Anthem of Ashes: Book 9 in the Spellsinger Series Read online

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  William got his wish; both Darc and I remained in Kyanite for the next three weeks. During that time, we were able to settle the arrangements for our wedding. Now, I stood before a full-length mirror, fiddling with the cascade of curls that tumbled over my bare shoulder. My wedding gown cinched in below my breasts with a simple ribbon in the same, vibrant shade of blue as Sara's gown. I had intended to ask Shava to be a bridesmaid this time. Regret curdled in my gut. I should have asked her to be a part of my wedding to Declan. But the past was done, and Shava herself would tell me not to dwell on it. A phoenix only flies forward; that's what she used to say... and what I'm sure she would soon say again.

  Several phoenixes, including Shava and her family, had come to attend my wedding to Darcraxis. They were downstairs now, mingling with Shining Ones of all varieties; Sidhe as well as Lesser Fey who had journeyed to Kyanite from the nearby Primeval Forest. I was looking forward to visiting with several friends from the forest that I haven't seen in months. The last portion of jewel royals, including King Desmond of Lodestone—now free of suspicion—were also in attendance, along with most of my kingdom. No, they couldn't all fit inside the castle; our favored guests would witness the ceremony while the rest of them waited outside for the reception. Darc had taken a tip from Declan and had massive tents erected behind the castle.

  I could hear the excited murmur of all of those people as they milled around the tents, enjoying cocktails as they waited for me to get married. Again. The soft hum drifted up to my tower and made me grimace. This was my third royal wedding. I suppose you could call my wedding to Banning royal as well since he's a prince and I'm a queen, but our wedding didn't have the fanfare that my other ones had. I would have preferred that, and it annoyed me that the wedding I could have enjoyed the most had been the one I hadn't been able to experience, at least not fully.

  Again; the past.

  “Are you done reflecting on your reflection?” Sara asked. “Can I cover your brooding face with your bridal veil already?”

  “Yes,” I muttered. “And I'm not brooding, just thinking.”

  “Well, you'd better focus on some happy thoughts, Tinkerbell. If Darc sees that expression on your face while you saunter down the aisle to him, he's going to blow a blood vessel. He'll probably leave the dais to run down the aisle to you.”

  I chuckled; Sara was absolutely right. And she had also found a way to make me smile. Tinkerbell. Humph; that was funny on so many levels.

  “Don't you want to marry him?” She asked softly.

  “Of course, I do. I just wish we could have a smaller ceremony.”

  “The price of royalty,” Sara declared with a dramatic sigh. “Oh, woe betide you for having to suffer such atrocities.”

  “Shut up, you ungrateful wench.” I slapped her arm as I continued to laugh.

  “Come on, let's go tie another one down.” She grabbed her bouquet of blue flowers and headed to the elevator.

  And yes; all the towers in Kyanite Castle have elevators. If they didn't, I probably wouldn't live in one of them. No view is worth climbing those stairs every day.

  The elevator let us out into an empty hallway. All of the castle was in—or hovering outside—the throne room. Sara took the lead, striding purposefully through the corridors, her bouquet held down at her side. Mine was held in a similar fashion; gripped along with my full skirts so I could lift the hem and move faster. But as soon as we spotted the outskirts of the crowd, the skirts went down and the bouquets were given a little more respect. We strode past the waiting castle staff with bright smiles, and they bowed to us as they beamed back.

  The arch of the open doorway was finally revealed; a man and a child standing within it. Rathlin held his sister in the crook of his arm while he perched a woven bowl of flowers on her rounded belly. She had a brilliant blue dress on that made her auburn curls even brighter, and Rath wore a matching tie.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as he stepped out into the hall to meet us. I suppose it was obvious, but I still had to ask.

  “Darcraxis mentioned that you had wanted Shava to be a bridesmaid,” Rath explained. “Since she's too little for that job, he asked if she'd be the flower girl instead.”

  “I think she may be too little for that job as well.” I reached over and stroked her curls.

  Baby Shava giggled excitedly.

  “Don't underestimate a baby's desire to throw things,” Rath warned me. Then he went serious. “You look beautiful, Elaria.”

  “Thanks, Rath.”

  “That's great, hot stuff,” Sara drawled as she lightly smacked his ass. “But we gotta get this show moving so step aside.”

  Rathlin jerked in shock from Sara's slap and then lifted an intrigued brow as he moved out of her way.

  Sara gave Rath a quick wink before she asked me, “You ready, El?”

  “Ready.” I steadied my shoulders.

  Sara went to stand within the doorway and music began to play. Ethereal and enchanting, the instrumental suited her glide down the aisle. When she was halfway to the dais, Rath stepped out. He put little handfuls of petals into Shava's grip, and she waved her arms wildly about, raining the wounded blossoms in clumps over the pale runner. The crowd both laughed and made the sounds that must be made when babies do something adorable. Rath and Shava made it down the aisle but instead of following Sara onto the dais, Rath veered right and over to where his family waited in the first row.

  The massive thrones that usually took center stage on the dais had been moved back to make room for giant shards of kyanite with white silk draped between them. Darcraxis stood beneath this canopy, looking more god than king, and his best man, Slate (yes, I was just as surprised as you are), stood next to him.

  As soon as I stepped into the doorway, the music changed to the Wedding March, and the assemblage got to its feet. I was alone this time; it hadn't felt right to have my father give me away to a man I already belonged to; had, in fact, been married to for longer than Dad had been alive. So, I asked him to sit this one out, and he had agreed with a surprising amount of understanding.

  I began my journey down the aisle, focusing on my groom as my heart sped up. Darc and I had been married before, but our ceremony had been conducted among the stars; a communion of divine souls with vows of eternity that could truly be fulfilled. Legally, Darcraxis wasn't my husband anymore, but he and I both knew that the laws of the world we had created did not apply to us. He was already my husband. Time, physical bodies, and realms had separated us, but nothing changed those first promises that we had made to each other. I intended to repeat mine to him today. Because this wasn't really a wedding, it was a renewal of vows.

  That didn't change the fact that I wanted this; I wanted to bind myself to Darcraxis in this life, in the way of the people we had made together. I wanted to be able to say that he was mine; by love, vows, and law. And Darc wanted that too.

  Darcraxis smiled softly at me as his gaze flowed over me from head to toe. As he soaked in the image, I did the same with him. I wanted to memorize Darc as he was now and add that visual to the memory of our first wedding. The darkly glittering mist of power that had melded with my blinding light and burning fire. I admit that I enjoyed his physical form far more, despite the restrictions it imposed on us. The breath of Darc's shoulders would bear my burdens for me if I asked it of him. His chest had become my sanctuary, a safe place to lay my head. When I'm weak, his powerful arms would hold me there, against his heart, and keep me safe from our enemies. And when I'm strong, he'd hold my hand and stand beside me as we fought those enemies together. I could be vulnerable with Darc or powerful, and he would love me either way.

  But it wasn't just what Darcraxis' body could do for me that I appreciated. Under the sway of Phoenix charisma, I had thought Rathlin to be the most handsome man I'd ever seen, but that was only magic. Here stood the most stunning man to ever walk the worlds. Sin black hair swept back from his elegant forehead, ch
eekbones rising high and strong like castle walls, the slope of an imperial nose over perfect lips that were neither too full nor too thin, and a jawline that could cut glass. All of that on a beautiful body—tall and thick with muscles—and adorned with a pair of jewel eyes that even now sparkled with divine light. Darcraxis has eyes like no mortal or beneather man; shifting, glittering sapphire irises that alternately glowed and glistened.

  I made it to the dais, and Darc hurried down the steps to help me up. I smiled, thinking of what Sara had said. Indeed; he would have run down the aisle to me if he'd seen even a hint of unease in my expression.

  We settled on the platform, and I handed Sara my bouquet before I turned back to my husband; soon to be my husband again. Did that make Darc a husband-squared? We grinned at each other as if I had said it out loud.

  “Welcome, honored guests.” Alisande, once the Speaker for the Sylph village of Osag and now, the new Spiritual Strength of the Amber Temple of Primeval, was conducting the ceremony for us.

  I knew that a lesser fairy conducting the ceremony for royal sidhe was something that would raise a few brows. But Darc and I had made all of the races of Tír na nÓg, and we had never intended for any to be considered lesser than another. As far as I was concerned, Alisande made the perfect officiant, being both the Spiritual Strength of Primeval and a friend.

  “It is my privilege to unite these two—once our gods and now jewel monarchs—in matrimony,” Alisande went on. “Queen Elaria saved my home and my loved ones, even before she knew that she was our goddess reborn. She has treasured us from the start, and we rejoice in her happiness; in the love that has been returned to her.” She paused to smile at me and Darc. “King Darcraxis and Queen Elaria have chosen to renew their first vows to each other; those given when they were Gods. Although they've been translated into English, these are still the words of the first wedding ceremony to ever be conducted, and we shall be the first physical beings to hear them.”

  The crowd murmured as that tidbit sank in. Yeah; I suppose that was pretty cool. I hadn't thought of it like that.

  “We shall start with King Darcraxis.” Alisande inclined her head to Darc. “Your Majesty, please make your promises to your bride.”

  First, Darcraxis lifted my veil and smoothed it back over my kyanite crown. He stroked my cheek tenderly and then declared, “Fire to my Water, Light in my Darkness, I give myself to you from this time forward. In love and magic. My strength to empower your strength. My will aligned with your will. My desire rising for your desire. I place myself in your heart so that distance will never separate us again. I am a part of you now and forever, eternally entwined.”

  The vow shivered past my skin and bone and blood to sink into my soul. Although it was only an echo of what was already there, the words still held power and it jolted through me, calling to my Fire and Light.

  “Queen Elaria,” Alisande prompted softly.

  “Water to my Fire. Darkness embracing my Light,” the vows lifted from the same part of me that his words had sunk into. “I give myself to you from this time forward. In love and magic. My strength to empower your strength. My will aligned with your will. My desire rising for your desire. I place myself in your heart so that distance will never separate us again. I am a part of you now and forever, eternally entwined.”

  My skin began to glow and grow warm as Darc's went slick and shifted with shadows. The guests murmured as our magic lifted from our skin and blended above us in a swirling canopy of water, flames, darkness, and light.

  “The ring, please,” Darc said over his shoulder since Alisande had been struck dumb by the display.

  Slate leaned forward and handed Darc a slim band of kyanite. The Gargoyle winked at me as he did, and I spared him a quick smile before refocusing on Darcraxis. Then the God of Darkness and Water slid his wedding band on my finger.

  “With this ring, I claim you as mine,” Darc declared with a bold grin.

  Something shivered in the air with Darc's words and a blue light joined the magic above us. Correction; a kyanite light.

  You are more than Gods now, not less than, Kyanite spoke into our minds. And each of you has one more magic to offer.

  Thank you, Ky, I murmured in my mind gratefully as I smiled tenderly at Darcraxis.

  Then I reached for the gold band that Sara held out to me. Darc had altered the traditional vow a tad, but I was good with it. I'm all for an old-fashioned claiming.

  As I slid the gold ring on Darc's finger, I repeated him, “With this ring, I claim you as mine. Again.”

  Darc laughed boisterously, and I, as well as our audience, began to laugh with him; the sound was so infectious. My joy became music that lifted my magic along with a soft humming tune from Kyanite. The blue swirl above us strengthened.

  “As the Spiritual Strength of Primeval, I declare you to be; Husband and Wife!” Alisande recovered enough to say. “You may kiss your bride.”

  Darcraxis eased me against his chest and then pulled me up it, into a passionate kiss. As we drenched ourselves in love and desire, our blended magic burst into an explosion of shimmering particles and rained over us like fireworks. My body absorbed Darc into me as he took me into himself. And then we slowly drew out of our kiss and our magic separated as well. But I still felt the touch of him on my heart and in my mind. Our vows were real and they'd been inside us all along; we would always return to each other.

  “I present to you; King Darcraxis and Queen Elaria of Kyanite!” Alisande shouted.

  The assemblage cheered as they launched to their feet. Then Darc took my hand, and we strode down the aisle together and out of the castle entirely, to greet our people as a couple, united in every way.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Along with the wedding party, my other husbands, mate, and boyfriend joined us at the high table, set out beneath the main reception tent. Darc didn't mind sharing a table with them as long as he got to sit beside me. We were set on a platform along the back wall of the tent, with the dance floor/performance area directly before us. As we dined on Shining One delicacies, acrobats, musicians, actors, and dancers entertained us. The people of Kyanite had presented many of those performances themselves; their wedding gifts to their monarchs.

  Darc and I had both decided against a bouquet and a garter toss. Instead, we handed out kyanite pendants to all of our guests so that everyone would have a precious memento to take home with them. And yes; we took the time to greet every person who had attended; using the opportunity to meet our people. Royals should be more than an unreachable symbol to their subjects, they should be physical. Real people who can be touched and spoken to. I wanted to make sure that everyone who lived in Kyanite knew who their monarchs were and felt as if they could come to us if they were ever in need.

  The rounds took hours to make, but Darc and I still wanted to have our first dance as a married couple. And our first duet.

  Cerberus announced us as Darc and I stepped onto the cleared dance floor. We had been offered tiny, wireless microphones to clip to our clothing, but we didn't need them. Kyanite would amplify both of our voices as well as produce the music we requested. As I settled into my husband's arms, the trickling notes of a guitar rolled out to fill every tent. The sweet melody of “Leather and Lace” by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley brought shivers to my skin. I loved this song; loved Stevie's raspy voice and the way it made her vow of love nearly as powerful as that of her declaration of strength. It was the battle every independent woman fought; to remain her own person in the midst of falling in love. But by admitting your weaknesses and accepting those of your lover, you pave the way to unity and true power.

  My magic lifted in my chest, love filling it before it left my lips. I sang only to Darcraxis; giving him my frailty along with my power. Offering to take his own strengths and weaknesses and make us both more resilient. Only together are we whole. When his voice joined mine, and we moved steadily around the floor, his magic also pulsed through the air and carried our lo
ve across Tír na nÓg. The guests watched with soft sighs and longing looks as my husband and I professed our love to each other in song and strengthened the vows we had just renewed with our newest magic. Darc gave me pieces of himself, and I replaced them with pieces of me, weaving our souls together like a tapestry; different threads combining to create a beautiful picture.

  I wanted to lay my head on his chest, close my eyes, and just sink into him, but I couldn't look away from his glittering stare. There had been a moment when I had fought against this; against him. But now, I realized that it had never been a fight, not a fair one, at least. I had been pushing away a piece of my heart; it was only a matter of time before I bled and snatched it back into my chest. And Darc had known that. Because he had never left me; he'd been with me through every hardship in every life I lived. He had watched and waited until I was strong enough to feel him there. I saw all of that in his eyes, the past that had brought us to this moment, and it kept my stare locked with his. The rest of the room blurred around us until all I saw was Darcraxis.