Auren looked at me, a flicker of curiosity beneath the gold of his lashes.
I touched his chest, where his heartbeat steadied beneath my palm. “The bond. It lives in us. In what we say. In what we mean.”
His lips parted slightly, and I saw the moment he felt it too. He nodded once. “Yes.”
I drew in a breath.
And then, before I could talk myself out of it, I stepped back just enough to look at him fully. The tall grass tickled my calves. The obelisk loomed behind us, and the sun slipped lower, painting his face in light.
“I want to offer you my vow,” I said. “Not for tradition. Not for the priests. Just for us.”
His eyes softened. He didn’t speak, but I saw the quiet bloom of hope unfurl in them.
“I vow,” I began, voice rough, “to walk beside you, not because I was chosen or commanded, but because I choose you.”
A breath.
“I vow to listen. Even when it hurts. Especially then.”
His eyes welled, but he didn’t blink. He wanted to see me say every word.
“I vow to speak my truth. To offer it freely. To trust that you’ll hold it gently.”
The bond shimmered—warm and quiet, like a river turning toward home.
“I vow to love you,” I said, “as you are. Not as the temple sees you. Not as the island does. But as I do.”
Auren stepped closer, gaze never leaving mine. I saw awe in it. And something older than awe—something sacred.
“I have nothing to give you,” I finished. “No gifts. No gold. Only myself. Will you take me?”
His answer was a whisper: “Always.”
He took my hands in his, brought them to his lips. Pressed a kiss to my knuckles, then to my palms.
“You’ve just built your own rite,” he said softly. “And it’s more beautiful than any the palace ever taught me.”
The bond trembled once more.
And then it sank into us—fully, wholly, as though it had only ever been waiting for us to open our hands and ask it to stay.
Auren kissed me, and the world seemed to kneel.
Not in silence—but in song.
The bond surged through me, no longer aching or uncertain. It moved like breath and heartbeat, like something living, ancient, and new all at once. It poured into me not with weight, but with clarity. As if the gods had been waiting for this moment longer than either of us had known.
It was not the rite in the palace we were completing. It was ours.
Auren’s lips burned against mine—not just soft or sweet, but hungry. Certain. Our mouths opened to each other with the hunger of everything we hadn’t said and everything we’d dared to hope.
The kiss deepened, turned sharp and bright. His hands found my hips, pulled me close. I slid my fingers into his hair and held on as the wind swept around us, tangling our clothes in the tall grass. My breath hitched when he pressed his forehead to mine, our bodies lined chest to chest, heartbeat to heartbeat.
The bond didn’t just pulse—it sang. A low, golden hymn in my blood, a river of yes, yes, yes that spilled down my spine.
And my body—my body knew.
It wasn’t ceremony that sealed a bond. It was this. Us.
