center of the palace was covered by a kaleidoscope of colorful tiles, which matched the border of the enormous, arched mirror behind us. Lush gardens surrounded it, bursting with fragrant desert blooms. Flowering vines snaked up the towering archways leading into the palace, where intricately carved stone doorways bookended either side of the enclosed space.

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