Page 105 of Echo North

My father smiles and kisses my forehead. “Congratulations, my dear girl.”

And then I’m laughing, and Inna wakes up and demands to know what she missed and I tell her all about how Hal and I were married on a mountaintop with the North Wind and his family standing witness.

It’s only later, when Hal and I crawl into the tiny bed in my old room that we have a moment to talk just the two of us. My father sold the house after Donia left and the room is Inna’s now, but she insisted on sleeping on the couch. I tuck myself under Hal’s chin and he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close.

“Thank you for saving me,” Hal whispers into my hair.

“I never wished to do anything else.”

“Thank you, all the same.”

Sleep creeps in at the edges of my mind, but I don’t let it claim me, not yet. “I love you, Halvarad Wintar.”

“And I love you, Echo Alkaev.”

I nestle even tighter against him. “Hal?”

“What is it, my love?” he mumbles, his words slurred with sleep.

“Don’t ever let me go.”

“Not ever.” He hugs me fiercely. “Not ever.”

He kisses my hair, and our hearts beat as one, and I fall asleep to the sound of his gentle breathing.