Page 112 of Wilds of Wonder
Her white-blonde hair hung in loose curls, just brushing her shoulders. Her pale-blue eyes danced as she met my gaze.
“Your mouth is hanging open,” Driscoll whispered.
I snapped it closed. Fucking blood and fire. I was the luckiest man in this spirits-damned world. It was tradition to wear the color of our court during wedding nuptials. I wore a fire-red tunic that Annalee had found, whileEmory wore a long-sleeved glittering, sequined white dress that hugged every inch of her body. I could see the curves of her breasts, hips, ass. The dress looked like it was made from snowflakes. The same ones that flurried around us so many times over the years when we’d met to play our games.
She reached me and folded her hands into mine. Her gaze devoured me as much as I was sure mine was devouring her.
“You’re going to have to stop looking at me like that,” I murmured. “Or we won’t make it through the ceremony.”
“Patience, Bone Collector.” Her lips twitched. Little vixen. She was enjoying her effect on me far too much. “We have a whole ceremony and celebration to get through.”
A growl rumbled from my throat. Driscoll opened the book in front of us, a swath of dust rising in the air.
He waved it away. “Sorry about that!” he said cheerfully, then looked down at the book. “Okay, so we have to say the words, yada, yada, do the hand thing, then thank the spirits for allowing this blessed union, and then comes twining of the magic. Got it.” He snapped the book closed and dropped it with a thunk.
Emory and I both winced.
“What?” Driscoll asked, looking between us and the book that now lay on the balcony. “Aren’t you ready to get married?”
“It’s just . . .” Emory started.
“The book,” I finished for her.
“What about it?” Driscoll asked, eyes shifting back and forth.
“Can you pick it up and put it somewhere safe?” Emory gestured inside the castle. “You know, where the elements can’t destroy it. I kind of want to look at it later.”
“Can you also not drop a centuries-old text like that?” I added.
Driscoll rolled his eyes while Annalee hid a smile behind her hand. “It never stops with you two, does it?”
Aron stepped forward to pick up the book and tucked it gently under his arm. Emory nodded in satisfaction and set her attention back on me, her smile luminous.
The ceremony went by in a blur. I’d been to enough of them that I knew the rituals.
Still, I wouldn’t remember the words Driscoll spoke. I wouldn’tremember the thanks we gave to the spirits. I wouldn’t remember the words we repeated to complete the ritual. I would remember the magic we used. How fire and ice came together, like instead of opposites, they were actually perfect complements of each other. I would remember the smile on Emory’s face and the way it promised happiness for all our days to come. I would remember the fire in her eyes and how it flared for me and me alone. I would remember the way her grip tightened over mine, reminding me how she’d never let me go.
I wouldn’t remember most of the day, but I would remember how my heart swelled, how it felt like on this day, all my dreams had finally come true.
Chapter Fifty-Three
EMORY
The entire day had been a blur. A long, joyful, tiring blur. We’d finally managed to convince Driscoll that we celebrated, and drank, enough, and that it was time to retire to our room.
Now Maverick clicked the door closed behind him, gaze hooded and sending flutters through me.
“I have been waiting for this moment all damn day.” He strode toward me and pulled me to him in one strong, swift move.
“Me too. I can’t wait to get some sleep,” I said teasingly.
His eyes flashed, then he spun me around and slammed my back to his chest. A gasp escaped my mouth.
“Still tired?” he whispered into my ear as he slowly began undoing the laces on the back of my glittery white dress. “What, exactly, can I do to wake you up?”
Heat flooded between my legs. I was already wet, blood pumping through my veins, but like all the games we played, I was enjoying this one far too much to end it now.
He undid the last lace and pulled my dress open, exposing my back.His finger trailed down my spine, making me shudder, igniting sparks in the wake of his touch.
