Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
With his lips at the shell of my ear, his warm breath sends shivers down my shoulders. “You don’t have to ever question that I am yours or whether I’ll ever come back to you,” he says, and then pulls back so I can look into his eyes.
His eyes have never seemed brighter or more possessive. They have never seemed more wolf-like. But I know it is him I am seeing.
I am seeing his very soul.
“Fate brought us together,” he continues. “Not your spell.”
“Fate and my spell brought us together,” I correct, playing one last round of our game. He lets out a huff of a laugh at my correction, giving into me.
“I love you, Idalis,” he whispers. “My soul was meant to be with yours.”
I’m filled with so much joy that I can hardly breathe, but then I must, because here is my new life and my mate, before me at last.
“I took some pleasure in my solitude,” I begin, then pause, choked with emotion. “But I did feel sorrow. I told myself that I didn’t long for anything. That I was content with my purpose. I told myself it would be safer to be alone. But then you stepped onto my land, and into my life, and I knew longing. I never knew longing like that until you looked at me. I love you Ryker. And there is no doubt that I will love you forever.”
A Spell for a Happily Ever After
For a happily ever after, I suggest the following be placed in a red, pink, or white satchel cleansed by sitting in pink salt overnight before adding your ingredients and tucking it away under the bed you share with your lover.
Rose petals for passion
Rose quartz for love
Clear quartz for longevity
Lavender for peace in union
Obsidian chips for protection
Dried wine stained on the tip of a cork from a shared bottle (the cork could be added whole if preferred and if there is room) for divine blessing
A parchment with both of your names, folded three times toward you before being slipped into the satchel.
Do not worry if the parchment folds come undone, the spell has already been cast.
May your life be filled with love that is all-consuming. Love that never drifts. Love that you are so very worthy of. Know that you can have this love alone, as you should always love yourself fiercely. Or you can share the power of such divine emotion and magic with whomever you wish.
With all my heart, so mote it be.
EPILOGUE
RYKER
What will come, I don’t know.
Whether I will return to the battlefield or whether war will end.
Whether I’ll have to leave my mate or whether she will come with me.
But what I do know is that this moment is one I never thought I would have, let alone one I could dream.
And I will cherish it as every love should be cherished.
With cheers and loud masses, the wedding celebration spills outside the city gates. Banners fly on the city walls, their colors bright and fresh in the sun. People of all walks of life have come from miles and miles away. From different lands and of all ages. It’s as if a new city has sprung up outside the walls, filling in every blank space in the small villages that already huddle close to the city.
There are hundreds of tents and wagons and firepits. Pots and pans clang and merchants shout about their wares, so many voices that it’s hard to make out what they’re saying.
Everything is loud and bright for the royal wedding. And hope is felt in every way for a new day.
It’s made even louder and brighter from the time I spent in the solitude of the country with Idalis. The celebration and bustle is exhilarating. There is only happiness, made even greater with Idalis at my side.
She clings to me. Stoic with her draped hooded dress. It’s thin but a dark crimson, which complements her pale skin, allowing her to see but hiding her all the same. She’s lovely even if she attempts to hide. I heard her cast her spell for protection and for only blessings upon blessings for today. With her hand in mine, I am sure that is what the day will bring.
I take in the banners and tents and crowded streets. All the excited onlookers milling everywhere. Children running and playing games. Men and women laughing together.
And, for the first time…I think of my own wedding. Glancing down at my mate, I wonder if she will want one. I wouldn’t have a wedding so large. My wedding, I think, would be suited to me and Idalis. A gathering of our closest friends, perhaps, in the rolling fields near her home. Dinner and dancing afterward. We would not draw crowds like this, and for that I am glad.