Page 109 of Enchanted Crown
He didn’t need to tell me that, I had felt her constant worry. Yet she still kept me busy all day, away from her. So here I was. Riding Malachi home and catching my men before they plummeted to their deaths. One of which I was sure was about to fall, his arms out wide as he sang along with Emric.
With how off-key he was singing, I couldn’t say I would blame the shifter if he intentionally chucked him.
By the time we arrive,Malachi sent me,I think we might hit double digits.
“I think you are correct,” I ground out.
There was a rumbling in the distance, a barely there flash of light. A storm. Great. As if the drunken riders weren’t enough, now we were going to get rained on.
On your way back?Esta asked down our bond.
She damn well knew I was.Yes. I have had to catch three riders who had too much whiskey thus far, and it looks like we will fly into the storm.
I felt amusement instead of remorse as I sent my magic out to catch the rider who hadn’t been holding on. Four.
Well, those are both complications I did not plan for.
You have a Corshan Enchanted at your disposal, you could have asked,I bit out.You: complains about my trip and barely sleeps while I am gone. Also you: tells me to get gone.
I felt her laughter.It will be worth it, Keir,she promised.
By the time my balcony came into view, I was sopping wet. There was no use in drying myself yet, not until we landed. While I could have made some sort of covering over myself with my magic to avoid the rain, I had been more worried about catching my men than I had been about how dry I stayed.
Malachi and I made sure all the rest of the men dismounted without breaking their necks, and then he flew right over to my balcony.
Don’t be too pissed at her,Malachi said as I hopped off.It was fun before the trip home.
I swung open the door to my own room with my magic. I stood in the doorway dripping wet as thunder rumbled behind me. “Are you done avoiding me now?”
“Yes, my moon. That’s entirely the point.”
“I—” I faltered. There she sat. With John. In my room. I vaguely noted there was a piano now in my room and remembered her saying I could have one, but I was too stuck on the fact that Esta was stunning me. In a white gown. “What is this?”
John was trying and failing to cover a smile with his glass of water.
“We are to be wed,” Esta explained simply. “Tonight.”
CHAPTER 37
Droplets of water from my clothes hit the hard floor in beats. I was trying to make sense of what was before me and string together the words which had just come out of her mouth. I would have thought that time itself had frozen if not for the cadence of the water hitting the floor, quietly marking time.“What?”
“I asked John to marry us. Only the three of us and Amory currently know. Well. And Avril. She of course likely already knows.”
I swallowed. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I heard you,” she explained. “I heard you tell me that a day not married to me is a waste. I heard you tell us that we couldn’t let fear drive our footsteps and turn us into something we are not.” She moved her hands down her dress to smooth it as she rose to standing. “And while for security reasons we cannot have a massive wedding right now, wecanbe married right now. Right here.”
She looked me in the eyes as she added, “This is not a secret. I want the obnoxiously large wedding also. As soon as we can getit planned and my advisors think it wise. Being soul bound and not married feels wrong somehow. Like we have jumped with both feet into this, but there is still an invisible rope holding us back. The wedding itself feels a bit like a piece of paper at this point, as I know with certainty you are embedded into my soul. But I recognize that this matters to you, so I made it matter tome. This will happen now, and again later, when it is safe to do so.”
My eyes went to John. John, who had married my brother and Jorah, and would now be marrying Esta and me. “And you were in on this, you old fool?”
He grinned. “Only brought in on it just this morning. You cannot believe how hard we have all had to work to make this happen today. Queen Esta sent me to the library to research the royal bloodline. Who I was pleased to find have quite extensive family trees.”
Esta smirked. “We wanted the dragon bloodline to avoid extinction, not be tainted with inbreeding.”
“A valid point,” John conceded.
I rubbed a hand across my brow. “You brought this all together in a day? Complete with a piano?”
