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  “And that’s what you were doing in the Junkyard, when you disappeared that morning! You were buying the materials for the ring!” Everything was starting to make sense now, making me realize how foolish I’d been. Navan trusted me; he’d already told me he didn’t want secrets between us. He’d proven that when he’d opened up about killing all those test subjects in Jareth’s lab. Of course there was nothing he was keeping from me.

  “I was so worried you might follow me and figure out what I was up to, or that you might really think I was up to no good at the brothels,” he admitted shyly.

  “Well, I’m glad you were doing this and not one of those alien broads,” I teased, grinning with utter happiness. “Did you tell any of the others what you were doing?”

  “Just Ronad. He’s the only one who can keep a secret. Plus, I needed someone to cover for me, in case you started to suspect something,” he said. “I’d have roped Bash in, but he is terrible at keeping things to himself. He’d have tripped up and said something to Angie, then she’d have told you, and my whole plan would’ve gone up in smoke. I mean, it hasn’t exactly gone as planned, but it was still a surprise, right?”

  I nodded. “A very lovely one.”

  “I’m sorry about leaving you on your own every night. I felt so bad about lying to you when you found me in the kitchen. Part of me wanted to just tell you there and then…but the ring wasn’t ready and I didn’t want to ruin it.”

  “What were you doing in there that night?”

  “I was taking a break to make a batch of energizing blood, to get me through the night.”

  I smiled at him, realizing what it had taken for him to make this ring for me. “I guess the kitchen wouldn’t have been a very romantic place to propose.”

  “I don’t suppose an old bedroom full of storage is much better, but such is life.” He flashed me a mischievous grin, before sitting up and pulling me onto his lap. I wrapped my legs around his waist, holding his face in my hands as I gazed into his eyes.

  “Well, I think this is perfect. To be honest, you could’ve asked me in a garbage chute and I’d still have said yes.”

  He looked uncertain for a moment. “Really?”

  “What, did you think I was going to say no?” I was stunned that he could even imagine that was a possibility after everything we’d been through. Although I was still only nineteen, I couldn’t picture myself ever being with anyone else.

  “I was a bit nervous that you might, especially considering how weird and distant I’ve been with you lately. I was just trying to stay away so I didn’t blurt everything out, but I know how it must have looked,” he replied solemnly. “Besides, I know we’ve talked about marriage before, but I was worried you might think it was too soon in our relationship or too soon in your life. On Vysanthe, it’s normal to marry young, but I know it’s not the same everywhere on Earth.”

  I smiled at how adorably nervous he was being. “Hey, Jean and Roger only dated for five months at the end of high school before Roger proposed to her, and they were married a couple months after. So, getting engaged so soon or so young isn’t that crazy to me. It doesn’t make a difference, as long as two people really do love each other.”

  “That’s a relief to hear, believe me.” He exhaled deeply, the tension in his shoulders easing.

  “Anyway, if you think about the things you and I have been through, it probably adds about a decade to the amount of time we’ve been together,” I joked, brushing my hands through his tufty hair. It was getting longer, the dark spikes starting to turn into soft curls.

  He laughed brightly. “That’s very true. I hope you’re not getting sick of me.”

  “I could never get sick of you.” I leaned forward and kissed him hard on the mouth.

  “And you won’t change your mind?” he murmured against my lips.

  “Not a chance. Not even if we have to postpone the wedding until after this stupid war is over.”

  The thought that we wouldn’t have time for a wedding put a bit of a damper on my spirits, but the prospect of one day being his wife was enough to tide me over for now. I could already picture Jean and Roger standing awkwardly on some alien planet while we said our vows, both of them wondering what the hell their daughter had gotten herself into. It would be worth the wait… provided we made it through the fight, that is.

  Navan flashed me a mischievous look. “Who says we have to postpone the wedding?”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  I stared at him in confusion. “What do you mean? With everything that’s going on, we don’t have time for a wedding.”

  “Not unless we get married now—right this minute, in this very room.”

  I laughed at his boyish enthusiasm, my heart racing with renewed hope. “How would we do it?”

  “Well, I’ve got a few other bits and pieces hidden away in that box. We can make our own ceremony, combining my customs and yours. I’ve been doing a bit of research, thanks to Ronad. Although, I have to say, I’m pretty worried about what he spent his days doing, back in Siberia. He knows so much about human weddings. He kept saying something about Bridezillas and Say Yes to the Dress. No idea what he was talking about, but it sounded horrifying.”

  I doubled over in fits of laughter, imagining Ronad watching a load of trash TV. “I always knew reality TV would come in handy one day!”

  “Anyway, I made a second ring for myself,” he said quietly, looking bashful. “Originally, I was hoping we could have all our friends and some of our family here to witness the ceremony, but I don’t think I can go another day without being able to call you my wife. I don’t want to wait until the war is over.”

  “Neither do I,” I gasped, my heart pounding. “Should we wake the others?”

  Navan shook his head. “I just want this to be you and me—starting the way we mean to go on.”

  I smiled at him, hoping that Angie and Lauren would forgive me for doing this alone. They were close by, asleep in their rooms, but this didn’t seem like a moment for witnesses. I wanted what he wanted—a ceremony of just us two, promising our love to one another. After all, we could always have a party another time, to celebrate the union.

  “We’re doing this?” I whispered, breathless with excitement.

  “If you want to.”

  I nodded effusively. “More than anything!”

  “Then, let me go first.”

  After setting me back down on the ground, so I was kneeling opposite him, he maneuvered the ornate box into the space between us. He opened tiny drawers in the sides to reveal a miniature ceremonial knife, a small dish, a plain silver ring, and a smaller silver ring. As he removed the velvet cushioning that had held the engagement ring I still wore, I saw a small bowl in the middle, a dark liquid sloshing around within. It was similar to the one I’d seen back on Vysanthe, during the near-miss of Navan’s wedding to Seraphina. Even now, I couldn’t understand how it stayed liquid, though I presumed it was some coldblood alchemy at work.

  I pulled a face. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “I had to improvise. It’s mostly blood from Ronad, Bashrik, Stone, Angie, Lauren, and Xiphio, mixed with a few drops of anti-coagulant serum. Since nobody knew what had caused you to collapse on the battlefield, Bashrik had to take a sample from everyone, including himself, when they came back, in case Ezra had dispersed some kind of nerve agent or poison. Ronad nicked the sample vials for me; he thought it’d be a nice touch, to make our own ancestral bowl.”

  I wasn’t so sure I liked the idea of my friends’ blood sloshing about in a small bowl, but it was a big part of Vysanthean tradition and I was about to marry a Vysanthean. Besides, this way it meant our friends were with us, in blood if not in body.

  “And we have to add ours?”

  “Just a couple of drops,” he said, turning toward one of the old cabinets. “Oh, I made these for you, too. Ronad said you might need them, so you could throw them at someone. He wasn’t very specific, but I presume you know what he
means.” From within the dusty drawers, he pulled out a bouquet of steel flowers, bent into the shapes of all sorts of exotic petals and leaves.

  I smiled. “Throwing the bouquet might have to wait, but I know what they’re for. They’re beautiful.”

  “And they’ll last forever, unlike regular flowers.” He beamed proudly. “So, are you ready to do this?”

  Taking a breath, I nodded. “Ready when you are, hubby.”

  “I haven’t prepared anything, so I’m going to say what I feel,” he began nervously, picking up the smaller silver ring and holding it just in front of my wedding finger. “Riley, you and I are the impossible love that will make it through anything. We’ve defied the odds of distance, time, and chance to come together, and there will never be a day that I don’t wake up completely grateful to have found you. I’ve never believed in a higher power, but you are my higher power—you are the impossible gift that I’ve been given, and I will spend the rest of my life loving you, in return for the miracle of having you by my side every single day. With this ring, forged with the love I bear for you, I ask you to be my wife.”

  I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, his every word making my heart beat faster. His hand was shaking slightly, his face a confusion of happiness and anxiety. We had come so far, against all odds, and now we were here, making the ultimate promise to one another. A year ago, I couldn’t have imagined my life would change so much. Even six months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it.

  “I will be your wife, Navan,” I murmured, as he slid the ring onto my finger. His face instantly relaxed. Now that his part was over, I figured he could enjoy the rest. As I prepared to make my vows, he handed me the larger ring from the side of the box. The silver was embellished with the same stars and delicate ears of corn as mine—a matching pair for a matching pair. Lifting the ring to his finger, I began to speak.

  “When I was very little, love didn’t come easily to me. I didn’t know what love was, and it took a long time for me to learn how to embrace it. I always thought of it as a weapon instead of a gift, until Jean and Roger showed me that, sometimes, people come into your life who will never leave. I got lucky with them as parents, but I never thought I’d ever be lucky in love,” I said, feeling tears brim in my eyes. I took a moment to steady my voice before I continued.

  “When it came to romance, I always felt a disconnect, like it was something that wasn’t intended for me. Little did I know that it was intended for me—it was just hiding on the other side of the universe. Navan Idrax, you’ve opened up my entire existence to things I never thought possible. You’ve shown me the stars and what it means to be free with my heart. You’ve protected me when I needed it most and stood at my side as my equal. You’ve given me the love I never thought I deserved and made me realize that I was worthy of it all this time. That is the greatest gift anyone could give. Navan, with this ring, I ask you to be my husband.”

  He grinned as I slipped the ring onto his finger. “Riley, I will be your husband.”

  With that, he picked up the ceremonial knife and made a small incision in the center of his palm. I took the knife from him and did the same, wincing as a flicker of pain shot through my hand. It lasted only a moment, and a bead of scarlet rose up to the surface of my skin. We were doing this slightly differently than the way I’d seen it done before, and for that I was glad.

  He lifted his palm and gestured for me to place mine against his. It felt strange and a bit gross, knowing his blood was mingling with mine. To anyone else, this would have seemed weird, but it was the Vysanthean way. Besides, there was something ancestral about it that I liked, which I guessed was the point.

  “Your blood runs in my veins,” Navan began. “My blood runs in your veins.”

  “Your blood runs in my veins,” I echoed. “My blood runs in your veins.”

  “Blood of the future, and blood of those we love,” Navan continued, altering the words slightly. “Now, we are one.”

  “Blood of the future, and blood of those we love,” I replied. “Now, we are one.”

  “You don’t have to drink the blood. For us, it can be purely symbolic,” he said, much to my relief. “Now, we are husband and wife.” He grinned from ear to ear as he removed his hand from mine and wiped the blood away with a cloth he had lying on the chair next to us. He handed it to me, so I could clean away the blended blood of our species. It was strange the way his darkened mine, though I felt weirdly satisfied knowing that a tiny fragment of his blood did indeed run in my veins. Now, he would always be with me, no matter where we were in the universe or what separated us.

  He closed the gap between us and slid his hands around my waist. I realized how ridiculous I must have looked, getting married in my silk nightdress, but it could have been far worse; I could have ended up getting married in my favorite pair of Care Bear pajamas that I still wore back in NYC. As I pressed my hands to his chest, feeling the flutter of his heartbeat, I stared at the two new rings on my left hand, both of them interconnecting perfectly. They didn’t seem real.

  “I have a husband,” I murmured, almost to myself.

  “And I have a wife,” Navan whispered back, lifting his hand to my chin and tilting it upward. He pressed his lips to mine, and his other hand wandered over the curve of my hip. A shiver of bliss ran up my spine, as I knew there would be a whole new level to our lovemaking now that we were married. His kisses definitely took away the flicker of guilt I felt at not bringing our friends in to witness the ceremony. After all, we couldn’t have done any of this if they’d been here.

  Navan scooped me up into his arms, carrying me bridal-style out of the storage room and into the hallway beyond. With my arms looped around his neck, he carried me through the ship to our bedroom.

  There was a desperation in the heat of our passion as the hatch opened and we entered. I couldn’t get enough of him, my tongue exploring his mouth, his lips setting my body alight. Without a word, he moved me over to the bed and lay me down. His hand slid down the contours of my body, a gasp rising from my throat as my back arched in anticipation of his touch. In one swift motion, he tore away my nightdress, as my hands grasped for the edge of his shirt and pulled it over his head.

  I wanted to feel every inch of him, unifying us completely in the eyes of the universe.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The following morning, beaming and feeling thoroughly in love, I cuddled into Navan’s side as we walked through the ship toward the kitchen. Nestling closer to my new husband’s chest, I marveled at the ring on my left hand. It would be a while before that word felt comfortable… husband. And yet, it felt completely right.

  “Ready to face the music, darling wife?” he whispered conspiratorially, the sound of the others making breakfast echoing out toward us.

  “Of course, darling husband.” I grinned as I said the word out loud. It was weird enough to think about, but to say it was a whole different ballgame. It didn’t feel real yet.

  “All I’m saying is, perhaps you could keep it down a bit. The walls aren’t as thick as you think they are,” Lauren said to Angie, with an embarrassed look on her face. She looked up as we entered.

  “And I’m telling you, Bashrik and I… Well, we weren’t up to anything last night. I conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow, and Bashrik stayed up most of the night playing some silly game on the ship’s entertainment system,” she retorted, a forkful of mystery machine food halfway between her plate and her mouth.

  Navan and I exchanged a glance, while I struggled to stifle a laugh. It seemed we hadn’t been as discreet as we’d thought last night, and poor Bashrik and Angie were taking the rap for it. Even so, I wasn’t about to own up, not when there was something more exciting to tell everyone.

  I looked across at my best friends, feeling nervous about what we were about to say. I had a feeling they’d be miffed at me for not waking them up when they were only down the hall, and I wasn’t sure if they’d understand my explanation. It had been a
private moment that needed to be between just the two of us, but in their situation I knew I’d feel a bit upset at being left out of my best friend’s wedding.

  “You’re up early,” Bashrik remarked. “You managed to sleep off this sickness that’s been bothering you, Navan?”

  “Why does everyone think I’ve been sick?”

  Ronad arched a knowing eyebrow. “Because you’ve been wandering around this ship like a zombie for days. I’ve tried to reassure everyone that you’re just tired, but nobody seems to listen.”

  “That’s because nobody can be that tired. It’s just not possible,” Angie explained, pushing her food around. “I mean, the other day, he was chattering on about goblins in a forest. You tell me what kind of healthy person—oh my God! Have you… Are those what I think they are?!” Her eyes were bugging out of her head as she stared down at my hand and Navan’s. “You didn’t! Did you?!”

  “What are you going on about, Ange?” Lauren asked, peering over.

  “Those RINGS on their fingers!” Angie pointed wildly at our hands as she hurried over, shrieking so loud I thought the windows might crack.

  “No way!” Lauren yelled, jumping off her stool and sprinting over to where I stood, wrapping her arms around me while Angie sandwiched me from the other side. “You naughty little monkey! Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Yeah, why didn’t you come and get us?” Angie sobbed, though I had a good feeling they were tears of happiness.

  I smiled. “We sort of got swept up in the moment and didn’t want to disturb anyone.”

  “You wouldn’t have disturbed us! I could have been on the toilet with my panties around my ankles and you still wouldn’t have been disturbing me!” Angie lamented, squeezing me with all her might. I knew there was a hint of hurt in her squeeze, but she was getting it out in a healthy, loving manner. I just hoped my ribs could take it.