Page 94 of Galadon
He squeezed her rear end tight enough to make her yelp and laugh.
“Be careful what you ask for, slayer,” he said with a lustful growl.
Chapter 35
Galadon
I stood in the central area of the courtyard with a burning brazier before me, waiting for Rayna to exit the tunnel. She’d refused to get ready until I departed our underground chambers. Lorcan stood to my right as the one who would officiate the bonding ceremony. Aidan, Bailey, Titan, and my mother acted as witnesses and guests to my left.
Despite her heavy pregnancy, the Taugud pendragon’s mate hadn’t wanted to miss the occasion today, so she’d convinced a thousand-year-old sorceress, Verena, to open a portal near my territory border. They’d meet her again in a few hours to return to the fortress. I didn’t trust Verena or want her on my land, so Aidan flew Bailey the short distance from there to my home.
Next to the others stood Kade, who we had not invited, but he’d insisted he had a good reason for coming that he’d explain later. Since he was the Taugud pendragon’s eccentric uncle, I decided it would be diplomatic of me not to kill him.
Onyx stood with a wreath of white flowers around his neck—his idea, not ours—and pawed the ground just behind Kade. I wasn’t certain if he planned to be as generous as meabout giving the strange shifter-sorcerer a pass to be here. Aidan’s uncle certainly appeared nervous as he kept casting glances behind him. Would his mysterious tome of predictions have warned him about death by horse hooves?
We had waited until two weeks after our battle with the Kandoran nest to conduct the ceremony. It allowed Rayna and me time to commission our ceremonial armbands and have our guests travel here. Since two of them were pendragons, we had to consider their busy schedules.
Finally, I caught movement at the tunnel entrance. Rayna’s head appeared first. The top section of her coppery-brown hair had been pulled back into a braid with small, white flowers woven into the locks. Then, more of her rose into view as she ascended to the top. She wore a sapphire blue strapless dress that showed off her bare shoulders. It was tight across her breasts, then flowed loosely to her knees. I’d hoped she’d choose that one. She wore simple black sandals on her feet with polish on her toes that matched her attire. Bailey had gifted her several bottles right after she arrived, and luckily, one worked for today’s ceremony.
I’d seen her in every way possible, but the sight of her now enthralled me. This woman who walked with such grace, beauty, and poise was the same one who’d spent more than ten minutes slicing and dicing an enemy in revenge before cutting off his head. She was absolutely perfect.
She smiled when our gazes met. Unfalteringly, she walked straight toward us and took her position across from me. Only the burning brazier acted as a barrier between us. Her hazel eyes were warm and loving as she focused on me, and I couldn’t look away. My mother moved forward and pressed anarmband into my hand and another into Rayna’s. The two of us still didn’t break our gazes from each other.
Lorcan cleared his throat. “Galadon, you can begin with your declaration for Rayna.”
As my pendragon, his presence was required as a witness and to legitimize our union within our toriq, but he didn’t have to say or do much else. I wasn’t particularly fond of speaking with my heart, especially if anyone other than my mate was nearby. Today, though, she deserved to hear my true feelings in front of our closest friends—and Kade, I supposed.
Setting aside centuries of living a reclusive life and speaking to others as little as possible, I drew my breath and found the words I wanted to say. “Dear najeema, the first time I saw you, I had two warring instincts. One was to pull you into my arms and make you mine. The other was to kill you with my sword before I followed through with the first. In the end, I settled for something in the middle.”
Rayna’s lips twitched, but it wasn’t her turn to speak, so she said nothing.
“Each time we saw each other thereafter, my desire for you grew to my utter annoyance, and you had the impressive ability to enrage me with your flippant words. All the while, I knew I’d never harm a hair on your beautiful head, and worried if you’d ever figure that out. You certainly tested me often enough.”
Bailey let out a choked laugh, but I didn’t look her way.
“Still, I remained steadfast in my belief that I must never touch you until the night I found you on the battlefield dying. It would have been simple to leave you, but instead, all I could think of was that the world would lose all value for me if youdied. The desperation I felt to save you in that moment was more than you can know, even if I could hardly admit it to myself at the time.”
Her gaze turned soft. These were the truths I needed to tell her.
“After my mother assured me you would live, I fled because I realized my feelings for you had grown deeper than I thought possible. Somehow, your snarky mouth had woven into my heart, and I evaded you as best I could until you turned up again. At some point before that, I’d already decided the only way to excise you from my thoughts was to take you for one day and do everything I’d imagined together in the hope it would sate me.”
Rayna shifted on her feet. I couldn’t help a crooked grin, knowing she was remembering that day and all we’d done. Through our bond, I could feel her arousal building. I couldn’t wait until later when we were alone. No doubt, she couldn’t, either.
“Of course, I knew in the back of my mind that I was only making matters worse, which is why I made you swear an oath against speaking of that day or seducing me. I was so desperate to deny us because of the slayer from my youth that I had to force you to be strong for me. While I kept avoiding the truth, you never did.”
I couldn’t help reaching across the fire to cup her cheek, uncaring of the flames licking at my arm since they couldn’t harm me anyway. “You fought for us over and over again and always told me exactly how you felt. I hurt you with my callousness and cruelty every time you tried to be honest with me, but I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Whatever you want or need, I’d fly to the ends of theuniverse to get it for you. No one will ever doubt my love or devotion to you from this point onward.”
“You are the beginning and the end for me.” I caressed her cheek with my thumb, wiping away a solitary tear that fell from her eye. “Even this land I’ve spent six centuries guarding means nothing without you.”
“With this bracelet,” I said, pulling away from her to hold it up for all to see the zaphiriam band, tinted with silvery flames on a blackened background, “I pledge my mind, body, and soul to you, Rayna. I am yours forever.”
I dropped it into the fire. It turned from red and orange to violet from a magical spell my mother placed on the flames when setting it up. As was the custom, I spent the next moments making silent wishes for my mate and her future. Above all, I wanted her to be happy, and I hoped I’d have the sense to get it right even when we were at odds. Also, I hoped we were guided to a path that would leave us both content, whether that was peace or the occasional battle.
After finishing my aspirations for her, I nodded at Lorcan.
He turned to Rayna. “You’re turn. The Faegud are ready to have our own honorary slayer, so the Taugud can stop bragging that they’re the only ones.”
I caught Aidan’s lips twitching. Of course, Lorcan couldn’t resist inserting a thought or two into the ceremony. Bailey’s dark hair covered her lowered face, but I suspected her shaking shoulders indicated a laugh she struggled to hide.
