Chapter 6 #2
I remember how many times I dreamed over the three years that Lanlin and I were parted, and he searched for me desperately in pain, of this beautiful monster with piercing red-wine eyes and black hair fluttering to his waist in a sea of rats and a mist of moonlight moths…
Now, he’s in front of me, and I will marry him.
I wish that I could reach out and touch him…make sure that he’s real.
But I am bound.
Except, I don’t feel trapped because we are equally caught in the ribbons.
Do the Golden Threads look as real as this to Aurelius?
The thought takes away my breath.
I wish that Aurelius was here, sharing this experience with us.
“Three lives have now become one life.” Ruin puffs up his chest with his own self-importance. “One dynasty. One eternal bloodline. One destiny.”
Shadow and Devil roar in celebration. Shadows coil around them.
Daire leans forward, until his forehead is almost touching mine. Then he starts to sing in his ancient fae tongue.
The song is beautiful.
Fae are the best singers in the world apart from the Shadow Elves. Except, Daire’s songs are normally haunting, filled with melancholy. Yet this song isn’t like a frozen waterfall. Instead, each word falls as softly and prettily as falling blossoms on the spring breeze.
When I find myself smiling, warmed by Daire’s love in the song, I catch Lanlin smiling too.
Finally, the song fades.
“Fae offer a song at their weddings as a gift. That was a traditional song that Da sang to my ma on their wedding day under the Sacred Blossom Tree. Their love was legendary. They were such deep soulmates that the bards took the song from their wedding and linked it forever to them. I hoped that one day I would sing the same song to my own soulmate. But I had come to think that I never would.” Daire’s expression is simply happy in a way that it rarely is, as if he’s allowing out a side of himself from behind his mask. “May I kiss our Queen now?”
“Only if I kiss her first.” Lanlin captures my lips, possessively.
I lose myself in the sensation that I feared I would never experience again.
Then Lanlin reluctantly pulls back.
“My Queen,” he murmurs again, as if only just realizing how true it now is. Then he glances at Daire. “My King, your turn.”
Daire doesn’t need telling twice.
His wings beat, as he gently kisses me.
I luxuriate in his plush lips, as he shows me his love without words.
He coaxes my mouth open, and our tongues entwine like the ribbons.
I would happily never have parted, except for the cough behind us.
“Take your throne now.” Ruin’s magic prickles across my skin again, and the ribbon slithers off my arms, coiling to the floor.
I rub at my wrists, although I am purring with happiness.
“Allow me, dearheart.” Lanlin sweeps me into his arms and carries me to his bone throne.
The armrests of the throne are shaped like lions with diamonds for eyes. Shards branch out of the pale throne that reaches almost to the roof of the pyramid. It is built out of dragon wings and fae bones.
My purring abruptly cuts off.
I need to take a steadying breath that I will be seated here.
Yet I will be Queen on this bone throne. I will be ruler in this land. I must try to understand it.
If I must sit on a throne of fae bones, then a living fae will sit on it with me.
Daire is already sliding to stand in the shadows behind the throne, which is probably a place that fits him well. He has most power there.
But I shake my head. “I want Daire to sit on the throne.”
Lanlin arches his brow. “We won’t all fit.”
“Figure it out.”
Daire chuckles.
“As this is our wedding day, I will indulge you.” Lanlin hugs me closer, and I nuzzle his neck.
Who is he kidding? I know that he is terrifying to most people, but he is the most devoted Alpha in the realms to me.
He has indulged me from the moment that we met.
Lanlin nods at the throne. “Sit, Raven.”
Daire’s smile widens. “Don’t mind if I do.”
He swaggers to the throne to the gasps of the noble guests. No fae has ever sat on the House of Sin throne.
Daire throws himself down, bouncing up and down a couple of times. “Comfy. You even provided me with a cushion.”
I glance at Lanlin in surprise. “You really added a cushion for me?”
Lanlin blinks. “Of course. You wanted one. It is crafted in the design you requested, emerald with a sun.”
See, wrapped around my wolfie finger.
I reward my Alpha with a kiss, before he places me on Daire’s lap.
Our guests gasp again.
Now, both a wolf and fae are sitting on their sacred throne.
“Do you like my solution, dearheart?” Lanlin asks, standing at my side.
I snuggle closer to Daire, who wraps his arms around my waist. I stare out at the noble Bloods, who are staring back at me in shock. Even the priestesses have stopped their chanting.
Lanlin is making a statement about his nestmates’ status within the kingdom.
“As long as you don’t try and sit on my lap as well.” Daire wrinkles his nose. “I’m strong, but you’ll squash me.”
Lanlin crosses his arms. “I don’t sit on other people’s laps. You are my Blood Lover. You sit on mine, as I will show you later.”
Daire winks. “One of my favorite positions.”
Ruin casts Daire a disapproving glare. He approaches Lanlin, holding up a goblet.
The goblet is made from alabaster. It is so polished that the wine, which is infused with blue lotus petals, appears to glow within it.
I stiffen in sudden fear.
I know that this is the crucial part of the Blue Moon ritual. Lanlin explained it to me and gained my consent. Yet I am still nervous.
“Let everyone witness that this bond is for eternity. Let you be judged in the afterlife,” Ruin intones. “Now, your vows.”
Lanlin’s shadow is cast over me, as he turns to face me.
Daire and I should hold his power, since we’re sitting on his throne. Lanlin, however, has never looked so powerful.
“I will love you until the stars burn from the sky and the sky itself is forgotten,” Lanlin vows. “I will love you, even from the depths of the Void. I would set a thousand crowns at your feet and think the bargain unequal.”
Daire and I both reach up to touch our bat diadems. Then Daire catches my hands in his.
“I give you my true name, King Daire.” Daire’s voice is low and heartfelt.
I know how much that means to him, and how hard it is to say.
“I place it in your keeping. Wound me, and I shall forgive. Abandon me, and I shall wait. Forget me, and I shall remember. While my spirit endures in any form, beneath any sky, in any age yet to come, it will know yours and turn toward it.”
My two murder husbands.
The deadliest creatures in the realms, they are standing before an entire court and offering me their souls as though they were surrendering weapons.
Yet theirs is a type of devotion that I never imagined could exist.
I simply smile at them. “I love you. And I choose you as my pack.”
Pack is what’s most important to a wolf. It makes my heart sing with joy.
“Beautiful, love.” Daire squeezes my hand.
“My new King and Queen.” Lanlin’s dark, dominant gaze travels over the chamber.
It’s an order.
Instantly, the guests understand. The nobles, priestesses, and Void Cult drop to their knees and then prostrate themselves before us.
Daire whistles.
I stare out at an entire court, prostrating themselves before me.
I have never wanted anyone to bow before me.
But it doesn’t suck.
Ruin hands Lanlin the drink. “This concoction is created by the priestesses from the Scarlet Temple. They use blue lotuses from the holy pool. It will trigger your ruts and heat. Take your new King and Queen to the nest you built at the Void Pyramids, drink from your fae, and complete your bond together this Blood Moon.”
Lanlin takes the goblet and swigs from it. “Will you share my first rut with me?”
When he passes the goblet reverentially, I accept it. The liquid is amber with fragments of petals floating on top like lotuses floating on honey.
I sniff the wine suspiciously. The fragrance is faint, coolly sweet.
“The first ruts of many.” I lift the drink to Daire’s lips.
Why does Lanlin’s expression shutter?
“As you wish,” Lanlin says.
Watching Daire lick the honeyed drink from his lips, I enjoy that an Omega can be the one to both serve and be in control of this ritual.
“To our knotting, Alphas.” I grin, raising the goblet in a toast, before I drink.