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Melantha started, glancing between them before her gaze latched on Rharreth. “Really? You can do that?”

Rharreth nodded, a grin tugging on his face, as the rightness of this settled into his chest. He rested a hand on the hilt of the elven dagger in his belt. “Yes. Husbands or wives of shield band warriors can be made honorary members if they don’t have a shield band of their own and if the shield band agrees. Usually, it would have been done right away, and normally the shield band doesn’t object. But our marriage was unusual.”

“Yes, it was.” Instead of looking offended, Melantha’s mouth tipped in a wry smile. “And I suspect Drurvas probably stood in the way of adding me.”

“Well...” Vriska shifted, as did Brynjar behind her. “Several of us stood in the way. I think Zavni was the only one wholeheartedly in agreement with Rharreth about adding you back then.”

Zavni smirked. “You have to remember, Drurvas and I were the only two that Charvod allowed in to patch Rharreth up after that whipping he took. I knew then that you were no ordinary prisoner to him.”

Melantha ducked her head, the tips of her ears turning slightly pink. Rharreth reached out to tuck her closer against him. He so rarely saw her uncomfortable that he could not help but savor the moment, even if the memories of that day were mostly painful and still filled him with fear. Both of them carried the scars.

“Well, are we going to do this or not?” Zavni drew his sword.

Vriska, Eyvindur, and Brynjar drew their swords and formed a loose circle around Melantha.

Rharreth stepped away from her to fill his spot of the circle and drew his sword as well.

As one, he and the others gripped their swords by the blade and held them out, the hilts toward Melantha in the center of their circle. “We pledge to you our steel, our loyalty, and our honor. For the shield band!”

Melantha hesitated, then after a moment she ran her fingers over each of the hilts facing her, flicking her gaze at Rharreth as if to check she was doing this right. He gave her a nod to reassure her, and she rested her hand on his sword last. “For the shield band.”

Rharreth, Vriska, Zavni, Eyvindur, and Brynjar all sheathed their swords. Zavni was the first to thump Melantha on the back. “Welcome to the shield band, my queen. It is our honor to have you.”

“You just want to be my first priority when it comes to healing battle wounds.” Melantha grinned, and her grin widened when Vriska held out Melantha’s hardwood staff. Taking it, Melantha faced Rharreth, a feral grin on her face and a wild light in her eyes. “Time to spar?”

Rharreth took a second quarterstaff when Vriska held it out to him. As he swung it into position, Melantha gave a battle scream and swung her staff with the weight of her shoulders behind the move, just as Rharreth had taught her.

He blocked, the force of her blow vibrating the wooden staff in his hand. His own grin felt wide and dangerous as his blood thrilled with the release of the exercise and the rhythm of the fight.

If he had ever dreamed what marriage and love would be like, he never could have imagined this. Because this—what he had with Melantha—was far better than anything he could have pictured, given his own parents’ strained relationship.

With Melantha, Rharreth’s life would be good. They would still face challenges. They had a long road ahead of them to reform Kostaria and build it into something that could hold its own in this new era. But, together, they would change Kostaria’s future and leave their future children a legacy of true honor.

SITTING ON THE TABLEin his and Essie’s main room in Ellonahshinel, Farrendel tilted the heating device that Lance had helped him create. One of the wires seemed to have melted after several uses of being subjected to Farrendel’s magic. Perhaps he and Lance needed more experiments to find something else that would stand up to the strain.

Or perhaps Farrendel could learn a way to tone down the power of his magic so that it put less strain on the mechanics. If Hanford University ever replied to him. It had been two weeks. Surely, he should have heard something by now, considering how Essie and her family kept insisting that there should not be any problems with his enrollment.