Cypherion kissed my palm. “I had to see you.” His deep blue eyes searched me frantically, ensuring I was all right. “The woman that attacked you—the gorgons—they’re all over the continent. Going after those close to Ophelia. After Santorina and Jezebel…I need to be where you are.”
My chest squeezed to the point of bursting at the love bubbling beneath that frenzy. “But you’re Ophelia’s Second,” I said.
Even if we disagreed, I was endlessly proud of him for the work he was doing to protect his clan. I’d never ask him to sacrifice it simply because I felt more comfortable with him by my side.
“Ophelia is back and feeling up to meetings. I can help from here.” He brushed a thumb across my cheekbone, catching a tear I hadn’t realized was falling. The utter relief that splintered through me to see him, to breathe him in, took over. “I’m doing that job because I accepted it, and maybe some days I like it, but I never cared about the title.Youare what matters, Vale. You willalwayscome first.”
Pressing onto my toes, I leaned in and kissed him. With his lips against mine, those splinters cracked the surface of all my worries.
A throat cleared behind us, and Cypherion looked up, eyes flaring wide. Then, with one hand locked in mine like he’d never let go, he strode to Jezebel.
He sighed as he hugged her. “You really scared us.”
Jezebel waved him off. “I’m clearly fine. But more importantly, what are gorgons?”
“I’d like to know that, too,” Harlen said, giving Cypherion a nod as the Starsearcher slipped his hands into his pockets and our group moved out of the way of the crew tearing down the walls.
Cypherion dropped his voice below the construction noise and explained everything they’d discovered back in Xenovia. The entire time he spoke, he kept his fingers wound through mine, his thumb brushing over my knuckles. And while terror at the details of Echnid’s schemes turned my blood to ice, I couldn’t deny the warmth his touch speared through me.
“While I’m here,” Cypherion said, turning to me with a squeeze of my hand, “I’d like to make this official.”
My brows lifted with a disbelieving laugh. “Are we not already?”
“Official ineveryway, Stargirl.”
His step toward me thundered through my bones with the force of the hammers ringing on steel in this very chamber—and my body heated like the forge.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Cypherion brushed my hair over my shoulder, gently massaging the place my silver tattoo was inked no longer bonding me to Titus. He watched it as he said, “The Bind Vale. If this turns into an all-out war among gods, I want to face it knowing I have every claim to you I can—at every soul boundlevel. You’re my future, Vale, and I want even the gods to know that.”
I inhaled sharply, and his eyes locked on mine.
“We can start with the Starsearcher ceremony and vows while we’re here,” he explained. “Then, when we return to Mystique Territory, we can receive the Bind, too.”
“We don’t even know?—”
“I’ve looked it up,” he assured me, eyes gleaming eagerly. “We can receive both clans’ promises. Children will have to choose allegiance to one when they receive their Fate ties or attempt the Undertaking, but we are able to bond under both.”
“Children?” I asked mockingly, my throat thick.
Cypherion’s eyes heated. “I plan to have many with you, Stargirl.” He dropped his voice. “We’ll have a good time making them, too.”
I laughed, my core aching at the rough tone to his words—at the implications and promises.
Cypherion came all this way during a looming threat of godly warfare because he wanted to bind himself to my soul. To seek approval of the Fates and Angels to bemine, and make me his in return, so we may face the god’s threat as unified as possible.
When I still didn’t have the words to answer, he said, “If you don’t want the Bind, that’s okay. But I’d like to take the Starsearcher vows with you. Here. A fresh start in Valyn after everything you went through.” He paused, then rushed to add, “If you aren’t comfortable, though, we can do thisanywhereelse. I just want all of Ambrisk—the Angels, Spirits, Fates, gods…everyone—I want them all to know we belong to each other. If that’s what you want, too.”
If it’s what I want.
For months now, I’d longed to truly explore Valyn. My entire life, I’d yearned to feel known. Now, a man who saw me down to my spirit stood here, asking me to be his in the highest waypossible, but also offering me the option to claim him howeverI’dlike. To weave our love into the magic of this city, a way to seal it as mine.
I bit my lip, the echoes of clanging metal still ringing around us like nothing had interrupted. But my heart fluttered under Cypherion’s patient stare. I turned to Harlen and Cyren, their whispers with Jezebel immediately slicing off.
“How long would it take to arrange a bonding ceremony?”
Chapter Thirty-Five
