Page 66 of A Reign of Embers

We can’t—we may never be able to announce our devotion publicly. Not while Coraya’s path to the throne is still uncertain, at least. But this is still more legitimacy than I ever imagined our relationship might receive.

It won’t eliminate the dangers my lovers will face or how much I’ll miss their presence, but it’ll make the bonds between us feel all the stronger, drawing them back home to me.

With a caress of my cheek, Bastien nods.

I turn to face Marc again. “How do we do this?”

“Much the same way you married ‘Marclinus.’ You can stay right there. You’re ready?”

“We’vebeenready,” Raul says gruffly.

Lorenzo links his arm with mine.

Marc taps his fingers down his front in the gesture of the divinities and tips his face toward the ceiling. His gravelly voice resonates through the room with the words I remember from that day in the palace temple over a year ago.

“Oh great Ardone, champion of love, beauty, and passion. We call on you today to witness and endorse the love shared by the four people in front of me.”

As he continues through the wedding prayer, albeit with fewer of the extended flourishes the Ardonian cleric included, my princes ease even closer around me. My heart feels as if it’s expanding, absorbing all the adoration they’re radiating toward me and exuding my own back at them.

At them, and at the man who set this ceremony in motion.

Marc finishes the prayer with the final request. “May you watch over their love and honor them as they honor you with it.”

A flutter of warmth passes over my skin, as if Ardone has literally touched me with her blessing. From the intake of breath behind me, I don’t think I’m the only one who felt it.

We hold out our hands. Marc winds the cool strip of pink silk around each of the princes’ palms, looping over mine in turn in between each. The words I’ve only said once before rise up in my throat automatically.

I meet Lorenzo’s eyes first. “I swear before all the gods to love and honor you from now until my last breath leaves me.”

When I said it to Linus, the promise fell heavy from my tongue. Now, it springs forth as giddy as a spring breeze.

I turn to Bastien at my other side. “I swear before all thegods to love and honor you from now until my last breath leaves me.” And then Raul, just next to him. “I swear before all the gods to love and honor you from now until my last breath leaves me.”

I don’t think Raul could grin any wider than he does before he repeats the oath back to me, his tone as tender as I’ve ever heard it. Bastien’s penetrating gaze doesn’t waver as he offers up his own promise. Lorenzo leans his head against mine and speaks the sacred words right into my head.

Marc holds out the rings again. He judges each of the princes’ hands and slides the simple gold band onto the finger it’ll best fit. They gleam against those digits—pale, tawny, and deep brown. Then he touches the band I still wear around my wrist as if to add it to the ceremony.

All those months ago, the fitted circle of gold felt like a manacle. Now it’s an anchor, ensuring the men I love can never be flung too far astray.

Marc clears his throat before he speaks the last benediction. “Let it be seen that these four are married!”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Bastien

There’s no audience to cheer on our newly confirmed union. No celebratory feast waits for us down the hall. But the memory of the first marriage ceremony Aurelia participated in is burned into my mind, even if the anger and pain I felt watching it has dwindled.

I raise my free hand, the one that now carries the light but noticeable weight of my new wedding ring. With a touch of her cheek, I draw Aurelia’s mouth to mine.

We’ve kissed so many times, but this meeting of our lips comes with an exhilaration unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. There’s something a little sweeter still, a little more satisfying, about kissing a woman I can call my wife.

In the heat that passes between us and the soft noise that works from her throat, I taste the certainty that no matter how far away I go, nothing can truly tear us apart.

That thought knots my gut all the same, because I dohave to go. In a matter of hours, I have to leave behind the woman I love and the daughter we brought into this world for gods only know how many days. I have to ensure my family treats her trust as a gift rather than a tool to unseat her.

And I will. I’ll bring back the means to fend off this latest threat. We’ll stand up to the traitor soldiers and the treacherous godlen and prove once and for all who’s meant to rule the empire.

I deepen the kiss for a few beats of my heart before finally pulling away. Raul tugs Aurelia to him a moment later, with a mild huff that I got there first. As he claims her mouth in his demanding way, my gaze slides to the man who ruled the empire before her.

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