Page 103 of Crown of Wrath

“I showed you how to be strong. I showed you the strength you’ve always had.” He trained me. He allowed me to lead when I have so much less experience than him. He trusted me when everyone else argued with me. He has always believed that I was more than what I knew. Not just the power that’s in my bloodline, but the strength of my heart and mind.

“I have shown you peace. I have watched you breathe easily.” I can see him remembering those moments. The times that he’s curled up to me and slept through the night. The times that he smiled instead of fought. The times that he felt joy instead of pain.

“You are mine,” he says. It’s not a question. It’s a demand and an expectation. He has fulfilled his promises, and now he’sworthy of a true bond. I can feel myself changing. The bond we share is shifting, preparing to become eternal.

This time, there’s no hesitation. There’s no need to question anything. “You are mine,” I say, and my words swirl around with the rest, echoing in the cacophony of sounds that are nothing but a background noise. The magic of the ritual takes hold as I stare into the flames of Cole’s eyes. The knot that held our souls together melts, flows, and fades. Where abondhad been, there’s nothing. Why would we need a bond when we share a soul?

I look through his eyes and see myself. I feel the way he sees me. I feel the need to protect me, the way he is desperate to touch me and hold me. And my eyes become the same burning orange that Cole’s had been. He’s seeing through my eyes now.

Around us, the flames and shadows and crystals dance. My… no,histalon-tipped fingers dig intomyhands. The magic is complete, but the ritual is not. There hasn’t been a close.

“I love you,” I say, knowing fully that it’s not part of the ritual. And I hear it come from Cole’s lips rather than my own.

My voice echoes it as Cole controls my body. “I love you more than an Immortal should be able to love.” The words aren’t said in his deep voice, but they’re his words. I can feel him in them. I can taste him in them.

Then I’m seeing through my eyes again, and I move my hand to his cheek. He does the same, and he pulls me closer to him, our foreheads pressing against each other as we stare into each other’s eyes as if we were seeing them for the first time.

I loved the man I’d come to know, but before, it was all like a religion. I had faith that everything I knew about Cole was true. There was no proof. The only thing he’d proved to me was that he could lie to me for months and I’d never know. He’d shown just how well he could manipulate me.

But I’d had faith in him. I’d believed when others would have rejected him. He’d made mistakes, and I’d made just as many.

“You trusted me,” he whispers, reading the thoughts in my mind.

“I did.” He’s soaring as my memories flood him. The way I’d seen him. The way I’d needed him. The pain I’d felt for him.

Cole Cyrus and I are two sides of a single soul now. Pieces of a whole. “I claimed you, and I will never let you go,” I say. “I will never be apart from you.”

“I am always yours,” he says with a smile. “But you are always mine as well.”

And he pulls my lips to his. I don’t fight him, letting the love and lust that are so desperate for a physical connection to flow through us both. A hard kiss that’s been begging to be had for what feels like an eternity.

I’d had faith in Cole before. I’d believed in him. Now there’s no doubt. I can’t doubt a man who is part of me because Iknowwhat he would do for me. I know I am just as much his everything.

This is the closing of the ritual. That was the kiss that Cole had run from at our betrothal. I take a deep breath and realize the silence is gone. The flames and crystals and shadows have faded, and we’re standing on the gazebo with hundreds of people clapping.

“Humans have parties after weddings,” Cole whispers in my ear. “Immortals leave. Which do you prefer?”

I feel his hand on my back as I turn to the people in the crowd. It makes my body throb in response. I see all the people that I’ve cared about so much at various points in my life. Da, my mother, and Hazel. All the people from Aerwyn. Lee and Darian. Everyone that’s loved me in any way is here.

But they’re the ones I was willing to let go. I love my friends, but tonight they don’t matter like Cole does. We’ve been selfless for so long. Tonight is about us.

I give them a wide smile, and I wave. Then the shadows swallow Cole and me up.

Chapter 50

Sometimes, even in the midst of war, it’s important to remember why we fight. Sometimes, you must strengthen the heart before you worry over strengthening the body.

~Maeve Arden, The Future of Magic and Dragons

Maeve

In the past, I’d craved Cole’s touch with a hunger that burned through me. I’d been desperate for the heat that was as much a part of him as the fire he wields. His hands, his lips, his arms wrapped around me, his legs tangled with mine—I had needed them like air. Now, they’re mine. His body is mine, just as my body belongs to him.

And I know exactly what he wants.

The last tie at the back of my dress comes undone, and without hesitation, Cole slides the fabric from my shoulders. It pools at my feet in a whisper of crystal strands. My shift still clings to me, too much fabric between us, too much distance. I strip it away, letting it fall, leaving nothing between my skin and his burning gaze.

His eyes drink me in, and he grins—a slow, wicked thing that sends heat spiraling through my core. He reaches out, fingers featherlight as they trace the curve of my cheek, but I ignore the caress. Not because I don’t want it—I do, desperately—but because I want something else more.

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