Chapter 17 #3
I began unpacking the food Zuhra had selected, privy to the significance of the meal.
Cold roasted venison, sliced thin. Fresh bread, still soft and warm despite the journey.
A wedge of sharp cheese from the market.
Berries and sliced apples that Ardin had helped me pick just this morning, laughing as he'd stolen bites when he thought I wasn't looking.
And finally, wrapped carefully in cloth, a bottle of wine from her friend Tori's winery.
Jordan's eyes widened as I set everything out. "Ruka, this is perfect."
"I wanted it to be perfect," I said simply, settling onto the blanket and gesturing for her to join me. "You deserve perfect."
She settled beside me, tucking herself against my side as naturally as breathing.
I tore off a piece of bread and offered it to her, watching her eyes light up as she took it from my fingers.
She did the same for me, her smaller hand holding a slice of apple to my lips, laughing when I caught her fingertips gently between my teeth.
We fed each other slowly, savoring each bite and the intimacy of the gesture.
Jordan poured the wine, and we sipped it as the sun began its final descent toward the horizon.
The light shifted, turning from light amber to deep gold, and the waterfall transformed before our eyes—no longer white foam and crystal spray, but molten silver pouring endlessly into the pool below.
Jordan leaned against my shoulder, her head fitting perfectly in the hollow there, and I wrapped my arm around her, holding her close. For a long moment, we simply watched the play of light on water, the world reduced to this perfect moment.
But my heart was pounding, and the small box in my pocket seemed to burn against my thigh.
Weeks of preparation had led to this moment.
I'd pored over human texts by candlelight, their pages filled with bewildering customs and traditions.
I'd cornered Jordan's friends with questions that made them grin knowingly as they explained important rituals.
Sarsa had laughed outright at my fumbling nervousness, but she'd helped me understand.
And working with Jurik, our forge master, to craft something worthy of her.
"Jordan." Her name left my lips, the most beautiful work in existence.
She hummed, content as a cat in sunshine, her cheek still pressed to my shoulder.
My hands trembled as I eased her upright. Her eyes fluttered open, curiosity sparking in their depths as I shifted onto my knees before her. The rocky ground bit hard through the blanket, my body protesting the unfamiliar posture—but every text had insisted. This was the human way.
"Ruka?" Uncertainty colored her voice now, her gaze searching mine.
"You are my mate." The words rose from somewhere primal, somewhere ancient. "My true mate, bound by the magic of my people. Do you know what that means?"
She nodded, slow and deliberate. "You've explained it. That it's extraordinary. That it's... eternal."
"Eternal," I echoed. "In the time before darkness claimed us, before we retreated beneath stone and earth, true mates were touched by the gods themselves.
Their bond was sacred, written in starlight and shadow, unbreakable as the mountains.
" I captured both her hands, cradling them between my larger ones.
"That magic has slumbered for generations, buried as deep as we were.
But you, Jordan—loving you, knowing you—has stirred something long dormant.
The magic wakes. You've returned light to my people in ways I never imagined possible. "
Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, catching the dying sun like liquid gold. "Ruka..."
"I love you." Still new, these words, no matter how many times I'd said them.
Still strange on my tongue, as though my soul could barely grasp the fact that Jordan was truly mine.
Yet nothing had ever rung truer. "You are mine, and I am yours.
But your people have their own sacred bonds, their own ceremonies of commitment.
" My throat tightened. "I want to honor both traditions—yours and mine. "
I released one hand to retrieve the small box from my pocket, the oak smooth and warm from resting against my body. Jordan's breath hitched audibly as I opened it.
The ring blazed in the sunset's final glory, the gold seeming to hold its own inner fire.
I'd discovered the nugget myself, just weeks before breaching the surface.
As though even back then the magic was leading me to a future I couldn't yet imagine.
The emerald set within it came from the same ancient cavern, a stone of impossible green that had taken centuries to form in absolute darkness.
Jurik had guided my inexperienced hands, but every strike of the hammer had been mine, every careful refinement made while imagining this ring on Jordan's finger.
It lacked the ornate complexity of human jewelry I'd seen, but it was honest. Real.
Forged from the depths of my homeland and heart for the female who had become my home.
"Jordan." Her name caught in my throat. "Will you marry me? Will you join yourself to me in the tradition of your people?"
Tears spilled over, tracing silver paths down her cheeks. Time seemed to stop. My heart forgot how to beat. Had I misread everything? Moved too fast, assumed too much?
"Yes!" The word burst from her like sunlight breaking through clouds. "Yes, yes, Ruka, yes!"
She collided with me like a force of nature, and I caught her on instinct as her arms locked around my neck. Her tears dampened my skin while she laughed and sobbed simultaneously, her whole body trembling against mine.
"Happy tears," she gasped, pulling back to meet my eyes. Her face was radiant despite—or perhaps because of—the tears streaming down it. "I promise, these are happy tears."
I framed her face with my hands, my thumbs chasing away the wetness on her cheeks. "You're certain?"
"I've never been more certain of anything." Her kiss was an answer, a promise, a beginning. She poured her soul into it, and I felt the truth of her words in every heartbeat.
When we finally surfaced for air, both of us breathing hard, I lowered her carefully to her feet.
My hands shook—actually shook—as I lifted the ring from its nest of soft cloth.
Jordan extended her left hand, fingers spread wide, and I slid the band home onto her fourth finger, just as the texts had instructed.
It fit perfectly.
She raised her hand to the light, rotating it slowly, watching how the emerald captured and reflected the sunset in its depths. "Ruka, it's exquisite. You made this?"
"Yes. Every element is from my ancestral home, for the woman who has become my home."
Fresh tears welled in her eyes, and she pulled me down into another kiss. This one was different—slower, deeper, filled with promise. Her hands slid up my chest to my shoulders, then into my hair, and I felt the shift in her scent, the sweetness intensifying into something headier.
"Make love to me," she whispered against my lips, her breath warm and sweet, carrying the faint scent of the wildflowers we'd passed on our way here.
I needed no further invitation. My hands found the laces of her tunic, working them loose with trembling fingers as she tugged at my shirt with equal urgency.
We shed our clothing piece by piece, letting them fall carelessly to the soft grass beside the pool until there was nothing left but skin and want and the electric anticipation crackling in the air.
In the fading light, Jordan was radiant.
The spray from the falls had left a fine mist on her skin that caught the last rays of sunset, making her seem to glow from within like some ethereal being.
The sunset painted her in shades of gold, highlighting every curve, every dip and swell of her body.
I traced the line of her collarbone with reverent fingers, traveling down between her breasts, following the valley of her stomach, marveling as I always did that she was mine.
That this incredible female had chosen me.
"My mate," I murmured against her throat, tasting the salt on her skin. "My wife."
"Not yet," she said with a smile that was equal parts mischief and promise, her fingers threading through my hair as she pulled me down to the blanket with her. "But soon. Very soon."
I kissed her again, deeply, before beginning a slow journey down her body. My lips traced the elegant line of her throat, feeling her pulse flutter beneath my mouth. She sighed softly as I continued lower, kissing across her collarbone, then down to the swell of her breasts.
I knew what she liked—had learned every preference, every sensitive spot that made her breath catch.
Taking my time, I circled one breast with kisses before drawing her nipple into my mouth, using my tongue in the way that always made her gasp.
Her reaction was immediate and gratifying—her back arched off the grass, pressing herself more firmly against my mouth.
"Ruka," she moaned, her fingers threading through my hair, holding me to her.
I lavished attention on her breast, alternating between gentle suction and the flick of my tongue, while my hand cupped and caressed the other, my thumb brushing over the peaked nipple.
Jordan writhed beneath me, her hips shifting restlessly, soft sounds of pleasure escaping her lips that drove my own desire higher.
When I switched to her other breast, giving it the same devoted attention, her moans grew louder, more desperate. Her legs shifted against mine, her body seeking friction, seeking more. I could smell her arousal, sweet and intoxicating, making my own need almost painful.
"Please," she breathed, her voice trembling with want.
I covered her body with mine, supporting my weight on my forearms as I settled between her thighs, fitting against her like we were made for this, made for each other.
The heat of her skin against mine sent sparks of electricity through every nerve ending, igniting a fire that started in my core and radiated outward.
She was already warm and ready for me, slick and inviting, her body welcoming mine as I entered her slowly, deliberately, inch by glorious inch, savoring every sensation, every flutter of her muscles around me.
The feeling of being inside her was indescribable—like finding the missing piece of my soul that I hadn't even known was lost until I found her.
Jordan's back arched beautifully off the grass, her hands gripping my shoulders with desperate intensity, nails digging into my skin just hard enough to leave marks, to claim me as surely as I was claiming her.
She gasped my name like a benediction, and the sound of it on her lips nearly undid me.
I began to move, setting a rhythm that had her matching me thrust for thrust, our bodies moving together in perfect synchronization, a dance we'd practiced countless times but that never lost its power.
The sound of the falls surrounded us, a constant rush of noise that seemed to echo the blood pounding in my veins, the thundering of my heart against my ribs, the roar of pleasure building between us like a gathering storm.
"I love you," Jordan breathed, her eyes locked on mine with an intensity that threatened to undo me completely. Her gaze was full of trust, desire, and something deeper—something eternal, something that spoke of forever and all the tomorrows we'd share. "I love you so much."
"I love you," I managed, though coherent speech was becoming increasingly difficult as pleasure clouded my thoughts and made everything fuzzy except the feeling of her around me, beneath me, with me. "My heart. My everything."
Her inner walls tightened around me as her pleasure built, rippling and clenching in waves that threatened to send me over the edge before I was ready, and I felt my own release approaching like a tide I couldn't hold back, powerful and inevitable.
I reached between us, finding the sensitive bundle of nerves that made her cry out and arch her back, and stroked it in careful circles, in time with my thrusts, watching her face as ecstasy played across her features like the most beautiful artwork I'd ever witnessed.
Jordan shattered beneath me, her body convulsing in waves of pleasure as she called my name to the darkening sky, her voice raw with emotion and release, her nails digging into my shoulders hard enough to leave marks I'd treasure tomorrow.
The feel of her climax triggered my own, pleasure coiling tight at the base of my spine before exploding outward in a rush that left me breathless and trembling.
I buried myself deep as my release poured into her, hot and endless, marking her as mine in the most primal way possible, claiming and being claimed in return.
We lay tangled together afterward, limbs intertwined and hearts racing, cuddled together as the evening air cooled our sweaty skin.
Jordan's hand rested on my chest, right over my thundering heartbeat, the ring glinting even in the twilight, catching the first shards of moonlight.
I covered her hand with my own, lacing our fingers together in a promise that needed no words.
"When?" Her voice was barely a whisper against my skin.
"When what, my heart?" I murmured, trailing my fingers through her hair.
"When do you want to have the wedding?" The question hung between us, delicate and precious.
I pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead, breathing her in. "The human ceremony can be whenever your heart desires." My lips curved against her skin. As far as I was concerned, we were already bound—by love and blood and magic—for all eternity.
A shiver rippled through her body, and I knew it had nothing to do with the cooling evening air. "I'm ready," she breathed, her fingers curling over my heart. "For all of it. For everything."