“Yelena?” A hitch cracked his voice. He remained on his knees, waiting for my answer.

Valek’s face had paled to bone white. I’d never seen him so vulnerable.

Sliding from my chair, I knelt in front of him. I took his knife—still wet with his blood—from his hand and sliced my tunic open. Then I pressed the tip into the flesh in the center of my chest. Pain buzzed like an annoying fly. I ignored it as I carved a fist-sized heart shape directly over my thumping heart and between my breasts. “Yes, Valek. I will marry you.”

His tight expression transformed as joy sparked in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close as his lips found mine. Red-hot spikes of sensation shot down to my toes. My muscles shivered and my skin caught fire. The need to run my hands over his lean, powerful body pulsated over every inch of my being.

Far too soon he stopped. Before I could protest at the interruption, he pressed his chest to mine. My wound burned with the contact and with the sting of his blood mixing with mine.

“Till death. I do swear, love.” Valek whispered in my ear.

“Beyond death. My vow to you,” I said.

He drew back to meet my gaze. “So we shall be. Forever united.”

“We shall be,” I agreed.

This time his kiss vibrated to the very core of my soul. Our pledge solidified our connection, creating an unbreakable bond.

“Clothes...off...” I said between kisses.

The speed of our disrobement took what little breath I had away. But then breathing no longer mattered. My senses filled with the intoxicating smell, feel and touch of Valek as he lowered my shoulders to the floor. Nothing in life compared to being linked with him. Together we were one.

* * *

Movement roused me, then cold air hitting parts of my body that should not be exposed to cold air. I groaned in protest.

Valek pushed up to one elbow. “Sorry, love. But I need...”

“To what?” I untangled my legs from his. The cut on my chest throbbed. For the first time in my life, I savored the pain. It meant so much.

“...to tell you—”

“What happened with the Commander?” No doubt the meeting went horribly wrong. When he’d arrived, I’d feared the worst. He appeared so devastated. I had never seen him like that, not even when the Commander had signed the order for my execution and extended the document to Valek.

“Yes.”

I waited for more, but he stared off into the distance as if searching for a good place to start.

“Why did the Commander feel it necessary to remind you of your oath?” I asked, helping him along.

“He cited a number of reasons, but it pretty much boils down to the fact that Owen’s his guest and he wanted to ensure I didn’t assassinate him, Tyen and Rika while they are here.”

“Oh.” So many thoughts jammed into my head. The first, we were all dead, summed up the fear and panic that dominated. Owen must have taken control of the Commander’s mind. Ixia and Sitia were both in huge trouble and... We were all dead. That one was hard to move past.

“Yelena, I want you to leave this afternoon. Return to Sitia where it’s safer. I’ll message when it’s over.”

“No. We just exchanged vows and mixed our blood. Leaving you now would be the same as cutting myself in half. We’ll figure this out together. We always do. Remember? No doubts.”

He struggled to find a reply. I used his own words, so in order for him to dispute me, he would have to discredit his own logic.

“Don’t look so smug. What about Reema?” Valek asked.

That was easy. “We’ll send her home with an armed escort. I’m sure Opal and Devlen miss her.”

His shoulders sagged. “If anything happens...”

I hugged him. “We’re stronger together. And shall always be.” The last part set a joyful thrill spinning around my heart.

He leaned back. “We need to keep that quiet for now. And I’m sure your family will want a celebration.”

“Yes, they will be disappointed if we didn’t.”

“After this mess with Owen is finished, we’ll arrange a big wedding and get married again.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“I wish figuring out what to do about Owen was as easy.”

I considered. “He won’t do anything overt. At least not yet. He’s a guest for now. We need to determine if he has control of the Commander’s mind. And then learn what he is plotting and stop him before he moves.”

“We can discuss how to go about it this afternoon with Ari and Janco.”

“And Maren?”

He frowned. “It depends on if she knew about Owen’s bargain with the Commander.”

“What about Onora?”

“I still haven’t decided if I can trust her.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Then you need to know a few things about her history.”

Valek filled me in as we washed and bandaged our cuts. I searched for a clean tunic and finished dressing.

“So the man...this Captain Timmer, who abused her, is in the dungeon and she doesn’t know?” I asked.

“Not yet. I haven’t had time to tell her.”

“And what do you expect her to do once she knows?”

“Kill him.”

“I don’t think she will.”

“Why not? You killed the man who raped and tortured you. I took great satisfaction in assassinating the King and the men who murdered my brothers.”