Page 101 of Crown of Wrath

No, Sir Alistair Hawking does not want to own the Shadowed Cloak, but now he knows what it feels like to wield magic. Now he’s known what it is to be truly powerful. Now he has been touched by the magic of dragons, and that changes people. The residue of magic is forever, and this small moment is a stone that will cause ripples throughout the future of humanity.

Chapter 49

The greatest fear for an Immortal is not death. Death is simple. Slide into the void and finally rest. No, the greatest fear of an Immortal is the death of their soul-bond. An eternity of pain is all that awaits them.

~Cole Cyrus, The History of Flames

Maeve

I’ve been to a handful of weddings in my life. Hazel told me more times than I can count what she wanted at hers. A beautiful dress. More flowers than a wild field in spring. Music that makes you want to dance. The best food that you could imagine.

Now that I’m standing in front of a mirror, I don’t remember why I cared about any of it. I don’t care about the people or the food or the dress. I don’t care what Cole is wearing or what musicis playing. All I care is that I’m about to tie my soul to the most incredible man in the world. We’re going to become inseparable. Forever.

And there’s nothing I want more.

“That’s the most beautiful dress I have ever seen,” Hazel says from behind me. “To think that I used to be so proud of those dresses Ma brought home from the market. They just…”

“They were human. This isn’t.” I say it without looking away from the mirror at the dress that no human could have ever made. The fabric doesn’t have a name that I’m aware of.

It’s colder than should be possible. Like frozen threads that are so fine you can’t pick one out from the rest. It shimmers like ice rather than silk, like the threads are made of crystals rather than fibers.

There is no ornamentation. No gemstones. No magic. It is…plaincompared to every dress I’ve seen since becoming embroiled in the Immortal world. Yet it’s more beautiful than any of them.

“It was my mother’s dress,” my mother says softly. “I didn’t wear a dress. Your Da and I did the ritual in front of his old house.” There’s a chuckle, and I barely notice.

My grandmother’s dress. A woman that was born thousands of years before I was conceived. A woman I know nothing about.

Instead of focusing on that fact, I look at all the tiny details of the dress that was made for a woman who was marrying the King of Shadows when people still remembered the dragons. The spun crystal has been embroidered into vines that crawl around the corseted top. The bottom half lacks any of the poofiness of a typical wedding gown.

Yet, when I move, the crystal fabric shimmers and moves like water.Like a winter version of shadows.It flows over my legs, softer than any silk. The feeling is so close to that of my shadow dress.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” my mother asks. “You know what it means to bind yourself to Cole?”

I nod slowly. “Inseparable forever. No matter what happens.” My words come out choppy because my mind is elsewhere, remembering all that we’ve been through. How he was there when I was at my worst. He accepted the punishment I wanted to deliver to the world without complaint. He’d been willing to do anything to keep me from the pain that was etched on my soul. He’d been willing to sacrifice himself, the Thrones, the Painted Crown, and the very world itself to keep me from being forced into this battle.

Then, when I thought everyone I cared about was dead, he was there. Only him. He donned the Shadowed Cloak and convinced me to live when nothing else could have. I am only standing here because of Cole Cyrus. There is nothing in the world that I wouldn’t do for him.

He is my world, and I’m going to make sure no one can take him away from me now.

“You know what happens if he dies?” she asks, her voice low and nervous.

I turn to her, a smile on my lips. “Cole Cyrus is my everything,Mother. Not all of us are so willing to let people go peacefully into the void. No one will take him from me. Ever.”

“But…” My smile curls up, and shadows move from the bottom of my dress so similar to how the Shade used his. They crawl up her misty body and wrap around her throat, cutting her off violently.

I shake my head. “No. I will not hear about my husband’s death at our wedding, Brenna Morvyn. I know everything I need to know.” My shadows release her throat and dissipate as I turn back to the mirror.

There’s shock on Hazel’s face, but I ignore it. It’s not only Hazel who’s changed in the months since she came to Valinar.I’ve experienced too much loss and pain to let anyone try to suck the joy out of the few moments that are perfect. Even if that person is my mother.

I hear the door shut as my mother leaves the room, and I continue to stare into the mirror and remember the moments that made us. The laughter. The tears. The training and battles. The blood and the terror of what would happen if we ever made a misstep. It’s blurred into a wonderful and terrible cacophony of unforgettable moments.

Behind it all, there was Cole, standing like the unmovable stone in a storm for me to shelter under.

“Are you afraid at all?” Hazel asks. “I was so excited about getting married before, but that was when getting married was the only thing that mattered. Now…”

“I’m not afraid. I never thought I’d get married. Who would ever love a Wyrdling like me? I think I’d have believed I would be the Queen of all of Nyth before I’d have believed that a handsome and wonderful man would marry me. That’s the only thing that I feel right now. I can’t quite believe that this isn’t a dream.”

I smile, a little chuckle escaping my lips. “When I was lost in my mind, everything felt just as real as it does right now.” I lift my hand into the air and a tiny sapphire comes into being. It floats above my hand, and I don’t even have to look at it as I turn to look at my cousin.

---