Page 40 of The Grip of Death
“Like a chocolate lava cake, but with a crusty, crisp exterior. Or a truffle with praline filling, only it’s coated with hard caramel. Or a cream puff that is, uh, similarly coated in hardened caramel.”
I leaned in to the floating crystal, whispering out of the corner of my mouth that faced away from the crowd.
“I think they get the picture, Lore.”
“Well, I am trying my very best, Jackson,” he hissed back. “And now for the vows. Xander, if you please.”
I swallowed hard, steadily avoiding Niko’s gaze lest I imagined him calling me a big, hairy baby in his head again. And that was exactly why we’d planned it this way, Xander agreeing to go first because we both knew I’d dissolve into a blubbering mess if I had to say my vows first. Click, flicker went the glass camera drones.
I waited for him to reach into his suit pocket for the sheet of paper where he’d no doubt scribbled, crossed out, and re-scribbled all his words of love for me, except he never did. My beautiful betrothed had memorized it all, a Grayhaven graduate through and through.
He lowered his head very slightly, looking up at me through his lashes, through a fringe of hair that would only just help to hide the first traces of tears, if they did indeed break.
“Jackson, I’ve known you since we were both just kids. We only lived the exact width of a street from each other. We used to play together, sometimes in your house, sometimes in mine. We’d chase after each other, get lost in all the rooms. Mother and Father would have to send Harlock to find us and fish us out of the depths.”
From somewhere among the wedding guests, Harlock the butler blubbered into his pristine white handkerchief.
“And then we grew up and our lives went in opposite directions. The day I left for Grayhaven — the day I knew I’d be so far away from you — it broke my heart. How I longed to look out my bedroom window and see you on the other side. Somehow fate saw fit to have us mend our friendship, but it didn’t stop there. We fell in love.”
I gritted my teeth. Not now. I couldn’t break now. Xander grinned, the corners of his eyes glittering with new tears.
“Now I start each day opening my eyes and seeing you in bed beside me. The very first thing I see in the morning is the most beautiful man in the world. My partner, my beloved, my best friend. We’ve been through so much together, you and I, stopped the worst from taking over the world — over the cosmos.
“And that happened because you welcomed me into your world, shared your friends with me, your family, your space, your heart. You’re a kind man, Jackson Pryde, and that’s what brought us together.” He raised his hand, swishing it in a circle all around us. “It’s what brought all of us here together. I never did have many friends, but looking around us now, I can’t believe how quickly my family has grown.”
My eyes scanned the gardens, meeting the twinkling and tear-stained faces of the people who had indeed become so important to us, to our lives.
“I swear to stand by you no matter how great the threat. I promise to carry your burden no matter how heavy. There’s nothing that can possibly stand between us, nothing that can stop us, for as long as we have each other. I love you, Jackson Pryde, and I can’t wait to wake up to the sight of you for all the rest of my mornings. Forever.”
My jaw clenched so tight that I was worried my face would freeze that way. My heart. Gods, my heart. The only thing lovelier than having someone to love was knowing that heloved me just as much in return. Beatrice sniffled. Niko stared pointedly away from the dais, from me and Xander.
I rubbed at my eye with one fist, failing to pretend that I got a speck of dust in there. I reached for the sheet of paper in my pocket, the one I’d folded and unfolded so many times that I’d worn the grain out, scored the page into eight increasingly brittle sections. This was the real reason I needed to hold it together. A single tear would hopelessly smudge the ink on my vows, if not disintegrate the long-suffering paper altogether.
“I promise to make you breakfast — that doesn’t sound right. Even if you steal the blankets sometimes — yeah, that’s not it either. Sorry. Wait. Here it is.”
Soft laughter came from all around us. Even the trees and the wind sounded like they were tittering along, humoring their odd human guests. Xander chuckled, wiping a fistful of tears away.
“Alexander Wright. You’re the one with all the brains and the fancy education, and you know that I don’t do words all that well, so I’ll just try my best and speak from the heart. You’re the handsomest man I’ve ever met. Like wow, what a bodacious hunk, and each and every day I remind myself to be grateful for how lucky I am.”
He rolled his eyes jokingly. “Stop,” he mouthed, even as our friends and family laughed.
“Because it’s the truth,” I said, my eyes lifting from the paper, my mouth going on autopilot, because apparently I didn’t need a script anymore. I balled it up and threw it over my shoulder. “I am the luckiest man I know. I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve saved my life. Never mind how many times you’ve made me laugh, or how the very sight of you smiling can lift my spirits, even when I’m having the worst day. Just the worst day. I’m talking apocalyptic.”
Xander sniffled, a tear rolling down his cheek, down the perfect curve of his smiling face.
“I can’t offer you everything, Xander Wright, but I offer you everything I have. My heart, my body, my soul. I promise to give you all the gifts I can afford, all the back rubs I can muster. I promise I will do everything to make you smile, to light up your life whenever I can, to give you an easy, comfortable, and happy existence.
“I promise to protect you from anything that may endanger us, or our family, or our love. I promise to shield you from harm, to build you a home filled with nothing but love and laughter. I’m at my best when I’m with you, and I swear we’ll have the best life together. I’ve loved you for as long as I’ve known, Xander Wright. I’ll keep loving you until the stars fade.”
Shouldn’t have thrown my vows away. It was so soft from being manhandled it could have made for some decent tissue paper. Wilhelmina had the right idea, dabbing at her eyes with a pretty lace handkerchief. Couldn’t use my pocket square for that. My husband would kill me.
Oh, gods. My husband!
“And now, the rings,” Lore said, the words stern and powerful, like he was issuing a command.
Preston offered us the rings — dear, sweet Preston, strong and reliable as a rock, both his demeanor and his hands. Good, because I was trembling. Xander, too, shaking like a leaf, the poor thing.
A circle of warm gold slipped over my finger, the band crowned with a glimmering black diamond.
