Page 81 of The Blood Crown

But this had beenherdecision.Herchoice for her future—just as he was.

She clasped her palm in his as Nira's voice stopped, her last words carrying along the stone walls.

A hushed murmur rose up from their family as droplets of scarlet left their intertwined hands, suspended in the air by some ancient magick.

“I claim you.” Ven said, voice hushed with reverence as he spoke the words.

The familiar calluses of his hands scraped against hers as he slid a ring onto her finger. Simple, elegant. A slender gold band, a dark emerald cut stone at its center, woven through with veins of bronze and amber. A piece of this place that would be with her always . . .

“I claim you,” she echoed, sliding a ring onto Ven's hand. The thick gold band embedded with chips of black tourmaline.

The drops mingled, pulling into delicate threads that danced through the air, shimmering softly in the night with the candles that floated above their heads. Their blood wound together in the velvet midnight around them, forming interwoven knots.

From this day into eternity, my soul, my blood, my life belong to you.

Splitting, the threads of the spell floated down.

I am yours as you are mine.

Endlessly.

The claiming mark landed on the left side of Ven’s throat, the other floating toward her.

The breath fled her lungs as she braced for the searing brand of the blood oath, but it felt like nothing more than the gentle flit of moth wings against her skin.

Silence swirled with the sparkling flurries of snow as Ven bent his head down to hers, his lips a gentle, lingering brush.

Their bond had been forged and wrought into eternity. And in that moment, she could feel it in the air, beneath the mountains, amidst the pines—

A magick ancient and wild binding their souls, one that had existed before them and would last long after they were thoughts scattered amongst the constellations.

Chapter 39

“Iwouldn’t have expected you in here so early,” Embra drawled with a knowing smirk three days later.

Aurelia lifted her head from where it had been bent over her work, carefully pinching the tiny burgundy buds from a plant.

“Why?” she asked.

Embra laughed, the silvery sound filling the air of the greenhouse and making a fist clench around Aurelia’s heart.

Gods, how she’d missed her friend. This place. And to think that she’d left it willingly just months ago.

Embra plucked the brass watering can from the windowsill, turning on the faucet. “You forget that I’m Bound to one of the Blood Folk as well,” she said, tapping a slender finger the shade of a sapling against the claiming mark inked into her neck. “I just expected Ven to be occupying most of your time.” She cast a wicked glance toward Aurelia. “They’re particularly possessive when they’ve claimed a mate—tenfold when they’re Bound.”

Aurelia swatted her friend away with a laugh, bowing her head over her work once more. “Oh—he tried.”

And succeeded. But after three full days of not leaving their chambers, she demanded that he let her get back tosomesemblance of a routine.

The possessive prick still wouldn’t let her leave to get her own food—insisting on catering to her every whim so that she ran out of excuses to leave their bed . . . with the exception of the large stone tub and the piled rug before the roaring fire . . . and at one point he’d let her stand against the bookshelves, his large hands cuffing her ankles as he—

Embra cleared her throat from where she watered the plants along the wall.

Heat rushed into Aurelia’s face. It must have been apparent what she was thinking about from the glazed look in her eyes, the fact that she’d been pulling green leaves off the plant in front of her instead of the tiny red buds.

“Oh, fuck it all,” she spat.

“From the smell of you, I’d say Ven already has,” Embra answered sweetly, slipping away into the adjoining door of her laboratory, leaving Aurelia to turn the exact shade of fuchsia as the blossoms on the shelf.

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