When we pull away from each other, they’ve already formed a line to congratulate us — Nimueh, Lorcan and Nuala, Raven and Alaric, de Groot…
And Jaeger, crocodile tears in her eyes. “I’m so happy for you, Anna,” she tells me. Then she awkwardly turns to Cain. “And you, Wolfram.”
“Cain,” I rush to say, “call him Cain.”
She nods, and Cain gives a tight-lipped smile, but he almost instantly pulls me away. “I don’t want anyone else to call me that,” he leans to tell me in a low, serious voice.
I chuckle. “I have plenty of nicknames for you, and besides, this will make people grow more at ease with you.”
He presses his lips tight. “I think they’re already a lot more at ease with me than—”
I watch him stiffen, his eyes darting to the table we’ve set up for the meal after the wedding.
“Cain?” I call out, but he’s already briskly walking away.
When I turn around, I see him saying something to the Embers who seem to have been in the middle of taking their seats.
“What’s going on?” I ask when I walk over to them, seeing Dryden and Alaric shoot amused looks at me.
Cain turns to tell me, “You made place names for them and they’re not respecting them.”
Suppressing a chuckle, I reply, “I think I’ll live.”
He pulls me aside. “This is your day,” he leans to say with this cute frown on his face, “I need to make it perfect for you.”
My heart melts. I smile. “It’s notmyday, it’sourday, and I just want people to have fun, that’s all. Relax.”
He squints at me, but then he nods and walks back to the table. “Sorry about that, people,” I hear him start, however awkwardly. “I’ve been told I need to relax andthat’swhat I’ll be focusing on from now on. So why don’t you ignore me and just… sit wherever you want?” This last bit he practically has to squeeze out.
This time, Alaric doesn’t even try to suppress his chuckling. “Are you sure?” he drawls teasingly. “Because we might even want to change seats from time to time.”
Now everyone else is chuckling.
Cain squints at them. “I don’t care what you do, but you need to have fun. Understood?”
“Aye aye general,” Dryden exclaims with a grin on his face.
Cain rolls his eyes and moves to walk away. Then he spots Nymeria starting to circle the table, stops and raises a finger at them all. “And don’t give Nymeria any chicken, no matter how much she begs for it.”
Dryden and Alaric salute, Alaric throwing a wink at me.
When Cain appears next to me, I have a huge grin on my face. “What?” he demands as he wraps his arms around my waist.
“Nothing. I love you. I love it that you’d do stuff like that for me.”
He’s back to using that low, loving voice when he says, “And here I thought I’d already made it clear to you there’s nothing Iwouldn’tdo for you.”
“Because… you love me?” I ask with a smile.
“Yes, because I love you, Anyi,” he replies with a laugh.
“Yeah, how much?” I demand, never seeming to get enough of him admitting it.
He hugs me tighter, his lips brushing my ear as he whispers, his voice getting choked up with emotion, “To the ends of the universe, that’s how much. You’re all I’ve ever secretly wanted and all I never even knew I needed. And I’ve never been more sure or excited about anything as I am about spending the rest of my life with you.”
Overwhelmed with happiness myself, I close my eyes for a second, enjoying the way being in his arms makes me feel like I’ve finally come home.
