Chapter Sixty-seven
Nadia
Pop cried during the vows. Violently. Like full-body, chain-smoking-between-tears crying. Which would’ve been emotional if Shane wasn’t laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his chair.
“I told you he’d lose it,” Abby whispered proudly from the first row.
“You literally bet money on it.” Deck muttered.
“And I won.” She grinned smugly.
The backyard glowed beneath strings of hanging lights while music drifted softly through the warm summer air.
Somebody lit citronella candles everywhere because Kendra claimed mosquitoes were “agents of psychological warfare,” which was valid.
Stonebridge packed itself into Pop’s backyard shoulder-to-shoulder for our wedding.
Not secret this time. Not impulsive. Real.
The East and West sides showed up in pressed shirts and dresses like they were attending royalty instead of two emotionally unstable street racers renewing vows beside a broken garden fountain. Even some North side people came.
Nobody fought. Nobody pulled weapons. For one night, Stonebridge simply existed together.
I stood beneath the old oak tree in Pop’s backyard, staring at Riven while warm wind moved softly through the hanging lights overhead.
He looked unfairly handsome tonight. Black suit, dark hair pushed back, bruises still faintly visible along his jaw from the Styx.
Mine probably matched. Good, scars suited us.
“You ready?” Hatchie, our officiant who was ordained online just last night, asked gently. Riven never took his eyes off me.
“Absolutely.”
Fuck, the idiot was going to make me emotional in front of people. I hated that for me. The ceremony itself blurred slightly after that. Not because I dissociated, for once. But because every time Riven looked at me, my chest tightened so hard it became difficult to think straight.
I remembered our first wedding suddenly. The decrepit courthouse. The fake flowers. How terrified we both were of needing each other that much. This felt different. This wasn’t desperate, but chosen. Hatchie grinned at Riven first.
“Your vows.” Riven exhaled slowly, then looked directly at me.
“Nadia Slade ruined my life when she was seventeen years old.” The entire backyard erupted into laughter immediately. I covered my face.
“What the fuck.”
“It’s true.” He defended
. “She took a bat to my head and fucked me up forever.”
“You deserved it.”
“I absolutely did not.” More laughter. Then his expression softened. And suddenly the entire backyard disappeared around us.
“I spent a long time thinking love meant destruction,” Riven said quietly.
“Probably because everything I ever loved before you eventually left.” My chest ached.
“But then you came back.” His voice roughened slightly.
“You survived everything meant to destroy you.” His eyes never left mine.
“And somehow you still kept loving people anyway.” Tears burned behind my eyes.
“I don’t know how to exist in a world where you aren’t there.” A faint, shaky laugh escaped him.
“Honestly? I don’t want to.” The silence around us felt enormous, sacred almost.
“So I promise this time,” Riven said quietly.
“That no matter what comes next… you won’t face it alone again.” Well. That absolutely destroyed me.
“Fuck, man.” Hatchie wiped his eyes before looking at me.
“How you gonna top that, Slade?” I stared at Riven for a long moment before speaking.
“When I was a kid,” I began quietly.
“I used to think survival was the same thing as winning.” The backyard stayed perfectly silent.
“My father taught me that.” I swallowed hard.
“Olympus taught me that.” Riven’s expression tightened slightly at the mention of Anton.
“But then I met you.” My voice softened despite myself.
“And you were reckless and arrogant and completely insane.”
“That’s fair,” Shane muttered somewhere behind us. Skylar smacked him. I kept going anyway.
“You loved me before I knew how to survive without hurting myself.” My throat tightened painfully.
“And even when I left…” My eyes burned harder now.
“You still built a home for me to come back to.” Riven visibly stopped breathing.
“I think part of me will always be at war,” I admitted quietly.
“But when I’m with you…” My voice cracked slightly.
“It finally feels possible to survive something other than violence.” Tears slid freely down my face now, but I didn’t even care.
“So I promise,” I whispered.
“That no matter how terrifying it gets… I’ll keep choosing you too.”
Riven kissed me before Hatchie could give the go-ahead. The entire backyard exploded. Cheering, whistling, someone setting off illegal fireworks way too early.
“FINALLY!” Shane yelled.
Kendra cried while pretending she absolutely was not crying.
Rhys sneezed directly into Deck’s beer. It was the perfect ending.
Or it should’ve been. Later that night, after the music softened and half the guests drunkenly danced barefoot through Pop’s backyard, I noticed Vera standing alone near the back fence watching Stonebridge quietly.
She wore black again. Had an elegant and controlled air about her, like violence wrapped in silk. I walked over slowly.
“You’re still here.” She glanced toward me briefly.
“You survived Olympus.” Her gaze shifted back toward the lights.
“That felt worth witnessing.” The words settled strangely in my chest. For a moment, neither of us spoke.
“Who are you really?” I asked quietly. Vera smiled faintly.
“An ally.” My eyes narrowed slightly.
“And Olympus?” Something colder entered her expression then.
“They took things from me too.”
The backyard lights reflected softly in her eyes while distant laughter echoed through Stonebridge behind us. Then Vera looked toward me fully for the first time all night.
“You burned Hades to the ground.” She said, fire burning in her eyes.
“Now let me finish what’s left.”
Before I could answer, she reached into her coat pocket and handed me a business card. Simple black with elegant lettering: Vera Banks. Beneath it sat a Vegas number. I looked back up.
“You’re leaving?”
“Tomorrow.”
“And if I decide I want in?” She studied me carefully. Then her gaze shifted briefly toward the backyard where Riven laughed beside Pop beneath the hanging lights.
“You won’t.” She said softly. “Not yet.” Something about the certainty in her voice unsettled me. But before I could ask another question, she stepped back toward the gate.
“And, Nadia.” She smiled slightly.
“Enjoy the life you fought for.”
Then she disappeared into the Stonebridge night. And somehow? I knew this wasn’t the end of Olympus. Only the end of our part in it.