With each explanation, the priestess ignited a stick of incense, the mingling scents filling the air with aromatic clouds. Quickly, they turned dense, obscuring the rest of the room until it was only Vale and me beneath the moon and star light. Each added scent pulled at something within me, my chest pounding, and it took every ounce of strength I had not to kiss Vale.
I didn’t know the Fates, but it felt like they were telling me to.
“Please recite the Warrior’s Words,” the priestess instructed, her voice melodic through the haze. We both did, echoing the promise members of any clan made when they swore their lives to another. “And now your personal vows,” she said as she continued to light candles in a ceremonious order I didn’t know.
Vows.
I’d made Vale so many promises in the near year we’d known each other. Some to hate her forever that were now blown to dust, some to protect and cherish her. And I’d keep all of those last ones, but what I said tonight—these were different.
I wanted to speak to her spirit in a way no one else could.
“Vale,” I began. Fuck, my palms were sweaty. No way I was letting hers go, though. I cleared my throat, listening to that urge to take a step closer. Something in my blood calmed as I did, and I was able to speak. “You’ve fought for me in so many ways—a lot of ways I didn’t deserve—and I promise to always fight for you. To never cage you, but to encourage you to soar in any way you can. To be a home when you were robbed of one for so long, and to follow you wherever you need that reassurance.” Tears shone along her lashes, and even my voice was thick, but I had to force out the rest. “I vow to be the blade at your back when you turn toward the stars, your partner in every way. And I promise on the Fates to take you to your hot springs every year so you can see the constellations in your favorite place.”
She laughed softly at that last part, but starfire burned in her eyes, and I knew she heard the intimate promise beneath those words. The memory of how we’d reunited in that place and the oath to never allow that passion to die.
“Cypherion,” she began. Always my full name. Spirits, I loved it. “I promise when we are apart to always look for you in the stars, and when we are together to be your home. I promise to support you when you need to believe in yourself and to fight the Fates for you every day. To chart our path with love and warmth, with beauty and fortune. I love you, Cypherion Kastroff, and I vow to make sure you feel it every day.”
“I love you, Stargirl,” I answered, squeezing her hands. “Us against the Fates.”
Every word on her lips was tempting. Kissing her was no longer a want—it was a need. A desperation to taste what she spoke and seal the promises in the way we did best.
Something nudged me a step closer, my blood thrumming under the press of magic in the room.
“Now is when a joint reading would typically be done,” the priestess explained, “but with unions across clans, theStarsearcher conducts the session for the two of you, asking a blessing of the Fate they are tied to.”
Lifting our entwined hands, I kissed the back of Vale’s to tell her to go on. Spirits, she was so beautiful as she closed her eyes and slipped into her reading, that dress cinching to her body like it was painted on, her lashes dark against her cheeks, and her lips parted.
The scent of lemon turned heavier on the air.Lemon verbena for unity, the priestess had explained. To bring me closer to Vale as she conducted the most sacred piece of this ritual.
Vale squeezed my hands, her brow furrowing, and I squeezed back.
And then, something flashed in the haze around us, and my pulse pounded.
“What was that?” I gasped.
“Shh,” Vale cooed.
I focused again, willing it to return because I swore?—
“Holy cursed Spirits,” I barely breathed.
It was hints of her vision. There and gone in a blink, but a glimpse at whatever fortune the Fates were bestowing on her.
For us.
A flash of an auburn-haired little girl smiling up at us. A night beneath the hot springs with snow covering the rocks. A montage of holidays and storytelling beside fires with plenty of family andpure joyradiating through every breath.
I didn’t have a childhood like that, but fucking Spirits, I wanted that life. Desperately. I clung tighter to Vale’s hands as if it would pull that future into existence. She was magnificent, power radiating off her with a palpable thrum. I could have stood like that forever, watching Vale dive into her magic, searching for hints of it around us. I was so enthralled, I didn’t realize at first how everything shifted to a silver glow.
Vale gasped, her shoulders hiking up and eyes roving beneath her lids. Panic ratcheted up, vines lacing between my ribs.
“What’s happening?” I asked, stepping closer.
Overhead, the stars shone brighter, a spotlight burning down on us.
Beyond the star-streaked fog, Harlen muttered, “I don’t believe it.”
“What?” I growled. Vale still wasn’t answering, but a calm had softened her features. A tear streaked down her cheek, the path carving right into my heart.
