I loved how Pilar could get me out of my funk and help me focus on the bigger picture. Tomorrow was probably going to be the most important day of our personal lives. From there on out, our lives would be entwined. It was going to be one of the most important days of our professional lives, too; our Bonding would tie us together professionally and the ripples from that would impact not only how the cases were handled, but the way the Ilyirzi government interacted with my species.
That was pretty heavy stuff, but it was in the future, after our Bonding and the promised date afterwards. I needed to not allow the case and all the political BS ruin the bit of happiness we could grab for ourselves before we actually needed to face it.
“You good?” Pilar asked me.
“Better than,” I replied, rubbing my nose against his. “You’re right.”
“Good. We need to talk about the ceremony. There’s a few things you should know.”
“I gift you the earring before our witnesses, then we pledge to each other and exchange rings, right?”
“My people exchange blood.”
“Oh.” I should have expected that, I guess. “So, um, we will exchange rings and blood.”
“Yes, symbolizing the sharing of our very lives, and that our heart beats for the other.”
I had to admit it sounded rather romantic, but there was one burning question I had now. “I don’t have fangs; how am I going to bite you? Assuming you guys exchange blood by biting each other.”
“A ritual blade is used, actually. We will remove our tunics and the officiant will cut me above my hearts after I speak my vow. You drink then, and then it’s your turn to speak your vow, and I drink from you.”
“After he cuts me above my heart.”
“It will be a shallow cut, but yes.”
It still sounded painful, but if that was what it took, I guess I would bow to tradition.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Not going to deny the idea of getting sliced doesn’t weird me out a little, because I am not into pain particularly, but you say it’ll be shallow. So, more like a scratch really?”
He gave me a sympathetic look. “A little more than that, but the blade can be coated with an analgesic if you prefer and we can also numb the area before we leave for the ceremony.”
“No.” I wasn’t going to be babied through it. I could handle it. It couldn’t be worse than a deep papercut, right?
“Okay, but the offer is there in case you change your mind.”
“I won’t.” I was stepping into his world, making a place for myself within his society, making it my own while still cleaving to my human roots. I would not start out on this path by doing something this important half assed, with concessions I was positive were not usual for those of his own species. I just had to hold myself together and not embarrass myself by yelling or something when it came time. Oddly enough, the idea of swallowing his blood and he mine wasn’t squicking me out. In fact, it kind of made me hot, imagining him sinking his fangs in me during sex. He hadn’t bitten me during our first time, but now wondered if that was a thing.
“Uh, I gotta ask. Do you bite lovers during sex sometimes?”
He stilled. “It has been known to happen, but only if mutually agreed. It’s illegal to bite and drink from another without explicit permission and that has to be registered with their House.”
“Except for when doing it for the Bonding ceremony.”
“Except for that.”
“So, can we register for that at the same time?”
He looked at me with astonishment. “You’d want that?”
“The thought sort of turns me on. I know you would never drain me and I’m sure if I ever changed my mind because I became uncomfortable with it, you’d stop and not do it ever again unless I told you it was okay again.”
He stared at me wordlessly, looking deep into my eyes. “Okay. We can do that. But just because we register, doesn’t mean we ever have to. I will not betray your trust in this matter, or any other.”
“I know,” I told him, and I really did. His integrity was part of the very fabric of his being. Hell, they wouldn’t have chosen either him or Miljack if that wasn’t true, surely.
A yawn unexpectedly broke free.
“It’s late,” he said, catching a case of the yawns himself. “We should head back up and go to bed.”
I knew he meant only to sleep but that was all right. I desperately needed sleep, still getting used to my upside-down waking and sleep cycle. My fatigue had fully caught up to me and if I was going to be worth a damn tomorrow, I needed a good, long, deep sleep.
“Soawhns guhd do mhee,” I said through another yawn.
With a chuckle, Pilar looped our arms together, and leaning into each other, we walked back to the room we shared. There we stripped off, and fell into bed, his slightly taller frame tucked against me. I closed my eyes and listened to him breathe and found our breathing falling into sync. I marveled at that until my awareness drifted away into the void and I slept.