Page 96 of Ties of Starlight

One choice.

Keep chasing perfection in an endless cycle or choose to love the life she had.

Continue letting a broken cycle tear her to shreds because she was never enough, death after death, atrocity after atrocity all in the name of a love she could never have. Or let it go.

She'd loved Olaug.

Once.

But she couldn't make him stay.

She didn't want to.

She was ready to stay this time.

She was ready for this love. For this life.

She was ready to one day breathe her last, and it was going to be a sigh of relief.

Idonea burst through the surface with a harsh, deep gasp to bring relief to her burning lungs. The crowd burst into applause, and Lady Asa bent down to help Idonea climb out, a maid standing by with a towel, but Idonea was moving too fast, digging her nails into the ground as she clawed her way back up. She stumbled to her feet, her hair sticking to her face, far too long and dripping everywhere. Her dress clung to her skin, threatening to tangle in her legs, but she just hiked it up, ducking the maid's attempt to throw the towel around her as she found what she was looking for.

She'd already found what she'd spent seven lives looking for, and she'd been so blind to it.

Nyrunn.

He was staring at her and her pool, standing toward the back. She was certain she looked as feral as they believed her human blood could make her as she ran right at him.

He had a towel wrapped around his shoulders, eyes widening and lips parting when he spotted her bare neck.

She ignored the crowd watching below them at the foot of the tall hill, the fact that this wasn't tradition, and she ran right at him until she was crashing into him. He stumbled back, catching her as she nearly sent them to the ground. His arms went around her waist, and before he could speak, she was dragging his face down to hers. He startled slightly before returning the kiss, pulling her closer and cupping her cheek with his hand. Her hands slid into his soaking wet hair before dropping to his shoulders as she had to push herself onto her toes, grabbing his collar, trying to keep him from pulling away, but he broke away breathless.

He opened his mouth, but she beat him to it, reaching up and cradling his face as she said in a low voice, “You. I choose you. I choose this life. I'm ready to live for the very last time, and I want to do it with you.”

Nyrunn gaped down at her, brushing his palm over the empty space where the necklace had been. He breathed out, a smile twitching at his lips, his eyes hooded. “You broke the cycle?”

She nodded, brushing her thumb over his cheek, staring up at him, her hair wild and sticking to her cheeks. “I did. I'm not coming back. Not ever again. I've got one last life.”

“Why?”

“Because I don't need to come back anymore. I have everything I was ever looking for. One good life where I’m loved. I have you. What more could I find? What more could I want when all I want is you?”

“Idonea…”

She kissed him again, pulling back and bouncing on her toes slightly. “You have breathed life back into this old, broken soul and resurrected my heart. I love you. I love you with more of me than I've been for the past six lives. With you I'm more me than I’ve ever been. And it terrified me, falling into you when all I’ve known was a one-sided, soul-sucking obsession that was killing me from the inside out. But I want to stay this time, and I only want that because it's you.”

Nyrunn kissed her again, and her heart jolted in her chest before he pulled back, beaming down at her, pure wonder pouring out from his eyes. “I may not have six other lives with which to love you with, but I have this one, and I will love you with all the strength of the stars.”

“You already have.” Idonea smiled up at him. “My husband, be my last. Be my last love. Be my last life. All of me is yours. You're not a footnote. You're not an obstacle inmy way. You're it. I will love you with everything I have in this messy, crowded mind and this rabid, half-human heart. You're the ending I choose.”

“Your brilliant mind and overflowing half-human heart which I love so well make you who you are. You are enough. Perfection is not required, and I love you far above its necessity. My wife, desire of my heart, be my queen.”

She nodded against his forehead. “I will not have you halfway, and I will not be yours halfway anymore.”

He wrapped his arms around her, whooping as he spun her; the fact that they were both still soaking wet and their clothes stuck to them meant they sent water everywhere, but no one was going to reprimand the king for it as he set her down. He pulled her along to the edge so the crowd could see them better and where Frode was waiting with the crown.

Nyrunn let go of Idonea to take his place to address their people, trying to regain his regal bearing, but a grin lingered on his lips and his eyes still shined brighter than the stars.

“Adastra, it goes without saying as you all feel it in your blood like I do, but your Cometa Couple has succeeded in following Agnarr and Gytha’s footsteps. Our magic is surging in strength and our enemies would be fools to set their sights on us now. But this is more than even just our most sacred and powerful ritual. This is a day that will go down in all history, as for the first time in Adastra’s existence, Gytha’s chosen is also crowned as your queen.”

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