Page 136 of Happily Ever Witch
Trevelyan’s claws smoothed through her ebony curls. “Almost.” He transformed himself back into his normal form, because that was how the ritual was traditionally done and he wanted every possible i dotted and t crossed. He was leaving her no escape route.
“Your eyes look different.” She whispered, her gaze on his face.
“Changing back sometimes takes a moment.” Although his eyes should have remained the same, in both forms.
“No, that isn’t it.” She yawned, not really focused. “What are you doing, now?”
Trevelyan took hold of her wrist and guided it between her legs. Esmeralda watched, not protesting, while he made sure their combined scents saturated her palm. Then, Trevelyan directed her hand back up again, flattening it against his chest. His fingers slid between hers, holding her hand over the elaborate tattoos of suffering knights and lovely flames.
He watched her expectantly. “Mate.”
“Mate.” She repeated, giving him what he wanted.
Finally.
Trevelyan drew in a deep breath, as the mating sealed. There were no wedding vows in a dragon ceremony, but the magic was just as strong. Ancient enchantments snapped into place. Spells so engrained in dragons that Trevelyan didn’t even know how they were created. They just existed in his blood and bone, left there by his devious ancestors. For a thousand generations, dragons had used them to ensure their mates never got away. It was inspiring to come from a line of such feral madmen.
Satisfaction filled Trevelyan, as he felt all the invisible ties between him and the witch knot tight.
Esmeralda felt it, too. Her dreamy expression evaporated and she was wide awake. Those too-clever crimson eyes sharpened, searching his face. She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but she knew it had been massive.
“What did you just do?” She demanded.
“Nothing.”
“Troll shit.”
“No, it’s true.Youdid this. You decided on me, just like we agreed.”
“Uh-huh.” She wasn’t buying it. “And what does that mean exactly?”
“You really should have asked thatbeforeyou agreed to the deal.” He chided. “Why would you trust an evil dragon to lead you through some mysterious ceremony, withoutquestioning him a bit? If I wasn’t playing nice with you, I could have just cast all manner of diabolical…”
She interrupted his helpful lecture. “What does ‘deciding’ mean in dragon-ese?”
“That I’m yours, of course. And you’re mine. We belong to each other, forever-after.”
Esmeralda seemed to like that idea. He could see it in her face. “Yeah?”
“Is there even a doubt?”
“No.” She admitted, but she still wasn’t completely mollified. “And that’sallit means?”
“Essentially.”
“But notentirely, right? Because some kind of magic was just triggered between us. Something huge.”
“Yes, I noticed it, too.”
Her gaze narrowed, as if his very innocent tone had all her suspicions blazing. “How permanent is this very huge spell?”
“Oh, you’re stuck with me for quite a while, I’m afraid.”
“You can’t undo it?”
“Nope.” And he’d never felt more pleased about a limitation on his magic. The mating bond was specifically designed to be eternal. The dragons of old hadn’t been idiots. They’d made sure their mates were tightly secured in their grasps.
Wheels turned in Esmeralda’s head. “Did you just marry us? In a goddamncave?”
