Page 150 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

Roth raised their hand, palm facing me, a wicked grin on their face. I sniffed and blinked quickly to try to clear my vision before doing the same, connecting my palm with theirs. As we intertwined our fingers, the tears started to dry up as adrenaline kicked in. Roth’s parents had explained the ceremony in great detail because, in their words, “We wouldn’t want a repeat of Roth’s cousin’s wedding.”

They’d offered no further explanation, and when I’d asked Roth about it, they’d just smiled and strolled away.

While I might not know what had happened there, I knew exactly what was coming next. I kept my eyes locked on Roth’s while, in my peripheral vision, I saw Celestina take the knife from her husband and smile at both of us . . . before slamming it through the back of my hand and straight out Roth’s.

I’d been prepared for it, so I swallowed my grunt of pain as Roth let out a low, deep chuckle. Fucking House Devereux and their insane wedding nuptials. The crowd cheered as Roth gripped the back of my head with their hand that didn’t have a fucking dagger sticking through it and claimed my mouth with their own. They swallowed my hiss as their mother pulled the knife free.

Roth kissed me, demanding but still somehow sweet, and a few more tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. They pulled back enough to laugh breathily. “Such an easy crier.”

“I had a dagger shoved through my fucking hand,” I whispered adamantly.

“That’s not why you’re crying, and you know it.”

“True,” I huffed and kissed them gently again. We leaned our foreheads against each other as Roth’s parents wrapped our hands. The knife was enchanted so that it would leave a scar.

“You did so good, babe,” Roth praised, and my core instantly tightened. They let out that raspy laugh again that I absolutely adored and leaned forward to whisper in my ear, “And good girls get rewarded.”

I whimpered, and they just smirked at me as they took my now-bandaged hand and gently kissed the back of it before cockily strolling over to my other mates, who happily murmured their congratulations.

“And now, for the second part of today’s ceremonies.” Severen gestured towards the crowd, and I followed his gaze. Once more, everyone parted, allowing Kieran to pass through.

His golden blond hair gleamed in the sunlight, and unlike the rest of my mates, who’d chosen dark clothing, Kieran wore a crisp white shirt with dark blue pants. He was perfect. And he was mine.

He was also riding my fucking horse.

Zosa pranced as she made her way down the aisle. Some valiant soul had woven white flowers into her silvery mane.

“Brave bastard,” Vail muttered.

Light brown eyes that I’d been in love with since the moment I’d seen them laughed at me as Kieran drew Zosa to a stop. He slid off the mare and kissed her on the nose before moving to stand in front of me. Draven gracefully stepped forward to grab Zosa’s reins and lead her over to stand with him and the others.

“You are absolutely ridiculous, Kier.” I grinned at him.

“I know.” He winked.

“I can’t believe Zosa let you ride her.” Or that she hadn’t taken a bite out of Draven.

“This might be hard for you to accept Samara.” Kieran gave me a serious look. “But your horse is kind of an attention whore. It’s why I get along with her so well.”

“Rude.” I glanced at Zosa, who just so happened to be standing in a way that made the sunlight capture her dapple grey coat perfectly.

Okay. Maybe he had a point.

“Was this suitably dramatic for you?” I asked, turning back to Kieran.

“Honestly, even if it wasn’t, I don’t think I could wait another day.” He smiled at Celestina and Severen. “Everything is absolutely perfect though. Thank you again for allowing us to do this.”

“You’re family now too, Kieran Blake.” Celestina smiled back at him, and Severen looped his arm around his wife’s waist, an identical happy expression on his face.

Kieran looked back at me, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he took a deep breath, then his gaze dipped to the apex of my thighs. “I see Draven did a good job of escorting you,” he said slyly, hazel eyes twinkling with amusement.

I kept my face perfectly straight. “He was very gentlemanly about the whole thing. Didn’t even mess up my hair at all.”

Kieran laughed loudly, and my heart clenched with pure joy. I would never get tired of hearing the beautiful sound.

“I love you so much, Kier.”

His laughter faded away before his face morphed into a look of pure adoration. “I love you too, Sam.”

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