“For this ribbon,” he began, his accent thick as his emotion broke through, “I crown you my queen, and the Queen of my people.”
I gasped at the words, the realization of all that this meant slamming into me until it was hard to breathe. His emotion washed over me as he spoke, his joy rumbling through me as I felt his happiness at no longer being alone, that he didn’t have to be.
I stared straight into the storm that raged around us as his fingers moved, my heart rumbling as the thunder did. I didn’t dare look anywhere else. I watched the storm as I focused on my breathing and began to accept the reality of his last few words.
I felt his touch slow, the ribbon winding around the end as he finished, his hands gentle as he placed the long braid against my back. I was frozen in place as the weight dropped against me, my body still trying to remember how to breathe as his fingers trailed over the braid, the touch extending down my back until it vanished. His hand moved to grab the small, clear vial that was now the only thing beside the brush that sat in the box.
My heart rate increased as Ilyan’s did until I felt his chest against my back, the pulse of his heart thundering against my skin as mine matched the beat, the pulses beating against our skin as he placed his heart over mine.
His palms pressed against my skin as his hands ran down my arms, his touch soft as he brought my hands together, forming a small bowl in my lap. His fingertips caressed my skin as his hands moved away, leaving me still as my heart pulsed, as my magic surged.
I stared into my hands, watching as Ilyan poured the oil into them, his hands coming to cup my own as he rested his chin against my shoulder. I couldn't take my eyes off the oil as his breath moved over my skin while his cheek pressed against mine, the wetness of his tears cold against my face. I inhaled at the touch, my breath shaky through my own tears, through my nerves that still raged.
“M?j majetek se proto roz?í?ila tento den dní, moje srdce roste v zemi a zp?sobu. Pozemky jsem chodil, se nav?dy vázané na m?j kamarád p?ede mnou.” He whispered the words as he began to massage the oil into my hands, his magic seeping into me with the touch. The strength of his magic shocked me, the headiness I had never felt rocking into me as the oil magnified it.
His hands stopped moving as he pressed my hands together before he cupped his hands in my lap, his motions making it clear what I was supposed to do.
I reached toward the box, my hands shaking as I grabbed the small vial, pouring what was left into Ilyan's hands, my nerves so strong that I was sure I wouldn't be able to rub the oil into his hands as well.
“My property has hence expanded this day of days, my heart increasing in ground and way. The lands I walk shall forever be bound to my mate in front of me,” I repeated the words as he had guided me. My tongue stumbled over words I hadn’t said since I first learned to talk.
Ilyan never laughed; he never smiled in jest. He only watched as I moved the oil into his skin, his heartbeat steadying mine as I pushed my magic into him, filling him as he had me.
Ilyan wrapped his arms around me as I dropped his hands, his arms strong as he moved me to face him until I could see the streaks of tears on his face, the golden light in his eyes stronger than I had ever seen before.
“Budu tě opatrovat a? do dne zem?ete,” he whispered—the meaning hidden from me—before he pressed his lips to mine, the pressure soft, hesitant.
I could taste the sweetness of him on my lips, smell the scent of his magic in my hair. I pressed into him, needing him.
His arms wrapped around me as I called for him, his touch strong as his magic flooded me at the same time as mine flooded him. It was a sensation of electricity and fire as everything melded together; as his hands pressed me to him, as his lips pressed into me, as his tears fell onto my nose.
“Ilyan,” I gasped as his magic pressed further, the pressure consuming me. The heat grew to be more than when he had placed the ?tít, more than when he had protected me.
It grew until that was all I felt and my own scream filled my ears before everything went black.
Twenty
I had never been on a beach before; I had never felt the warm sand beneath my fingers, the sun against my body.
I definitely felt the sand now and ran my fingers through it, the gritty texture new and yet somehow familiar. My fingers dug into the tiny granules until I reached a colder underside that I hadn’t expected. The chill from the sand was a nice opposite to the sun that beat against my face.