Calla
WE WOULD HAVE ANOTHER WEDDING—A GRAND ONE IN FRONT of all the Golden Court.
I’d commission Ora to make the perfect regalia, something beautiful and strong, something that expressed all the things inside of me.
There’d be music and laughter and lighthearted joy, but this—this—would be the wedding I’d always remember.
Dressed in my battle leathers, in the rubble of a tyranny at its end, in the blood of our enemies, we’d celebrate the love that pulled us through. I strode down the makeshift aisle that my sister had once walked down, and toward the prince turned king who was always only waiting for me.
The rocks jostled beneath my boots and shattered glass clinked as Briar inched closer into her mate’s side.
Maez seemed so different now. Neither sorceress nor Wolf, like all her dark magic had been spent, eased by its shared weight with Briar.
She was energized and jittery with excitement instead of the cold steel I’d seen in her eyes in Taigos.
She seemed more settled in herself than ever before, too, as she slung an arm around Briar.
I didn’t know what it would mean for them.
Would they return with us to the Golden Court?
For some reason, I doubted it, that something had irrevocably changed, maybe for the better even.
Maybe the simple life that Briar had dreamed up for herself wasn’t really the life she needed, maybe she was still destined for so much more but in an entirely different way.
But as I studied the way Maez looked at her, I knew one thing for certain: I didn’t need to fear for Briar’s safety anymore.
She would defend Briar with her life—give her the love she deserved.
And Briar would do the same.
I heard the barest subtle sniff, and I moved my gaze from Briar and Maez back to Grae standing at the top of a heap of bricks and stones—a makeshift dais beneath the light of the single intact window.
Ora stood beside Grae, beaming, as if their smile alone could block out all the death and destruction that we’d faced, as if they could assure me that there would be no more.
My eyes were fixed on my mate who seemed overcome with emotion and possibly nerves? As if I would turn and run just as Briar once had? I gave him an incredulous look and that seemed to cut the tension in his body. I loved that I could make him crack a smile with a single glance.
I walked faster, eager to get to him, and his smile broadened.
Let him never doubt that I was his and he was mine.
That even if the moon had never shined her magic on us, even without the fates all aligning—Grae and I were always meant to be, in every reality.
Briar and Maez had taught me that. That some love was greater than any magic.
Grae extended a hand out to me as I climbed the tenuous rocks to stand beside him, knowing that we were probably standing atop the blood of his former pack.
It was morbid and brutal, bittersweet and beautiful all at once—a poetic end to the Silver Wolves who had tried to rule our lives and our hearts.
It was the sort of thing a Wolf king might never do, but a queen would.
The Moon Goddess bathed us in her ethereal glow, filling me with that same rush of magic I’d felt the moment I knew what Grae was to me. And how he became so much more to me still than even the word “mate” could encompass.
I held Grae’s hand tightly as I stood by his side, the congregation of Songkeepers, Golden Court soldiers, and my pack—my family, I realized as I looked from Sadie to Mina to Ora.
This entirely illogical mix of people had become my family, against all odds.
And I would fight for them all over again if it meant knowing peace, but I prayed that our golden years had finally reached us.
I hoped I would usher in an era of peace so that we would never have to be here again.
I looked beyond my family and soldiers to the hundreds of humans who crammed in amongst the rubble, some having traveled for the last three days to arrive in time. Word of this wedding had spread, the intimate ceremony turning into a symbol for the entire continent.
I could see Grae warring with himself as he held my gaze. Finally he relented, releasing our grip to grab me by the cheeks and kiss me. The room chuckled, such a strangely light sound after the utter chaos that had filled it days before.
“We haven’t quite arrived at that part yet,” Ora murmured with a laugh. “We haven’t even given you your song.”
I arched my brow at them. “Our song?”
“You’re getting a Songkeeper wedding, Your Majesty,” Ora said, looking out to the large crowd. “A human wedding. It is customary to gift the couple their own song—one that combines the elements of melodies of the two into a new whole.”
I heard the ting of Sadie grabbing the hilt of her blade and turned to see her staring daggers into Navin. “Did you and Rasil have a song?”
Navin looked at us tightly, an apology on his face. “Can we talk about this at a more opportune time?” he whispered out of the corner of his mouth as the rest of us tried to contain our laugher.
“It wasn’t a very good song,” Mina signed as if that was comfort enough. “It never really sounded right.” She gave Sadie a wink and my friend’s steely expression fissured.
Navin plucked the knife out of Sadie’s grip. “You will get it back after the ceremony.” She rolled her eyes as he wrapped an arm around her. “And our song will sound much better.”
She lifted her eyebrows and looked at him. “Our song?”
He hummed as he nodded his head, toying with the ring on her finger. “I’ve got plans for you, Sadie Rauxtide, just you wait.”
“Preferably until after we finish our own wedding ceremony?” I called and they both gave me sheepish grins. The murmuration of the amused crowd echoed all the way to the edges that spilled into the courtyard. I shook my head. “Mates, I swear.”
Grae smiled at me. “Go easy on them. Love makes us do strange things—break curses, fight monsters, win wars.” He beamed at me with such pride I couldn’t help myself. I rose up on my toes to kiss him again and the crowd chuckled anew.
Ora cleared their throat, and I turned to them. “If we keep going at this rate, we might not even get to the music.”
“When did you manage to write us a song?”
They smiled. “I had quite a bit of time sitting in a cell beneath these very floors to perfect it,” they said. “But from the moment I saw you two together, I started to hear it.”
With that, Ora began to sing. At first it was soft and somber, but then it rose in pitch.
Mina stepped forward, lifting a violin, and started accompanying the tune, and then Navin added his own baritone.
The other Songkeepers joined in as well, many brandishing instruments and wearing the badges that Ora had made for them—the same ones they wore when they battled Sawyn by my side.
The chorus crescendoed, each one adding their own unique rhythm and melody to make this glorious sound. It was as if each one was gifting us a part of themselves, the way each of them saw us, so deeply that words wouldn’t do it justice. It was a song that only made sense when combined all together.
My eyes misted and I looked up to see Grae’s eyes welling. “You and me,” he mouthed silently as we listened to the song that branded itself onto my skin like the golden lightning streaking across it, the song of our two souls intertwined.