He’s gazing up at me like I’m something akin to his religion, something he might pray to, and right now I feel like a dark queen, my throne made of this man’s flesh.

“Marry me,” he says.

Time slows, and my breathing stops.

Marry me.

A second ago I was mad with lust, and now … now …

“It’s not enough to be mated to you,” he says, “I want it all, if only you’ll have me.”

My hands begin to tremble where they grip him. I can barely hear my thoughts over the pounding of my heart.

“Marry me, and I will cherish you forever, cherub.”

Marry me.

We’re already bound by unbreakable forces. The supernatural world sees us as soulmates, as does the Otherworld.

Marriage is for humans.

Suddenly, I feel all of sixteen again, and Des is asking me to prom. Prom, marriage—all of it is for that part of me that has always been a desperate outsider, a loner. That painful part of me that wants to be normal.

This is Des giving me normal.

“Godsdamnit,” Des whispers, “please say something, Callie.”

I shake my head, beginning to smile.

Only, Des misinterprets my action.

His eyes are dying, dying …

I cup his cheeks, just as I did earlier.

“Yes,” I say, my voice hoarse with emotion. I begin to nod, and once I start, I can’t seem to stop. I smile, and it feels like that smile is touching every inch of my face—every inch of this room. A happy laugh slips out.

I’m going to marry Des!

Life flushes through his face, brightening his features, and I’m sure the world has no use for suns with a smile as bright as his. It spreads across his whole face, his eyes crinkling from the action.

“You’re going to marry me?”

I nod again, and I’m smiling so hard my face is beginning to hurt.

“You’re going to marry me,” he says again, processing it. “You’re going to be my wife.” He lets out his own disbelieving laugh.

All at once, he stands, and my legs slip off his shoulders. He catches me halfway down his torso, and then he spins us, pressing me close.

Right now it feels like the two of us are in our own little universe. He’s my moon, my sun, my stars, my sky, and all that space in between them.

Des lays me down on the bed, moving up my body languidly. He takes my mouth, kissing it like he’s breathing life into me.

My hands rake up his back, brushing against his wings. His wings! I didn’t notice them before, but they must’ve emerged when I said yes. Mine are still locked away from his earlier magic.

This time, when Des enters me, it’s not nearly as carnal as it was minutes before. His wings splay out, shrouding the two of us as he fills me. He pulls out, the action an agony.

“Years I have waited for this,” he says, “anticipated it. My wife.”

He thrusts back into me. Again and again, he moves out and in like the tide, each deep, rolling stroke a brand, as though he wants to make it known to everyone and everything that we are real, we are together, we are one.

This time, when Des relentlessly pushes me towards my orgasm, there’s nothing there to stop it.

“Des,” I breathe, and then I’m moaning, arching, coming.

I climax in his arms, staring into those light eyes of his as I feel myself come apart.

The Bargainer pounds into me, stretching out my orgasm until he pauses, his breathing stilling for an instant. Then I can feel him thickening. He groans against me.

“Callie—” he bites out. That’s all he manages to say before he gives himself over to sensation, pistoning in and out of me as he rides out his own orgasm.

Eventually, his strokes gentle. Even once he’s finished orgasming, he stays in me, brushing my hair back as he stares down at me. “Cherub … there’s something I’m forgetting …”

He snaps his fingers, and from the ether a ring appears between his thumb and forefinger. “I believe this is yours.”

The Bargainer’s wings are still out, and beyond them, the once bright room is now dark with the Night King’s magic.

Des slips off of me so that he can take my hand. Pressing a kiss to my ring finger, he begins to slide the piece of jewelry on.

The stone set into the band glows faintly; it’s no diamond. I’m not one to care about rings, but this one has me mesmerized.

“What is it?” I ask, staring at the glowing stone.

“I made a deal with the stars …”

A deal—of course he did. I smile a little.

“It’s captured starlight,” he explains, squeezing my hand. “I figured the Queen of the Night should carry a piece of her kingdom with her.”

Going to cry all over again.

“You already had the ring picked out …” It’s such a ridiculous statement. Obviously he picked out the ring some time ago; it’s not like he interrupted sex to make a deal with the stars on the spot.

Des grins, and the sight of it just slays me. “Cherub, it would frighten you how long I’ve carried that ring around.”

Yeah, I’m sure frightened is not the word I’d use.

“I’m going to marry you.” I get a little zing of excitement just saying the words.

“I’m going to marry the shit out of you,” he agrees.

As I stare at him, I think about that old vow, the one that got me into trouble. “From flame to ashes, dawn to dusk, for the rest of our lives, be mine always, Desmond Flynn.”

He kisses my lips. “Until darkness dies.”

Chapter 22

The next morning, when I wake, I open my eyes and see a shock of white blond hair. Des’s head rests just above my breast, his features softened by sleep. His arms are wrapped around my waist, one of his legs thrown heavily over mine.

I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face. Des is here with me, seducing me in my home. My left hand is buried in his hair, and now I remove it to stare at my ring for the five thousandth time.

Millions of people go through this—falling in love, getting married, yadda, yadda yadda—and yet I can’t possibly imagine anyone else being as happy as I am in this moment, as in love as I am right now.

My hand drops back to Des’s white hair, and I pretend for a moment that the two of us have simple lives. That I’m just a human, and he is just my fiancé. That he has no realm to rule and that I don’t have wings and scales and a fae stalker that wants my head. That we aren’t embroiled in an Otherworld battle that might destroy everything that fairies hold dear.

I pretend for a few minutes that we’re just two long lost lovers reunited at last. That later today we’ll hold hands and stroll to the coffee shop down the street.

I hear Des’s deep rumble. His face rubs against me, his arms tightening around my waist. He tilts his head up, those luminous eyes finding mine.

A slow, easy smile stretches across his face. There’s nothing but love in his expression, though even that look on Des is a bit devious.

He brushes a kiss against my sternum. “You know, Callie, I’ve never been partial to daylight, but I definitely think I could get used to this.” His hand slips down and begins to pet my thigh. “Tell me, how do you feel about … sleeping in?”

The gleam in his eyes is hint enough. We’ll be sleeping in sans the sleeping part.

“I think that sounds amazing.”

The two of us don’t slide out of bed until hours later, caught up in each other. I’m pretty sure heaven consists of endless days like this one.