Page 85 of Beyond the Storm
That love then led us to another decision: a ritual that would bind our souls so that we’d never have to know a day apart, either in this life or the one that came after. It would complete the bond between us, joining our life forces as well as our hearts.
“Will I become a bird too?” I asked the night after Lazarus told us of the ritual. He had said it would take away my mortality.
Kallias chuckled and wrapped me in his arms as we lay in our bed. The cottage in the small village was only a temporary home for us. War prevented us from settling down anywhere for long. “Do you wish to be a bird?”
“I only wish to be with you. Forever.”
His eyes softened. That sadness that had so often shone through them rarely appeared when we were like this, limbs entangled and hearts beating to the same rhythm. “And you will be. We will never know a day apart.”
The ceremony took place in the spring when the buds on the olive trees bloomed. Being wed in Sparta wasn’t feasible, but we had found a location of similar terrain. Kallias’ eyes had lit up as he’d first beheld the grove of trees, and I knew it was the place I wanted to bind myself to him, as husbands and as mates.
Our vows needed to be spoken in front of witnesses, and then we were required to drink from the same goblet of wine. Only Lazarus and the other Nephilim brothers were in attendance, keeping it a small affair.
“Are you certain?” Kallias asked as we stood beneath the largest of the trees, facing each other with our hands joined between us. “Once completed, this cannot be undone.”
“Yes. This is what I want.”
“You will be saying farewell to mortality,” he said. “To everyone and everything you once knew. To Nikandros.”
I had met with my companion twice since the day I’d left Sparta. He and the male by his side—named Amyris—were as happy as two warriors could be in such a war-driven society. Nikandros had someone special that would care for him. That had given me the strength to finally let him go. Lazarus had agreed with my decision and said it was necessary to toss aside any attachments from my old life, especially since the moment I bound myself to Kallias, I would no longer be an ordinary mortal.
The world and people around me would change, but like the Nephilim I now called my family, I would stay frozen in time, no longer aging. Sickness wouldn’t affect me either.
Alastair grabbed the goblet and looked at Lazarus. “The incantation will activate the magic in the wine to bind their souls?”
“It’s what I’m told, yes,” the angel responded. “This is my first time witnessing the ritual. It is as new to me as it is to you.”
Alastair filled the goblet before beginning the incantation, speaking of unity and fate, of devoting one’s life, body, and soul to another person. Living for them and following them in death. The wine reacted to his words, the dark red liquid slowly swirling. After, he handed the goblet to me. “Speak your vows from the heart and drink.”
I accepted the chalice, trying to shove down the sudden tangle of nerves. Kallias offered me a smile that gave me the courage I needed.
“I know very little in regard to matters of the heart,” I said. “Before you, I feel as though my heart didn’t even beat. It was nothing but a mass in my chest that kept me alive. That changed the day I met you. Today, before these witnesses and beneath the shade of your beloved olive tree, I vow to dedicate myself to you, Kallias. I swear to protect you, to remain loyal, and to love you long after I leave this world.”
His dark eyes turned glassy as he smiled.
Alastair nodded to me. “Now, drink.”
As the wine trickled down my throat, heat pooled in my stomach and spread throughout the rest of my body. Such a strange sensation. The urge to burrow into Kallias was nearly too great to fight. I yearned to be closer, to kiss, touch, and sheathe myself deep inside him.
Kallias accepted the goblet from me and stared at the wine. He was carefully considering his words, perhaps even mustering courage like I’d had to do. Fighting in battle came effortlessly, but confessing our love in front of others brought a certain degree of vulnerability neither of us was accustomed to.
When he met my gaze, I saw only love staring back at me. “I once believed I had no soul. Melancholy affected everyone around me with a profound sadness, whereas I’d always felt so numb to it all. Then I saw you on that battlefield, covered in sweat and blood, and for the first time in my life, Ifelt, Elasus. My heart pounded in my chest, and the soul I thought to be missing cried out for you. I found solace in your arms. I found a home. Today, we bind ourselves together as mates, just as the fates intended. And I cannot wait to spend forever by your side. My heart is forever yours, as is my life.”
He then took a drink, his stare unwavering on mine over the rim of the goblet.
“With your vows spoken, you must now seal them with a kiss,” Alastair said before taking the goblet from him.
I rested my hands on Kallias’ waist and pulled him closer. He rewarded me with a shy smile before leaning in, eyes closing. I met him halfway, and we kissed. As our lips touched, that strange sensation from earlier worsened. Heat traveled through my body, but so did a soul-deep restlessness.
The ceremony with the enchanted wine was only half of the ritual. To bring it to fruition, we needed to join our bodies. Only then would we be fully bonded as soul mates.
His brothers stepped forward to congratulate us. Well, most of them. Daman leaned against a tree with his arms crossed and only nodded in our direction. Galen kept his distance, too, but offered a thin-lipped smile. Raiden attacked us with hugs that lifted us from the grass, and Gradyn embraced Kallias before giving me a sleepy grin.
Bellamy patted me on the back and whispered in my ear, “Ride him hard, Spartan.”
However, as Kallias wrapped me in his arms, released his wings, and flew us away from the grove and to the small cottage we called home for now, it was he who did the riding. He straddled my hips in bed and took me deep inside his body, planting his hands on my chest. The oil made the glide easier, and my head dropped back on the pillow as rippling pleasure moved throughout my body.
“You are mine,” he said, staring down at me through heavy-lidded eyes.
