Page 174 of Savage Crown

The shift in the air. The way something inside of me pulls toward him, reaching, grasping.

He shudders, his eyes wild.

He feels it too.

The priest dips his fingers into the basin, painting the symbols of the old gods across Rylan’s forehead, then mine.

A binding spell. A mark that cannot be erased.

And then?—

The final words.

The ones that will seal this.

Rylan grips my hand—hard, his fingers slick with blood.

His voice is low, rough, raw.

“I vow to you, Seraphina, before gods and shadows, before blood and fire?—”

My throat tightens.

His emerald gaze pins me in place.

“You are mine.” His voice trembles. “You will always be mine.”

The magic tightens.

And when I speak—when I let the words fall from my lips—I feel them carve themselves into my very being.

“And you are mine.”

A rush of power, heat, sensation.

The night erupts.

The fire blazes brighter.

The bond snaps into place.

Rylan moves.

One second, he is before me, hands shaking from the implications what we’ve done.

The next?—

His mouth claims mine.

The kiss is fire, ruin, devotion.

He presses me back against the altar, his hands tangled in my hair, his body pressing me into the stone.

The crowd watches.

But we do not care.

Because this is our moment.

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