Page 102 of Crown of Wrath

“If someone had told us I would do this a year ago, would you have believed them?” It floats through the air toward her, and she puts her hand out to accept it. “If someone had said, ‘Maeve is going to create beautiful gemstones by thinking about them,’ you’d have laughed. That’s more believable than Cole. He’s… he is everything, and he loves me more than anything else. That’s not something he said. It’s what he’s done.”

I shake my head. “The gemstone? That’s unbelievable. Cole loving a stupid Wyrdling girl? Now, that’s impossible.”

Hazel grins and wraps her arms around me, just like she did when I was a little girl. She looks at me just like she did back then. “Maeve, you’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met. You used to be… different. Then you became the heir to a kingdom. Then you became the leader of a rebellion to save the kingdom and the world. Maeve, if anyone is thinking this is all a dream, it’s Cole. He gets to marryyou. You’re the only girl in the entire world who makes him better. You may not have started out as the Queen of Nyth, but you’re the greatest woman I’ve ever met, and Cole is lucky to know you, much less to marry you. Now stop this. Go marry that too-beautiful-for-his-own-good man that’s waiting for you.”

I can’t keep the laughter from slipping from my lips at that. Just like always, Hazel knows how to make me smile. “Thank you,” I whisper before giving her one last hug.

She lets me go, and I take a deep breath before walking out of the small building right outside the town square. The wedding of a Queen and a Prince should be an affair to remember, and in Valinar, the only place to hold something like this is the town square.

It’s a scene like nothing that I’ve ever witnessed before. Valinar’s town square has massive trees that remind me of a cross between a willow and an oak. Their trunks are as large as a small cottage, and they climb hundreds of feet into the air to where the sky turns to mist. Their branches droop, and their narrow leaves nearly reach the ground.

Set amongst the branches are hanging lanterns filled with soft flames that are ringed with halos of light. From the hundreds of branches, crystal strands hang that reflect the light from the dozens of fires, making them look like stars burning with an orange light.

Chairs have been arranged before a small gazebo that’s been overgrown with vines and tiny flowers. All the people I’ve known are here. Even the ones who used to be afraid of me from Blackgrove are here with smiles on their faces. The Immortals from Aerwyn are here, too.

Bog is wearing a tiny little riding coat that had to have been made just for this ceremony. Rivertail haspantsand a gorgeous green silk shirt on. Da is wearing a charcoal gray tailcoat and ivory silk shirt which look far more handsome than anything I remember him wearing.

My mother is standing in the gazebo. The mists that make up her body have become a simple dress. Beside her is Cole, standing with his hands in front of him. Flames flicker around him in the air as they usually do when he’s having a hard time controlling his excitement. He’s staring at me.

You’re gorgeous. His words whisper over our bond, and I can’t help but chuckle.

If this were a human wedding, you couldn’t say that. You’d have to wait until it was over to compliment me.

Even from here, I can see his lip curl up.It’s a good thing I’m not human then.

I walk down the path to the gazebo, and everything is silent except my footsteps. For the first time since I saw the Nothing, I’m grateful for that silence. It lets me ignore everyone except Cole.

It lets me stare at him. I know that any other time, I’d have thought he looked gallant in the midnight black coattails and bright crimson waistcoat. I’d have thought the pearlescent cravat was over the top. I’d have remarked at how little magic there seemed to be at a wedding between the two most powerful people. He’d have said that his tailor wasn’t here, and he didn’t have spellstones. He’d have said that the magic that we wereabout to do was far more important than anything we could wear.

But that conversation didn’t happen. Instead, we simply stare at each other. His eyes on mine as I walk down the aisle. I don’t notice his clothes. I don’t notice the way the flames rage at his feet yet don’t catch the gazebo on fire.

All I can think of is the way our bond is pulsing and the way his eyes burn into me, threatening to consume me completely.

And how much I can’t wait for him to do exactly that.

I walk up the steps to stand in front of him, and the silence lingers for a few seconds. Then my mother speaks. “I witness this bonding,” she says.

That’s all. No vows. No rings. Nothing. None of that matters when my literal soul is becoming part of his. Who cares about a piece of silver or gold or what someone else says?

Instead, she walks off the gazebo and takes her seat next to Da, their hands clasping together. Cole puts his hands out flat, and I put mine in them, our fingers pressing against each other’s palms like they did when we did the betrothal ritual.

This time, I smile. I know what I’m walking into this time. I know the man I’m looking at. I know his flaws and his strengths. I know the pain he’s carried and the things he’s given up for me and for everyone else.

I know this man more than I know anyone else in the world. He is everything to me. Just like during the betrothal ritual, he speaks, and the words come out as a rhythm that holds magic in every vibration.

There is no sound beyond his voice. No wind. No crinkling of leaves or shifting of people in their seats. Only his voice and heartbeat resonating in my world.

“I offer myself to you,” he says, his eyes turning molten orange. Flames explode around us, swirling and dancing.

Just like before, I repeat his words. “I offer myself to you.” This time, though, it’s not shadows that blink into existence, but threads of crystal. Blues and greens and reds and browns spin around us in a glittering mosaic of firelight.

My words come out strong, the calmness flowing through me and taking over. There are no questions, no concerns. There is only Cole and me in a world of light, and that will never change.

His fingers become talons and dig into my hands. They’re hard and sharp, and I smile at him. Pain is nothing. Shadows flow from my feet, joining the surrounding dance, and they aren’t burned up by the flames.

“I’ve protected you.” His slow words set the pace for the spinning magic that expands, creating a sphere around us, covering us and shutting out the world. Our world is flames and shadows and glittery gemstones. It’s light and dark, pain and beauty, and everything that our lives have become. A union of opposites.

“I’ve shared the burdens you carried.” Lust fills me as memories flow through my mind. The burdens that have become ours rather than his. We’ve borne the pain together.

---