Page 106 of Wings of Snow
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Our wedding ceremonywas small and entirely without frills. It was nothing like the royal Solis weddings of the past, the ones that took place every few centuries and were a week long and involved numerous parties and appearances, all leading up to a grand ceremony. A wedding that the crown prince was scheduled to have with Georgyanna in only one week’s time.
Salty air drifted through my long dark hair as Prince Norivun Deema Melustral Achul waited at a cliff’s edge overlooking the Adriastic Sea with only his guards and an officiant from the local clergy as our witnesses.
My feet slipped across the pebbled dirt, my heart bursting with what was to come, and my only true regret was that my friends and family weren’t here.
But come tonight Norivun and I would be eternally bound, we would return to Solisarium, and we would expose the king to the council members and Solis citizens and stop his tyrant rule.
Later, we could properly celebrate this monumental union with those we loved.
When I reached the crown prince, a primal need shone in his eyes, and bursting satisfaction billowed toward me on the bond. The officiant draped the sealing cloth over our skin, joining my and Norivun’s hands, and a pulse of magic swept over me.
“You’re sure?” the officiant asked as the magic from the ancient sealing material heated our hands. “Once you do this, there’s no going back.”
My gaze never once left my mate’s as Norivun’s attention locked onto me.
“Yes,” we replied simultaneously.
“Then we shall begin.” The officiant began to chant words in ancient elvish, words that were long dead yet created by a powerful, extinct race. The magic from the ancient ones swirled around us, growing stronger and seeping into every pore of my body.
I sucked in a breath, my pulse quickening as the sealing cloth’s hold held firm.
Switching back to our tongue, the officiant said, “I place this binding cloth upon you as a symbol of your intentions before the universe and all of our gods and goddesses. You are sealed now before the gods. Let us begin.”
The soft material felt like a cocoon over my skin as tears pricked the backs of my eyes.
Norivun’s nostrils flared, his gaze never once leaving mine, as his guards watched with bursting smiles.
With the cloth tied, the officiant placed a binding stone atop our entwined hands. “We join today to celebrate the eternal joining of Prince Norivun Deema Melustral Achul and Lady Ilara Seary, son and daughter of the Solis continent, as they stand before us, rightfully choosing to be bound by the gods and goddesses, declared to the realm, and sealed by the universe in a matrimonial ceremony of unbound magic.”
The officiant began chanting the ancient elvish words again, a sealing ceremony that had bound not only elves, but fae, for all time. It was a spell so intricate, so absolute that it would seal me to the crown prince even after we took our last breath and joined our ancestors among the stars.
My lips parted when powerful, potent magic washed over me like a heavy shroud. Pulsing need strummed toward me on the bond from my mate. I pushed my love back into Norivun, just as potently, just as strongly as he did to me.
He was my mate.
My love.
The only one who could ever truly be mine.
And when the ceremony came to a close, and the final clash of magic sealed our fate, I gazed up at the crown prince of the Solis continent, once my most hated enemy, yet now my most cherished mate.
“You may declare your final vows before the gods and goddesses,” the officiant stated.
The prince’s lips curved as his eyes gleamed with triumph. “You’re mine, Ilara Seary, for now until the end of eternity.”
I squeezed his hands in return as the cloth heated around us. “And you’re mine, Norivun Achul, for now until the end of eternity.”
A pulse of magic burst across the back of my hand, heating and igniting.
“I hereby declare you eternally bound and joined,” the officiant said as he released the cloth. My eyes widened at the swirling silver mark that was inked onto my finger. It was the supreme symbol that united all of the gods and goddesses—a circle with an array of connecting swirls and stars.
The same had inked itself onto Norivun’s finger. The officiant nodded toward our eternal marks. “You are sealed before the gods and goddesses in a manner so absolute that you will be forever joined by the stars. May the universe bless your union.”
A skittering of magic burst across the sky, like a thousand stars alighted so brightly that their shine was visible even during the day.
“Did you see that?” Haxil said under his breath, awe in his voice.