Page 193 of Song of Her Siren

“Yes, here and now.” He laughed, motioning to the crowd. “Why not, when all our family is here?”

I choked back my emotion, my eyes misting when my three mates swiped tears from their eyes. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

The crowd broke into even more cheers as Helian jumped to his feet, twirling me. And then he kissed me, passionately, deeply, and I didn’t care that the world was watching. My heart and soul were full of love, and nothing could pull me down from this cloud of happiness.

My mother rushed us, pulling me out of Helian’s arms and grasping my hand to ogle the ring. She gasped, releasing my hand. “That was my mother’s ring!” she declared, accusation lacing her tone.

Malvolia shrugged. “The coffers below Peloponese are buried. The least I could do for my niece was give her our mother’s ring.”

Helian flushed.She offered after her servants told her I was searching for a jeweler, he projected to me.I hope you don’t mind.

I held the ring in front of me, admiring the diamonds surrounding the giant pearl in the center. “I love it, and knowing it belonged to my grandmother makes it even more special.” I bowed my head to Malvolia. “Thank you, Aunt.”

Malvolia smiled. “It would be my honor to officiate the wedding.”

Helian grasped my hand.Only if you want to, he projected to me.

I saw no malice in Malvolia’s eyes or black magic leaching from her pores as she clasped her hands in front of her. But did I want her to officiate our wedding?

My mother startled us with a cackling laugh. She jutted a finger toward her sister. “You?”

“Why not?” Malvolia’s eyes flashed with pain. “I officiatedyourwedding.”

My mother’s face flushed crimson. “That was before you tried to murder my babies.”

Malvolia crossed her arms, inky black magic creeping into her eyes. “I thought I’ve atoned for that.”

My mother brushed off Derrick and Marius when they tugged her arms, trying to pull her away. “You can never atone for what you did to this family, to this nation.” I tensed as my mother’s voice turned more shrill with each word. “And wasn’t it just a few days ago that you were trying to seduce the groom? Now you want to officiate his wedding?” She threw her hands in the air. “Of all the nerve!”

Wolfy let out a howl, his tail drooping between his legs, as if Mother had scolded him.

“Mother.” My voice broke on a plea, as I feared Malvolia would turn her to ash. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine.” She waved me away like she was swatting a fly, her heated gaze still focused on her sister. “You’ve never apologized to Tari for the way you treated her and Helian.”

The color drained from Malvolia’s face. “I-I thought I did.”

“You didn’t.” My mother made a splutter of disgust. “And Helian is less than half your age!”

“I wasn’t myself.” Malvolia gave me an apologetic look, her voice splintering like shattered glass. “Thorin poisoned my soul when he took my memories.”

My mother threw back her head with a laugh. “Thorin didn’t make you a horny old cow, a bloodthirsty, vindictive dictator who killed innocent green witches for misplaced grudges.” She jutted a finger at her twin. “That was all you!”

Ash and Finn crowded in front of me, ready to defend me should Malvolia turn on us.

“Very well. Then find someone else. See if I care.” Turning up her nose, Malvolia descended the dais and left the hall in a swirl of black skirts and smoke, heading toward the hall that led to her suite of rooms.

I breathed a sigh of relief while glancing between my mates.

That could’ve gone badly, Finn projected to us.

Very badly, Ash answered.

“Gadea should officiate the wedding.” Mother spotted Gadea in the crowd, motioning her forward. “You did such a nice job with Mortimus’s funeral.”

The crowd parted for Gadea, who gaped at my mother with a slackened jaw. Cassandra held her lover’s hand, pride reflecting in her luminous eyes.

Gadea’s ebony skin turned ashen. “I-I wouldn’t want to overstep my bounds.”

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