Page 65

In the next moment, Seidon pulled away with a grin and led her down the aisle in a near-run, his joy so clear that she laughed along with everyone close enough to see his face.

They burst out into the waning evening light, and she had no idea if the wind’s happy dance was a coincidence, or if she’d called it up unknowingly.

They greeted the congregation that spilled out behind them, but Arden was surprised when no one left but rather gathered in the street before the cathedral.

Given the haste of the event, there was no grand reception for the whole city to attend—they’d have one of those later, with her official coronation.

After they somehow won this war with the mer.

Her parents and Enoch filed out last, Papa and Mama both giving her one more kiss on the cheek. Papa held her tight. “I am so proud of you, Arden. I never thought I’d be father to a queen.”

A teary laugh tickled her throat as she held tight to the man who’d been her everything for so long.

As she hugged him back, she let herself remember the lonely years, and how the only comfort they ever had was each other.

How she’d curl up in his lap and they’d read together.

How he’d take her up on the rooftop deck and hold her up high so she could see for miles.

She remembered how his eyes started twinkling when he and Sapphire began to fall in love, and how happy she’d been when they married and Jade, always her friend, became her sister.

She remembered the swell of pride in her chest when she realized as an adolescent that he needed her, relied on her, that he trusted her to help him with his duties.

“I love you, Papa,” she whispered into his ear. They pulled away, both grinning and wiping at their cheeks.

Seidon, his fingertips still lingering on her back, gestured upward. “Right on time,” he said.

She looked up, brows rising as Ora circled the sky above them. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you invited my mother.” Amusement laced her tone largely because she didn’t know what other emotion to pair with the truth still too strange to feel like truth.

Seidon—her husband—chuckled. “She made an appearance very briefly in her human form on my balcony this morning to give me the crown. I asked her if she would come. She declined the invitation to do so on two legs but said she would be watching. Listening. And here to show your people who you are.” He leaned over and pressed a lingering kiss to her temple.

“If you’re up for a repeat of your first flight, I’ll meet you at the lagoon. ”

The lagoon? A smile curled her lips. She’d assumed they’d spend their wedding night in his suite in the palace, but this was even better.

Except…she moved her head so quickly to look at him that she nearly bumped his nose.

“You want me to fly there? To let everyone see?” To let pain flood his body just for the show?

As usual, he read her mind. “I’ll be fine,” he said too softly for anyone else to hear. His smile went soft, proud. “And yes. Let them all see what ‘Queen of the Sky’ means. Let them see what hope you bring to Daryatla. Let them rejoice tonight and rest easy for once.”

A gift to them, the people—their people. Her people. She hesitated only a moment before nodding. Though she frowned as she glanced over the crowd. “Where exactly do you expect her to land in these tight streets?”

“I don’t. As I said, a repeat performance of your first flight.

” He sent her a wink and then turned to the crowd, raising his arm to get their attention.

Within seconds, the chatter had died down.

“Thank you, friends, for celebrating our wedding with us. As our announcement this morning said, there will be a grand celebration in a few weeks to which all will be invited. Tonight, I invite any who are able to make a short journey with us on foot, to the cliffside. For a…show.”

Skies, that grin. Even here and now, surrounded by hundreds of people, it tied her stomach into knots. Even more of them, knowing that soon, in a few dozen minutes, they would be alone in that lagoon. Her throat went deliciously dry.

A few minutes away from each other, that’s all it would be if they didn’t part ways until the cliff. He would dive into the water, she would leap onto Ora’s back, and then after a few turns in the air, their ever-so-brief honeymoon would begin.

A day was all they would get—they’d already discussed it. They would take one, but only one. Then the work must begin. She had to learn how to wield this magic. They had to sort out how to take down the wall.

Problems for the Arden-and-Seidon of thirty-six hours from now.

In this moment, she let the joy of being his bubble up inside her as he wove their fingers together and then tugged her down the steps.

They ran through the street, laughing as the crowd joined in behind them.

The pace soon slowed, once they’d cleared the edges of the gathering, so that all could follow.

Most had never taken the path from the palace to the cliffs—no one but the friars and the few Guardians entrusted with the location of the lagoon had ever had cause to.

Arden smiled as she heard the exclamations behind them of how beautiful the vista was as they left the walls behind and moved into open land.

Ora alternately flew alongside them and executed a circle to keep from getting too far ahead.

Her presence didn’t escape the notice of the people, especially the children.

At last, they reached the place on the cliffs from which they’d leapt the night of the ball. And here she stood, in the same dress, beside the same man, her cousin once more at her side—but smiling this time, the rest of their family with him.

Everyone but Jade, who was still somewhere under the sea. Farther from them than ever.

For one moment, guilt pierced like a dagger. It wasn’t right, that Arden should be so happy while her sister was still missing. It wasn’t right, that this happiest day of her life was celebrated without her.

But then something different welled up. A peace, or something like it. A certainty.

She and Seidon would be stronger together, stronger as husband and wife, than they’d been alone. Together, as one, they would do the impossible. They would bring down the wall. They would rescue Jade. Together, they would unlock the power of heaven.

That was what that display on the beach yesterday had really been about.

Not her, not even them. It was bigger than that.

She was but a tool in the hand of the Triada, a means for him to bring new mercy to the people he so loved.

She was here, now, because this was the point in history when the world needed the new magic in her veins.

When Seidon needed her.

When Jade needed her.

When the mer needed her, when the people of Daryatla needed her.

Not because of her . But because this gift could help create peace.

Seidon squeezed her fingers and then lifted them to press a kiss to her knuckles. His eyes had that twinkle she loved, the one that made his piercing blue irises sparkle like sun on water. “You first, love,” he said. “Like last time. And then I’ll see you, my sweet bride, in a few minutes.”

She didn’t question him this time. She smiled and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Then she dropped his hand, sent a smiling warning to her parents—not missing that Storm lifted an arm to hold them all back—and ran toward the edge of the cliff.

The people who could see her all gasped, a few even crying out in alarm. But it took only seconds for their shouts to turn to shrieks of wonder. Ora was there, of course, catching her before she could fall.

And yet…not. They flew together, but the familiar feathers didn’t touch her, not yet. A cushion of air was somehow caught between them, holding her up without containing her. Wind she could feel in every cell of her being.

Laughter sprang from her lips as Ora turned one way, yet somehow Arden knew to turn the opposite direction, the wind spiraling between them as they corkscrewed up and up and up, mirror images.

It held her. The wind—it didn’t just dance around her, it lifted her, spun her, danced with her, even as Seidon must have brought a spout of water up to join in the ballet.

Only for a minute—that was all the time she could convince her mind or her body or the wind that gravity was something to be denied.

She felt weight begin to settle again, felt the wind grow thinner, less substantial.

Felt Ora ease into her usual place and catch her, flapping her great wings and flying them in a wide circle over the congregation.

It gave her the perfect view not only of their wild applause and spontaneous dancing, but of Seidon as he executed a perfect dive from the cliff, as the waters surged and swirled to meet him in a show of beauty and elegance, and then as he vanished into the depths.

Her heart hammered. It would take him only a minute or two to swim through the crack, the cave, the channel, and up into the lagoon. She had yet to make the dive, but she knew its facts.

Ora did as well, clearly. Arden swore there was a merry glint in her eye, too, as she performed a tricky loop and then turned herself toward the lagoon hidden in the copse of trees and rocks and cliffs. Your husband awaits , she seemed to say in the low thrum of a warble that filled her throat.

No. Not seemed to. She was saying it. It was high time that Arden admit this miraculous mother of hers was really communicating with her, though she couldn’t guess as to how. And that Arden could really understand her.

One more miracle to add to the list of them.

She waved at the crowds still celebrating on the cliffside…and made no objection at all when Ora glided toward the lagoon, out of their sight. As they circled, she saw Seidon emerge from the water, and her pulse thundered like a summer storm.

As they’d done before, Ora landed in the one place with room enough, and Arden dismounted with far more ease than the first time she’d attempted it in this gown.

The hawk craned her head around, and Arden wrapped her arms around her neck and pressed her head to Ora’s.

“Thank you…Mother.” It felt strange, that word.

Hawkish laughter sounded. Ora is the name you gave me. Ora is who I am. You simply know now that it means “mother” too.

Arden smiled and pressed a kiss to her beak. “I love you. I’m glad you could share this day with me.”

Seidon moved into the space behind her, his cool fingers settling with a feather-light touch on her bare back.

Ora spread her wings. The blessings of the High One be upon you. And then she took off.

Arden held her spot for a moment, her throat suddenly tight with nerves. She’d had little time to think of this, her wedding night. And though the heat spreading from where he touched her eclipsed most of the fear, it didn’t remove it entirely.

The fact still remained that she’d just married the handsomest, most powerful, ancient man on the earth, and she had no idea how to please him as a wife should.

Not to mention that he had not only lived through four wedding nights before, he had decades of marriage under his belt already. She’d be a fumbling fool and he’d be—

“I can feel you making yourself nervous.” And his voice, of course, sounded amused as his fingertips traced a pattern over the open expanse of her back.

He eased closer, his clothes not even damp as he slid an arm around her waist and pulled her back against his stomach.

His nose traced over her ear, making her shiver in delight.

Her eyes slid shut. “What if I disappoint you?”

He chuckled and kissed his way down her neck. “Not possible. If anything, I’ll disappoint you .”

She scoffed. “I highly doubt that.”

His arms moved again, up her sides, to rest on her shoulders.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure of it.

And now that I have you alone, it must be said—I love this dress.

” He eased away enough to sweep a hand down the expanse of skin again, then set it back at her shoulders.

“And I also have to say, I’ve been wondering…

” He nudged the top of the sleeves outward, toward the edge of her shoulders. Over the curve. Down.

Her head fell back against him, and his mouth was there to meet hers.

Wind and water roared.