Page 151 of The Curse of Golden Blood
But it was her face that held me captive. The joy written there, the love, the certainty.
She walked alone, as was tradition for a High Sovereign. No one gave her away because she belonged to no one but herself.
I descended the steps to meet her halfway, unable to wait any longer. When I reached her, I took her hands in mine, feeling the familiar spark of our merged powers. Gold and silver, light and lightning, two halves of something that had always been meant to be whole.
"You're beautiful," I murmured, low enough that only she could hear. "Devastating. Divine."
"You're not so bad yourself, Lord of Thunder." Her smile was radiant, mischievous, perfectly her. "Though I think seven days of ceremonies might have been overkill."
"Tradition," I reminded her.
We climbed the steps together, hand in hand, to where the High Priest of the Elder Court waited. He was ancient even by fae standards, his silver hair falling to his waist, his eyes holding the weight of millennia. He raised his hands, and silence fell so complete I could hear Miralyte's heartbeat.
"We gather on this seventh dawn," he intoned, "to witness the binding of two souls. Thunder and Sun. Shadow and Light. Two who were separate and shall become one."
"Zydar of Thunder Court," the priest said, turning to me. "Do you offer your soul freely to this union? Do you swear to protect, to cherish, to stand beside your chosen through all the ages that may come?"
I met Miralyte's eyes, saw my whole world reflected there. "I do. By thunder and lightning, by shadow and storm, I bind myself to her. In this life and all that follow."
The priest turned to Miralyte. "Miralyte of Sun Court, High Sovereign of all the Realm. Do you offer your soul freely to this union? Do you swear to protect, to cherish, to stand beside your chosen through all the ages that may come?"
"I do." Her voice rang clear and strong. "By light and fire, by sun and star, I bind myself to him. In this life and all that follow."
"Then let the binding be sealed."
The priest produced a length of silver cord, shimmering with woven magic. He wrapped it around our joined hands, once, twice, three times, each loop accompanied by words in the old tongue that predated even the courts themselves.
The cord dissolved into pure light, sinking into our skin, leaving behind matching marks on our wrists. Silver on hers, gold on mine.
"By the power vested in me by the Elder Court and all the high fae assembled," the priest declared, "I pronounce you bound. Soul to soul. Life to life. Forevermore."
I didn't wait for permission. I pulled Miralyte into my arms and kissed her, deep and claiming and full of every promise I'd just made. She kissed me back with equal fervor, her hands tangling in my hair, and around us the crowd erupted into cheers so loud they shook the palace foundations.
When we finally broke apart, both breathless, both grinning like fools, I saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Happy tears?" I asked, wiping them away with my thumbs.
"The happiest." She laughed, the sound pure joy. "I just wish—"
Her words cut off abruptly, her gaze fixing on something over my shoulder. I turned to see what had caught her attention and found Brond standing among the assembled guests. Pelbie's lover. The mortal man who had stayed even after his beloved's death, choosing to serve the Sun Court as a free citizen rather than return to his homeland.
Beside him stood Tomos, another of the former vessels who had chosen to stay. Both wore formal attire, clearly honored guests rather than servants, but the grief was still visible in Brond's eyes even as he smiled at us.
Miralyte swallowed hard, and I felt the wave of emotion through our new bond. Grief and guilt and the sharp ache of missing someone who should have been here.
"Are you all right, sweetling?" I asked softly, turning so my body shielded her from most of the watching crowd.
"Yes. It's just..." She took a shaky breath. "Pelbie should be here. She should be standing with them, laughing and celebrating and probably making inappropriate comments about my dress."
I cupped her face gently. "I'm sure she's happy in the Starlit Fields. Watching."
That made her smile. "Probably."
"I wish she were here too, you know," I told her. "I never got to properly thank her for being the friend you needed when you had no one else."
"She would have liked you. Eventually. After she finished threatening to castrate you for kidnapping me."
"A reasonable response."
