The Blood Crown (The Blood Folk #2)

38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

S now glistened where the forest’s edge met the black rock of the mountain. Floating lights dotted the air, suspended by magick just beneath the lowest branches of the surrounding pines.

The outskirts of the rugged keep were full of surprises, stone bridges that spanned brooks and natural springs, and caverns such as this one—half-exposed to the natural beauty around them and half-tamed by its inhabitants.

The black stone arch spanning above Aurelia had been carved into delicate relief. Scrollwork and etchings of an elegantly scrawled tongue. Ancient and reverent.

Being beneath them, as she was now, made her feel insignificant to the span of time that these mountains had witnessed. A part of something so magnificent that it was difficult to find the words to fit her emotions.

Ven stood at the edge of the cavern, moonlight flecking his brow, turning the dark strands of his hair silver.

The hour was late, but neither of them wanted to wait any longer to make their bond permanent, and it seemed their family had guessed the same.

Nira had whisked her away to her and Embra’s shared chambers and the rest had been a blur until this point.

And now, she and Ven stood before their friends. Their family.

Embra was already wiping away tears as she leaned into Nira, who offered her a handkerchief with a doting smile, as if she had expected as much. Karro and Seth stood off to her other side, a proud grin across Karro’s face, and a reassuring smile on Seth’s. And between them stood Asher, already quite at home with the Wraiths, much to her dismay and her relief—she couldn’t quite decide.

Her brother stepped forward to meet her, offering his arm. A small thread of her old life weaving her into this new one. She took it, thankful for the anchor keeping her feet attached to the ground, feeling unworthy of the love and the absolute perfection of this moment.

Gold shimmered across her arms like dappled sunlight. Sheer sleeves dotted with crystals making her feel like she’d been dipped in constellations, ending in cuffs of pure gold at her wrists. The neckline of the dress followed the curve of her collarbone, falling into a vee along the swell of her breasts.

Where Embra had found this masterpiece on such short notice, she could only guess.

Her shoulder blades were exposed where the dress hugged the curve of her lower back before trailing away into a skirt that sighed and whispered as she walked. Every movement reflecting and refracting the moonlight as the train floated across the ground.

Asher gave her hand a gentle squeeze where it rested on his forearm before stopping where Ven stood before them.

He wore the black uniform of the Wraith Commander, the white crest of a raven on his chest and the black jeweled dagger at his hip—the one that was a twin to her own.

Her claimed .

The word still felt foreign to her—even in her thoughts. The Blood Folk seemed to use the terms interchangeably. Wife, husband, claimed . But what was between them went much deeper than whatever title they chose.

Nira extracted herself from Embra, and Karro wrapped his arm around the female’s slender shoulders reassuringly as she continued to dab at her russet eyes. He dropped his chin on top of her head, an unabashed smile stretching across his face as he murmured into her thick juniper braid, “Does this mean I’m allowed back into the greenhouse?”

Embra gave a thick laugh in response, swatting him affectionately. “We’ll talk about it,” she mumbled into his chest, hastily wiping her cheeks.

Nira took her place before them, a warm smile as she glanced at Aurelia, then Ven.

Ven removed his dagger, slicing his palm.

Offering her the blade, she did the same, watching the ruby drops well in her upturned hand.

Nira's voice carried over the small gathering of their family as she spoke the ancient tongue of the Blood Folk. And though Aurelia didn’t understand the words—she knew their meaning as if they were imprinted in her very veins.

A blood oath. Unbreakable even unto death.

Ven stretched out his hand, eyes finding hers.

Even now—if she refused him, if she changed her mind—she knew he would have let her walk away from this.

But this had been her decision. Her choice for her future—just as he was.

She clasped her palm in his as Nira's voice stopped, her last words carrying along the stone walls.

A hushed murmur rose up from their family as droplets of scarlet left their intertwined hands, suspended in the air by some ancient magick.

“I claim you.” Ven said, voice hushed with reverence as he spoke the words.

The familiar calluses of his hands scraped against hers as he slid a ring onto her finger. Simple, elegant. A slender gold band, a dark emerald cut stone at its center, woven through with veins of bronze and amber. A piece of this place that would be with her always . . .

“I claim you,” she echoed, sliding a ring onto Ven's hand. The thick gold band embedded with chips of black tourmaline.

The drops mingled, pulling into delicate threads that danced through the air, shimmering softly in the night with the candles that floated above their heads. Their blood wound together in the velvet midnight around them, forming interwoven knots.

From this day into eternity, my soul, my blood, my life belong to you.

Splitting, the threads of the spell floated down.

I am yours as you are mine.

Endlessly.

The claiming mark landed on the left side of Ven’s throat, the other floating toward her.

The breath fled her lungs as she braced for the searing brand of the blood oath, but it felt like nothing more than the gentle flit of moth wings against her skin.

Silence swirled with the sparkling flurries of snow as Ven bent his head down to hers, his lips a gentle, lingering brush.

Their bond had been forged and wrought into eternity. And in that moment, she could feel it in the air, beneath the mountains, amidst the pines—

A magick ancient and wild binding their souls, one that had existed before them and would last long after they were thoughts scattered amongst the constellations.