Page 65 of Enchanted Shadows (The Enchanted Kingdom #6)

T he Winter Solstice came and went. I refused to leave Kessara’s side. Gifts and letters showed up from her parents and brother Artem. I piled them near the fireplace for her.

For almost a full week, Kessara slept off her double burnout.

Both this morning and yesterday she’d woken a few times long enough to use the lavatory and drink a few sips of broth.

Today, her palm magic Enchantment started flaring in and out on occasion.

The healers said she should be recovered soon.

I had left her side only to allow the healers to fix my arm; it was now held in a hard cast that was rather pissing me off.

I was just antsy in general, not only from my arm. Calix was dead. Bram was going to trial, a fair trial the only way to ensure tensions with the loyalists to Theon didn’t overflow. We still had a few days before training was supposed to come back in session.

I stood at the balcony door watching huge fluffy flakes snowing down. Maybe I would push training a few weeks more. Considering the team went with us to Agria, it seemed they might have earned an extra week. There was a plan I was brewing. My best yet .

“Owen.”

I spun from where I was standing at the balcony doors, grateful that I knew where Kessara was.

That I no longer had to worry about her being out in this weather.

Simple privileges I would no longer not appreciate.

A warm wife. “Kess.” I moved to the bed next to her, grabbing the water and handing it over to her. “Here.”

She shoved it away with her hand.

“You need to eat and drink, honey.”

“I need—you.”

I placed the water on the nightstand and moved around the bed, settling in the middle of our bed, my back against the headboard, and pulled her body across mine. Then I used my Enchantment to bring the water to her.

“How about both?” I asked gently.

She humored me by taking a small sip of water. “The wolves.”

“What about them?”

She sighed and though she was clearly still groggy, she was starting to look healthier. “They saved me. Hid me in their den. And then I blocked the entrance in thick shadows so no one else could find it. So I could form a plan to find Calix. And even then, the wolves were never far.”

“And the tree helped too,” I offered gently. “I only have one question. Why did you not come to me? Why didn’t you grab me for help?”

“I did. Did you not get the stones I sent?”

My power flared along my forearms with my rage as I grit out, “ Three days later.”

“The first day I hid in the den, getting a plan. I was warm and had water. Hungry eventually, yes, but warm. And it was in that den I decided that Calix was my problem to deal with. I had brought him here, I would deal with him.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but she put a finger to my lips before I could say anything. “Let me explain. Please. ”

She continued, telling me how she used her shadows the second night to leave pieces of her dress, luring them toward the dead lake, where she hid in a tree. “The only time I could have grabbed a guard for help, Calix was too close. So close I would have given myself away.”

She let out a deep sigh and gestured toward her neck.

“And then he found me eventually, obviously. But it was the only way I could figure out how to get them. Calix and Bram had to believe I was hiding and alone. That I hadn’t been found.

Otherwise, Calix was just going to hide in his shadows and disappear to Brakken or somewhere else.

There were too many guards around for him not to flee, the single thing keeping him put was the knowledge that I hadn’t been found yet.

So I had to use that, even if I didn’t want to.

” Her voice cracked. “Believe me, that last night was cold. I couldn’t use my magic often to warm me otherwise it would give away my location.

I was terrified, Owen. But I also knew it was the only way.

The only way for it to truly end and not be drawn out any longer. ”

My wife was so damn strong. I didn’t hate that she had been wise enough to know her enemy, to know what to do to make sure we got Calix in the end, I just hated that she’d been put in that position to begin with. “You did it, Kess.”

“Not without you, though.”

“You had him caged for me,” I argued. “You did most of the work.”

“I—” she stopped to inhale deeply. “Every time I think of that moment the tree came to my rescue; I get chills. You warned me of the odd happenings in that forest, but until you see it for yourself, I’m not sure you entirely believe it.”

Quite honestly, I wanted to hug that damn tree for getting us through this. Not sure what that said about my mental state, but I also didn’t find it in myself to care .

I used my magic to grab a dinner roll off the tray in the room, pulling it to Kessara. “I need you to eat.”

“I’m tired. But I’ll try. If you tell me what happened to you while I was out there.”

What was there even to say? “I—” my voice caught. “I was not in a good place, Kess. You were gone. I had no idea if you were dead or alive, or bleeding out in a cave somewhere. I had no way to find you. My worst fears were all playing out before me with nothing I could do about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We both have bruises from that day, seen and otherwise.”

She looked to my cast, trailing her fingers up to my neck. “I’m still sorry for the hell I put you through.”

“It was a personal hell for sure. I felt so... worthless.” I filled her in on how we pulled the guards back, trying to give her space to play whatever game she needed to with Calix, but that it went against my instincts.

“Never again,” I told her at a whisper, my head bent to her temple. “Never again do I want to feel that level of terror. The hollow void of not knowing if you lived or breathed.”

“Agreed.” She chewed a small bite of the roll Jorah had personally baked her.

“So you’ll bond with me, then?”

She startled, sitting up straight and looking me in the eyes. “Do you want that?”

“Kessara,” I snapped. “I would bond with you this instant if I thought your Enchantments could take it.”

“But—” she swallowed and as she did, it brought attention to that nick on her throat that made me see red every time I looked at it. “But I thought Jorah said?—”

“ You are my soulmate,” I told her, no doubts in my mind. “If we aren’t soul bonded, I don’t care. We can be heart bound instead.”

“But you only have one strong bond left. ”

“Woman, you already have me. Heart. Mind. Body. We are married . The bond at this point is merely ceremonial. A few words and a little blood. And if these bonds are really about how fiercely we choose one another, then that is us. I choose you, Princess Kessara Astra Zavatari. Take however much of me you want. I’m yours to wield. ”

She sniffed, her eyes brimming with moisture. “I don’t need a third Enchantment.”

I chuckled. “I’m not sure love counts as an Enchantment.”

“Doesn’t it? Did it not save us both? It might be the greatest Enchantment of all.”

I moved to wipe at her tears, but my cast was in the way. “Kessara,” I snapped. “You know how I feel about tears. Just tell me yes. You’ll marry me, for real this time, and bond with me.”

Her head snapped back. “You want to marry me again?”

“Yes. I want to say the words again, but this time add that I love you. That every day we spent married without realizing the depth of our feelings for one another was a waste. You are a part of me now. And I never want to know another day without you.” I sent my magic to fetch my gift for her from the small pile of them by the fireplace. “Which reminds me. Here.”

She looked at the small box, red wrapping tied with a gold bow. She handed me over the water and dinner roll.

“Open it.” I’d asked for this to be made before I left to return Artem to Agria. In the middle of avoiding my wife, I’d still asked for it.

She slipped the bow off gently, opening it to find a long necklace, not unlike the one she wore when she first came to Wylan. At the end of it was a red gem, a small bear charm, and a lynx charm. It was us.

“Owen,” she gasped.

“I rather liked your old one,” I admitted. “I like how it tucked in next to your heart. So I wanted to get you another one. This one not to change your appearance or a damn thing about you, but to remind you that you no longer have to hide from me. You never have to hide from me.”

“Owen.”

“Kessara.”

“But if we do this, if we bond, you might get shadow magic.”

I moved to kiss her lips, gently. “Then I suppose I’ll have the best teacher.”

Her eyes went wide. “The pupil turned teacher?”

“I thought we went over this. Your assertiveness doesn’t scare me.”

“Owen,” she warned.

“What?” I whispered.

“Would you just kiss me already?”

I grinned while using my power to move the water and dinner roll to the nightstand. “Your wish is my command, Princess.”

I kissed her and then took my time massaging her body, starting with her feet.

Every bruise and small cut I found from her time in the forest I kissed, every scar from her past, all while wishing I held the power to make them vanish.

As I worked my way up, I made sure my hands articulated my promise, a truth so real it felt palpable.

The realm could crumble around us, but I would be hers and she would be mine.

Nothing and no one would ever take that from us again.