Chapter 44
Forty-Four
Vows
My heels clicked against the granite tiles like a countdown I welcomed. Each step echoed like a declaration of love that only he could answer. After all, my broken pieces fit perfectly against his.
Cerilla had left Solas and I to walk to the ceremony alone. She had given me a soft smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and insisted that she needed a moment before meeting us there.
Solas escorted me through halls lined with flickering tea candles, looking far removed from the warrior I had travelled with.
He wore a dark green button-down shirt that fitted against the breadth of his chest before tucking neatly into black trousers.
His usually wild auburn hair had been scraped into an elegant bun, a single silver band keeping it in place.
I had never imagined he could look so formal.
“You look stunning, sweetheart.” Heat rose to my cheeks at his wide smile.
“Thank you, Solas. You look…” I trailed off.
“Unsettlingly handsome?” he offered.
“Sure.” I shrugged a shoulder and grinned. “For a vicious Fae warrior.”
Solas let out a low laugh, rich and unguarded, the sound warming the space between us and making my heart feel light.
“I am so proud of you for making a joke,” he said, smiling down at me.
Obsidian Castle seemed endless, as though it took up the entire mountain it was built into.
I didn’t recognise the hallway we walked through, and it dawned on me that I was going to need a formal tour after all of this.
Or perhaps a map. I knew so little about my new home, about Lumireth and its people.
“The ceremony,” I blurted, voice thinner than I’d intended. “I assume it’s different from Mortal weddings?”
Mortals had vows, rings and a kiss. Everything was simple. Predictable. I knew what was expected of me.
What if I make a fool of myself?
Solas looked down at me with a smile so gentle my worries frayed at the edges. It was like he understood every fear twisting inside me.
“You will love the ceremony,” he assured. “The Commander will guide you through every step.” He bumped his shoulder lightly against mine.
I tried to let his words settle the frantic storm in my chest. But doubt pricked at the edges of my thoughts like thorns.
The bond thrummed faintly, a distant calling, a pull towards where he waited. Nothing but hope and love bled through the thread that connected us.
We turned a corner, and the corridor opened into another—this one shorter and lined with tall arched windows that allowed moonlight to spill across the floor like liquid silver.
We walked through it and I marvelled at the sheer beauty that dared to exist in such a simple space.
The carved doors at the end of the hallway opened as if sensing our arrival and the sight stole the breath from my lungs.
The ballroom was a wonder of granite and starlight. Half the roof was open to the night air, an enormous carved frame that revealed the night sky in all its glory. Stars glittered overhead, reflected in the polished obsidian floor until it looked like we were suspended between two heavens.
On the far side of the room, floor-to-ceiling glass panels overlooked the sleeping town far below.
Thousands of lights flickered across the dark landscape.
Soft, distant, shimmering. They looked almost as far away and unreachable as the stars above.
Candles hovered mid-air, drifting like glowing petals on the breeze and making silver runes shimmer across the walls.
At the centre of the room stood the Commander with his back to me, a candle-lined aisle stretching towards him and opening into a circle of flames that held the crowd at bay.
I ignored the hundreds of onlookers, not wanting to find my father or the priest amongst them.
A string ensemble began to play a soft romantic song that weaved through the air as Solas led me to the beginning of the aisle.
But it was the Commander’s voice that brought tears to my eyes.
He sang, the deep timbre of his voice weaving around the strings in an enchanting pull.
It carried through the vast, starlit chamber like a secret the world itself leant in to hear.
While I didn’t understand the words, it felt like a song made for me. Like a melody for the damned.
“Go to him,” Solas said as we stood at entrance to the aisle. But I was already moving.
The Commander stood tall in a fitted black suit that looked carved onto his body, the sharp lines of the jacket framing the brutal strength of him.
He turned towards me and I lost all breath in my lungs.
His black hair had been smoothed back except for a single curl falling loose over his forehead, as if even his appearance refused complete obedience.
His clean-shaven jawline was devastatingly sharp without his stubble.
But it was his expression, and the emotions flaring through the silver thread between us, that dissolved my last flicker of doubt.
I may have agreed to marry him for the sake of Kingdoms, but Gods…
my heart had never felt so impossibly full.
His shadows reacted, erupting outward in a ripple before crawling over his legs. Gasps rose from the Fae gathered along the edges of the ballroom. Even the candles flickered, as if his darkness threatened to extinguish all light.
I reached the end of the aisle as his song ended, and he took two slow, measured steps towards me, eyes never leaving mine.
“Lyra,” he whispered. Just my name, but the way he said it made my knees weaken and my heart swell behind my ribs.
“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he said, voice thick with emotion. “It feels like I am drowning every time I look at you. I cannot breathe—and yet I will gladly give up every breath I have to be your husband.”
The world swayed around me, narrowing to nothing but him. I gathered my shaking breath and took his outstretched hands like a lifeline.
“I won’t let you drown,” I whispered back to him.
The bond hummed between our touching marks, warm and steady. His voice dropped to a low rumble meant only for me, “I have been waiting an eternity to see you walk towards me like this.”
Shadows caressed his skin without burrowing in and I hoped he had taken enough blood from me earlier to sedate them.
The ceremony circle glowed beneath our feet, soft, silvery light that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Solas, Riven, Caelum and Aldric stepped over the threshold of candles, standing within the circle.
“It is Fae tradition to have those dearest to us in the circle of Amarta,” the Commander explained quietly.
He had included Riven and Aldric for me, and my heart swelled with something tender and pure. I had never been surrounded by so much love.
The musicians drifted into silence and the candles stilled.
Cerilla glided down the aisle, her obsidian gown floating behind her, studded with tiny crystals that mirrored the night sky above. Her raven hair was loose around her in perfect curls that bounced as she walked towards us with a serene smile.
She nodded towards Riven as she stopped in front of our joined hands.
“Tonight, we join the Fae and Mortal Kingdoms through marriage to fight against the Seven Hells!” The crowd cheered around us, clapping and yelling out praise. The Commander held both my hands in his as we faced each other.
“A union between two souls requires many things, but as our tradition demands, that is decided by the individual.” Cerilla’s voice echoed through the hall with an eerie pulse. “Brother, state your vows to your bonded.”
The Commander squeezed my hands gently as I stared into his gaze, candlelight fracturing there until it felt like an endless abyss of stars staring back at me.
“I vow to love you, to keep you safe, to give you freedom and to respect you. I give myself to you,” the Commander vowed, voice growing thicker with each word.
He reached up, brushing away a tear that had slipped down my cheek with his thumb as he leaned close.
“You can choose your own,” he murmured, “or repeat mine.”
“Princess Lyra, give your vows to your bonded,” Cerilla’s said, voice echoing around us.
My heart lodged in my throat, the butterflies in my stomach making it hard not to move.
“I vow to love you. To trust you. To choose you. And I vow to save you. I give myself to you.”
I gasped, eyes widening as a mixture of grief and anger drowned me through the bond.
“Take it back,” the Commander hissed, eyes wide and panicked.
“No,” I said softly.
“Turn your palms over,” Cerilla instructed, moving on with the ceremony despite the Commander’s distress.
Cerilla summoned a dagger from thin air and took the Commander’s hand from mine. Without hesitation, she sliced her brother’s palm open while chanting in the Fae language.
“This blood oath will bind your vows, if they are not upheld, you both will die.”
My heart pulsed widely in my chest as I stared at the blue blood welling in his palm.
If I failed to save him, I would die alongside him. I held his gaze, refusing to look away as I raised my chin and let him feel my sheer determination through the bond.
I offered Cerilla my hand and she took it in her sweaty palm.
The tip of the blade trembled against the soft skin of my palm before she slowly sliced open my skin.
I gritted my teeth but refused to flinch.
Instead of pressing my hand to his to seal the bargain, she let the knife linger against my hand for a moment too long, dark eyes shining with tears.
“I am sorry,” Cerilla whispered, low enough that only I could hear.
“Cerilla—”
Her hand shot out. Magic slammed into the Commander, tearing him from my grasp as he flew backwards.
Pure panic tore up my spine as I reached for my power—only to find it gone. In its place was a familiar floral scent that overwhelmed my senses.