Page 55 of Blood from the Marrow (Lilith’s Legacy #2)

“Brujas have a soul-binding spell,” Zuri continued.

“The promise ties people together on a level deeper than blood, deeper than marriage vows. It’s…

” She paused, looking between them like she was waiting for one of them to reject the notion.

“It’s hard as hell to break. Like, potentially catastrophically difficult.

People don’t really use them anymore. For all we know, it can last lifetimes—”

Marisol’s laughter was something like a nervous screech. “Lifetimes?”

“You can see why they’re no longer popular in the age of fast-fashion and cardboard straws,” she explained with a shrug.

“Tell me more.” Elena reached for Marisol’s hand underwater. It sounded exactly like the promise she wanted to make.

“The waxing crescent moon,” Zuri said, glancing at the sky as if searching her memory for the details.

“It has to be cast during the waxing crescent. When the moon is growing, building power.” She looked back at them.

“You know… two weeks from now.” She said it like she might shock Elena into changing her mind.

As if Elena wasn’t so sure, she’d bind with them today if she could.

Every moment she’d spent apart from them felt squandered.

Wasted in a way that made her desperate to unravel time and space to weave it anew.

To fold it into a new shape where she’d never cut herself off from their love.

Elena squeezed Marisol’s hand while she pulled Zuri in close with the other. “I want that. More than I’ve ever wanted anything. I want to be bound to you.” Her gaze darted between a stoic Zuri and a stunned Marisol. “Both of you.”

Marisol’s expression changed like a stained-glass window catching the light at a new angle.

Her eyes widened, glistening with emotion when she realized that Elena wasn’t dealing in hyperbole.

That she wanted to be as close to her as the universe would allow.

“Elena,” her soft voice trembled. “Are you sure? A binding like that...” Her cheeks were already flushing pink with her unspoken acceptance. “Is it too soon?”

“More time will not make me any surer of my feelings for you,” Elena said with complete conviction. “But if you need more time, I absolutely understand.” She was surprised to find that she meant that.

“It would mean we’re very stuck with each other,” Zuri finished, but her tone was gentle.

Hopeful. “For all I know, it could last through death and into everything that comes after.” She tilted her head to the side.

“That’s a fuck-ton of commitment. Maybe we should wait until you’re not feeling so dramatic and rash—”

“I know what I want,” Elena insisted. “I’ll know it tomorrow.

And a year from now. A decade. A century.

A millennium.” She swallowed hard, but the emotion crept into her voice and invaded her eyes.

“I’ve never felt more whole than I am right now.

This is where I belong. In my lifetime I have never known a love like this.

I want to be bound to you both in ways that transcend law, transcend death, transcend the metaphysical plane.

All I want is to dedicate my life to protecting you and loving you and cherishing every second I have with you.

There will be no one or anything I want more than you.

Nothing else will ever fill me with the overwhelming urge to give until I have nothing left.

” Elena’s eyes burned and she didn’t hold back.

She let the tears come. Let herself be completely bare, belly exposed and throat left unprotected.

“I should want more time,” Marisol muttered as if to herself.

“This probably should feel as natural as breathing.” She smiled like she couldn’t believe what she was about to say.

“Shouldn’t feel like I’ve been holding my breath my entire life until I met you.

Like you brought music and light and life and all I want is more of that.

” She bit her bottom lip. “Knowing what’s possible has made me greedy and selfish, and honestly?

I don’t care if someone else thinks it’s too soon.

I want to belong to both of you. For you to belong to me.

” She reached out for Zuri, circling her arm around her.

“You’re my home. My heart. And if there is more of you to have, then I want that.

” She looked between them again. “I want that for as long as I breathe, and maybe even after that too.”

“Magically bound for eternity? What’s the worst that could happen?” Zuri’s teary gaze belied her nonchalant delivery.

“Do you have doubts?” Elena swallowed hard, preparing herself for rejection.

Zuri looked at her for a long time before her gaze darted to Marisol. It was Zuri’s turn to join the unabashed crying. For her lips to shake and chest to flush hard.

“Words are cheap,” Zuri replied, voice so fragile it nearly broke when it hit the night air.

“If either of you has to guess what my feelings are….” She shook her head, but her chin was trembling and her words split apart.

“Then I’ve been pretty shit at showing you.

” She laughed, eyes on the moon. When she looked at them again, she was crying.

“Every moment since our first night together has been terrifying. I keep feeling like I’m only hanging on to you by my fingertips.

Like I’m constantly trying to outrun my fear of losing either of you.

” She glanced between them. “And so much of me is scared of this. Of you. Of wanting you and letting myself believe that I can have this. That I deserve—”

Zuri’s sob interrupted her words and Elena and Marisol pulled her in. Elena held them close enough to crush. Two halves of her own beating heart together. “I love you,” Elena said with the wholly insufficient words. “Both of you. Irrevocably.”

Shaking against her, Zuri let herself cry while Elena and Marisol held her tight. Held her with the promise of a forever foundation. Of never-ending love and support and always.