“I love you,” she whispers in my ear, and I stop breathing.
I love you. No one’s ever said that to me.
She pulls away. “You don’t have to say it back. I don’t even know why—”
I shake my head and grab her arms. My answer is immediate. “I don’t love you.”
She stills. The panic in her face—the devastation—is so sharp, I don’t waste a moment before continuing.
“That isn’t strong enough a word.” I frown. “No, heart, I don’t love you. I live for you. I destroy for you. I die for you. My every thought and emotion revolve around you. You are my sun, my moon, my gravity, my eternity.”
Her eyes are wide and brimming in tears. I take her hands in mine. And slowly, slowly, I bow before her, on both knees.
I’m ruler of Nightshade. I shouldn’t get down on my knees for anyone or anything.
But she is my church, she is my curse, she is my conviction.
She is my god.
I bow only to her.
I press my forehead to her hands. In reverence. In awe. In a plea. “Let me be yours. Forever.”
She blinks. Shock wraps around me, her emotions circling mine. Slowly, understanding crests.
“You—you want to—but Nightshade rulers have never—”
I shake my head. “I don’t care. I want to marry you. If anyone has a problem with that, I will kill them where they stand.” The court will find out, of course. They will accept her. I will ensure it.
She opens her mouth. Closes it. “You ... you want this?”
I smile. My happiness and joy and relief andloveare so sharp, so saturated, that for the first time, they have their own shade.
Hershade. Red. Black and red mixing to create the deepest shade of crimson. We are the same. I don’t know if it’s always been this way,or if her own feelings bled into mine, but I don’t care. We are one in every way.
“I want everything with you, Hearteater. I want marriage, I want children, I want to be standing next to you, holding your hand, at the end of the world.” My eyes burn with intensity, with feeling. “I want to live endless lifetimes with you, because one isn’t enough. Not for me. Not even close. If we live a thousand years—I’ll want a million more. I’m selfish, I’m greedy, I want you for endless eternities. We are infinite: everything, everywhere, at the same time. And I wanteverything.”
My hands are trembling. Hers are too.
“Isla Crown,” I say. “Will you be my wife?”
Tears fall down her cheeks, and then she’s smiling. Her happiness wraps around us in bright, searing red. “Yes,” she says. “Not for one life, but foreverylife, I will be your wife.”
BOUND
I don’t know why I’m nervous.
It’s not because of doubts, of course. It’s because, for the first time, I wonder if maybe she will leave me here, at this altar, alone.
“She’s coming,” Astria says.
My general knows almost everything now. She knows Isla is her cousin. She knows she is the ruler of Wildling.
I told her, because Isla is going to be my wife. She is going to be the ruler of Nightshade. Astria is going to ensure my court either accepts that—or dies by her blade.
Today, she’s our witness.
But my bride isn’t here yet.
