Page 24 of The Last Wish of Bristol Keats
“There’s a very good chance we’re all going to end up dead. If we do, Cosette and I would like to walk hand in hand into Paradise. We want you to perform the binding ritual.”
Tyghan shook his head in disbelief. He didn’t need this right now. “When did you get so sentimental?”
“When I met Cosette. It’s calledlove. I thought you had become acquainted with it—”
“Don’t bring me into this. There isn’t time for a wedding now. After—”
“Is your objection to the timing or to who I’m marrying? Not that she needs to, but hasn’t Cosette proven herself to you by now?”
Tyghan sighed. “Yes. She has. But—”
“There are no buts, Tyghan. Yes, she is merkind. Yes, she still has family in the waters of Fomoria. But she is not them, not any more than Bristol is Maire.”
His stomach clenched at the comparison. “I know,” he said. “I know that, but the preparation—”
“The whole ritual takes fifteen minutes. Less than the length of a meal. And I presume you still plan to eat before we meet Kormick in battle. I’d like my brother to do the binding, but if you’re too busy, I’ll find someone else.”
Her gaze rested on his, steady as stone, like she had already prepared herself for a clash with him. Was he just used to going to battle with her? Had it become habit? But there was something else in her eyes too, something he couldn’t ignore. Joy? He wasn’t sure, but something hopeful shimmered in them, something that was not like Melizan at all. Now that her decision was made, had she suddenly embraced the whole idea ofcaring too deeplythat she had rejected only weeks ago? This meant more to her than he had thought possible.
“Brother—”
“All right,” he answered. “I’ll do it.” A wedding. Another thing to add to his list.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
He grudgingly stepped forward and kissed her cheek. “Congratulations to you both. I suppose it will be good to have something to celebrate for a change.”
A puff of air escaped through her teeth. “Look at you. Now who’s being sentimental?” She gave his cheek a peck and walked to the door. “I’ll let you know when,” she chirped over her shoulder.
“Don’t tell Eris,” he called after her, but she had already slammed the door.
Eris and Ivy would turn fifteen minutes into an all-day affair.
CHAPTER 18
The guards secured the struggling and cursing prisoner to the towering column, a cloth sack covering his head. A chain shackled his wrists around its circumference, and his cheek pressed into the cold marble as he threatened the four junior knights from the garrison.
“Leave us,” Kasta ordered when they were done. The rest she could do on her own, and there were things that still needed to be said—without others listening.
“But our orders were—”
“My orders are from the king, and I’m your senior officer,” Kasta answered. “I said leavenowand speak of this to no one.”
They shuffled back a few steps and retreated, not just because she was their senior officer but because there was something wild in her expression.
Kasta turned and faced Kierus. He was quiet now, the only sound his labored breaths. She stepped forward and yanked the sack from his head. A strand of hair hung over his brow, a strand she might have once smoothed back with her fingers. His dark eyes drilled into hers, eyes that had always made her weak. Even now, they wrenched something inside her.
“You can’t do this, Kasta,” he pleaded. “You can’t. We have too much—”
“Stop!” she ordered. “I let you go once, Kierus. I let you go, and you betrayed me.”
“I didn’t tell anyone what you did. No one knows—”
She shook her head. “You still don’t understand! I disobeyed orders! You didn’t leave as you promised. I trusted you, and you turned around and stabbed Tygh. You made me complicit. It may as well have been me who plunged that knife in his gut. Can’t you see that?”
“I swear we were about to leave. But—”
“I’ve had to live with my decision. It eats away at me.Every single day. I loved you, Kierus. I loved you so much that I let you go. I wanted you to be happy, even if you couldn’t be happy with me.”
