Page 70 of Depths of Desire
"In nomine noctis, in sanguine, et in aeternum."
The words fall from his lips in Latin, low and rich, vibrating through the air like a spell. However, the language isn’t exactly the Latin I learned, so I struggle to translate them, but I feel the weight of the incantation in my bones.
"Nos congregamus hic sub testimonio sanguinis, sub lunam et tenebras, sub pactum vetustum."
Each word echoes through the chapel. I glance at Nico. His face is impassive, but I know him well enough now to see the tension in his muscles.
Julien lowers his hands and turns to us. “In our world, marriage is not a contract of paper and law. It is bond and blood. Trust and consequence. Once made, it cannot be broken.”
My heart begins to pound.
“Do you, Niccolo Valdici, accept this bond, knowing its weight and its permanence?”
“I do.” His voice is steady. Certain.
Julien looks at me.
“Do you, Luna Benedetti, accept this bond, knowing its weight and its permanence?”
My mouth is dry. My knees are trembling. But I look into Nico’s eyes, and I find something solid there—something that tells me, no matter how dangerous this path is, I won’t be walking it alone.
“I do,” I whisper.
Julien bows slightly. “Then let the bond be forged.”
Luca steps forward with a blade—small, ceremonial, with runes carved into the hilt. Nico takes it without hesitation and slices his palm cleanly, the blood pools in his hand before he lets the crimson liquid drip into the crystal vial Julien is holding.
Then Julien turns to me.
“You must do the same.”
I swallow hard and take the dagger. The blade bites into my skin—sharp, shocking—and I flinch, but I don’t hesitate. I tilt my hand over the vial, letting my blood mix with Nico’s.
The moment our bloods touch, the liquid shimmers. It glows faintly blue, almost alive. It grows brighter and then sparkles. I feel it hum in the air like an electrical charge. Is this normal? I swallow a laugh. Nothing about this is normal. Nico’s eyes widen at the sight, but then he turns and smiles at me, and I go all warm inside.
Julien unrolls a heavy parchment edged in gold and dips a quill into the vial.
“You will sign here,” he says to Nico, who takes the antiquated quill and inks his name.
Then points out another line to me and Nico extends the pen my direction.
I take the quill, my hand shaking slightly as I scrawl my name in blood beside his. The moment I finish the last letter, the paper pulses with light and then seals itself shut with a hiss, like a breath drawn in reverse.
Julien raises the scroll high.
“It is done,” he declares. “You are bound. Blood to blood. Life to life. You are now husband and wife in the eyes of the old world and the new.”
I can’t move.
My hand is still bleeding, so is Nico’s, and then—gently, reverently—he lifts my hand to his lips and kisses the wound. His power seals the cut instantly with a wave of warmth that shoots up my arm and into my chest.
I hesitate for a second, then do the same. I lift his hand to my lips, press a kiss to the cut, and I swear something shifts betweenus. Like a bond locking into place. Like the world just turned on a new axis.
Julien steps back into the shadows, silent now. Watching.
Nico takes my face in his hands, and the look in his eyes undoes me. And when he kisses me, it’s not for them. It’s not for the ceremony. It’s for us.
And hope blooms in my heart.
