The wedding day unfolded like any other.
The sky was blue. The day was warm. There were birds where there were supposed to be birds, making the noises birds were supposed to make. The string quartet had showed up with only three people, so it was now a string trio. One surreptitious wave of Lena’s hand, and they had never sounded so good, even without a cello.
The morning went off without a hitch, or at least, without any Supernatural ones.
The site where Mitchell and Lilian were to be married was really just the meadow at Greenbrier, where the Duchannes family had been buried for generations. It was as much a park as it was a memorial site, and the wildflowers made it one of the most beautiful places of all the Ravenwood properties.
But where days before there had been nothing, now there was almost a cathedral made entirely of tree branches and wild grasses and wildflowers. Blossoms and sunlight and boughs of white birch.
Everything looked like it had been shot through a hazy golden filter.
Lena’s grandmother and Marian had outdone themselves.
Ethan didn’t know if it was magic or just incredibly good gardening; Lena’s family, and Marian’s family, were known for both, in different circles.
All Ethan knew was that the bride’s gown looked like it was made of snowflakes and sunshine, as goofy as that sounded. Lilian English was radiant. And his father looked like he was going to throw up, which seemed about right, too.
This wasn’t just a Southern wedding, but a Southern Caster wedding, which meant, as Link said, double the frosting and three times the bacon.
Gatlin’s favorite pastime—pulling out all the stops. That was what Ethan’s mom would have said about a day like this one.
Full stop.
Nothing about the day would be small.
Not even if an army of Blood Incubus super soldiers (that was how Ethan thought of them) was trying to kill Ethan’s best friend, or maybe all of them along the way.
And that was how the day continued: not small. The wedding processional was practically a parade. That was Gatlin’s own little twist on the formalities of a Southern wedding; you lined up every kid you could find, decorated them with some form of flowers and netting, jammed their hands into sweaty white gloves, and sent them marching down the aisle ahead of the bride and groom.
That part was fine.
The terrifying part had come before, when Ethan was waiting for his dad to take his place beneath the makeshift bower of branches that was the church at Greenbrier.
Ethan and his father had been standing off to the side, behind the crypt.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Dad?” Ethan heard himself say the words, and for a moment it was like another person was saying them.
Still, he had to ask. It was the question he’d been wondering for months now.
His dad straightened his tie. “Let’s see. Twelve across. S.U.R.E.T.U.D.I.N.O.U.S.”
“Really? Suretudinous? Is that the best you can do?”
“Yeah, well. You can’t blame a guy for trying. And I always was terrible at crossword puzzles.” Mitchell sighed. Then he looked at his son. “You know this isn’t going to change anything between the two of us, right?”
“I know,” Ethan said.
“And you know I love you, right?”
“I do,” Ethan said.
Mitchell nodded. “Well then, I guess that covers it. Let’s go do this thing.”
“Dad? I don’t think Mom minds.”
“What?”
“She’d want you to be happy.”
Mitchell stared at his son for a good long time before he spoke. “Your mom loved us both, Ethan. But she never belonged to either one of us. A person like your mom, she just didn’t belong to people.” He shook his head. “All the same, I wish she could see you now. What you’re like. Who you grew up to be. She’d be so proud.”
Ethan didn’t know what he could say. He only knew he couldn’t say the truth.
What he knew about his mother.
How she’d really died.
Who she’d really loved.
When he’d last seen her.
“I believe,” Ethan said slowly, “that you two were meant to have what you had. You were meant to find each other, and you were meant to have me as your son.”
“Of course we were. It was Fate.”
Ethan shook his head. “I don’t want to think about it like that. Not anymore.” He tried to find the words that came next, but it was hard. “Maybe you were meant to have her, but you were also meant to let her go.”
Mitchell nodded.
“All anyone wants is for you to be happy, Dad. Even me. I’m glad you found someone you care about. I’m sorry if I ever made it seem like anything else.”
His father hugged him.
It was all either one of them needed to say.
The meadow was full of white wooden chairs that miraculously held everyone who had ever loved Ethan and his dad.
Almost everyone.
Ethan stood next to his father and the Reverend, under a cascade of flowering branches. Fog now floated in the grassy field, blowing into the clearing with the arrival of every new guest, just gradually enough so that the Mortals could think it was natural. It never dissolved, though, and Ethan knew it was far from accidental.
The same way he knew the Incubuses were there in the woods surrounding the meadow.
The fog was their doing. It was meant for cover.
Silas, Ethan thought.
They’re here, he Kelted.
Lena looked up from the back row of the chairs.
Ethan felt the prick of his hairs standing up, goose bumps spreading across every inch of his bare skin.
They were here.
He felt them in the birds abandoning the trees. The clouds rolling across the sun.
The insects stopping their buzzy noise.
Do you feel that, L?
Of course I do, Ethan.
Link looked around, spooked.
Then John.
Liv watched them both, her hand on her pen.
It was in the air around them.
The presence of Silas, of his twisted shadow creatures, of something that seemed like almost pure evil, Ethan thought.
We can’t stop it, L.
We just can’t let him hurt anyone.
She nodded at him from the other side of the clearing. Then she looked worriedly at the sea of Gatlin folks between them—even Ethan’s own father, who didn’t seem to notice a thing aside from the face of his bride.
We won’t, Lena Kelted.
I swear it on my own father’s grave, Ethan.
“Dearly beloved,” the Reverend began. “As I… as we…”
He stumbled, shuffling the notecards in his hands, but the gray-white fog was turning darker, and it was becoming difficult to see.
Come on, Ethan thought.
The fog was so thick now it was getting hard to make out Lena’s face where she stood.
The Reverend finally sighed—gave up on the cards—and smiled out at the crowd. “This is the part where I do my song and dance about the bonds of holy matrimony and the importance of commitment, folks.”
The crowd laughed, and even Mitchell and Lillian smiled.
Speed it up, Reverend. Ethan shook his head.
“About friends and family and the power of the standing up for the people you love in this crazy world we live in. Thing is, I’ve known Mitchell Wate all my life, and so I also know he could give that lecture himself.”
So let’s get on with it, Ethan thought.
Or maybe Kelted—
Because almost instantly, he saw the Casting breeze curling through the silhouette of Lena’s hair. She held up one hand and her fingers began to flutter.
“So let’s get on with it,” the Reverend said, quickly.
Ethan felt a burst of relief—and Lena’s reassuring warmth at the edge of his conscious mind.
The Reverend kept going. “We’re here to witness the sacred bond of this man and this woman in the eyes of their community—”
“Even the good Lord knows Gatlin has eyes,” Mitchell added dryly.
More laughter.
Zip it, Dad.
Ethan watched as the shadows now loomed higher than trees.
“… In the eyes of their family, and those who love them, and the eyes of God…”
Ethan watched his father as he spoke the words that would Bind him to Lilian English. He would love her and respect her and remember her and honor her.
Moments later, she was doing the same.
She held out her hand.
Mitchell fumbled in his pocket.
Finally.
Ethan stepped forward, pulling the ring from inside his own jacket. “I’ve got it, Dad.” Mitchell took it, looking relieved.
He was so relieved, in fact, that he didn’t notice it wasn’t the wedding band he’d picked out on King Street, in Charleston.
It was Ethan’s own Binding Ring.
The one he had worn on his own hand for more than a year now.
A tidal surge of ink-black night pulled toward Mitchell Wate from all sides as he slid it onto Lilian’s ring finger—
It hit Ethan with such force it almost knocked the wind out of him—
Lilian’s ring pulsed with light, almost as if it had caught fire—
And time froze.
Everything.
Stopped.
The Gatlin folks in their folding chairs might as well have been cardboard cutouts, and the Reverend himself could have been one of those wax museum dummies.
The only thing that moved in the darkness was light.
Four pulsing points of light, shining as brightly as the one that had erupted from Lilian English’s hand.
First Lena, then Link, then John and Liv. One by one, the rings on each of his friends’ fingers began to glow with a strange light.
Only Ridley sat in the shadows next to Nox—Unbound by her own choice. She watched the others as if from a great distance, looking as amazed as Ethan felt.
The Binding Rings, he thought. They’re working. At least, they’re doing something.
Lilian’s ring now burned so brightly that the light made one bright sunspot out of both her and Mitchell’s hands.
Ethan could feel Lena’s surprise in the back of his mind.
No one had known exactly what to expect—but as luminous rays and ropes of light unfurled in an interconnected web between each of the Binding Rings, Ethan knew it would have been impossible to imagine this.
He longed to be a part of it, but the more he watched the energy spread across the field, the harder the dark wave pressed against him.
Ethan gasped for breath.
He didn’t know how much longer he could stay on his feet. He felt like his chest was going to collapse from the pressure and the pain—
What’s happening, Ethan? Lena’s voice appeared in his mind, rolling toward him if from far away.
They’re here, L—
Ethan forced himself to Kelt the words. They might as well have been written on his brain with fire, but he kept going.
It’s Silas—and his soldiers—
He could feel Lena recoil.
Ethan!
He staggered to stay on his feet. As he did, he felt her warmth spreading through his mind.
I’m okay, L—
Ethan tried to focus through the pain.
He could see the building darkness pushing in on the bright web of light, from every side.
Shadowy creatures—faces and figures made only of darkness and hate and spite—crawled up from the dirt and sunk down through the thickly fogged air.
They’re horrible, Lena shouted in his mind. I can feel them all, Ethan. Even just from my connection to you. We have to finish this. You won’t be able to keep this up.
Ethan nodded, even though she couldn’t see him.
He was almost too exhausted to think.
It’s time for the Battle of Honey Hill, L—
The real one—
Ethan could no longer see Lena across the clearing, only the bright ball of light—Binding Light, he guessed—that now occupied the place where she had stood.
He pulled himself straight, peering into the shadow world that now surrounded him…
Bring it, Silas.
He took a deep breath.
It’s time.
Ethan kept his eyes fixed on the Greenbrier crypt in the distant shadows beyond his friends’ dazzling light, where so much had happened on the night of Lena’s Claiming.
He watched as the five bright bursts of light—his friends, the people he trusted most in the world, now even with the life of his own father—moved into position.
Only they weren’t just his friends anymore.
They were a constellation.
A universe.
The light made trails as it moved through the shadow.
It was almost exactly like watching shooting stars pulse across the sky, and the thought was comforting. It reminded Ethan of nights on the back porch, with his family and Lena and even Liv, as they’d tracked the Casters’ Southern Star.
Yes.
Just like that.
Let the light help you, Ethan.
The Circle of Protection is greater than itself.
For a moment Ethan thought it was Lena Kelting to him, but then he recognized the voice, and it wasn’t Lena’s.
It was the Lilum.
He had to trust her.
He had to believe that he could see this through.
We’re all right here, Ethan.
It was Lena Kelting to him now.
Ethan knew it was Lena who now stood facing him, at the far end of the meadow church. She stepped free from the chairs, standing tall, exploding in green and gold flames.
He also could tell it was Link who took his place on Ethan’s right, just as they had planned. Ethan would have known it was Link even if they hadn’t planned it that way, though; Link had always been his right-hand man, one way or another. It was his rightful place, where he belonged. Link’s light was cooler than Lena’s, an explosion of ice and silver, like some Sirensong album cover he would have been all too proud of.
Ethan sensed the pulsing ball of sunshine and fire on his left was Liv, as steady now as she had ever been as a friend.
The light that had to be John moved out from behind the makeshift altar.
The others lent their powers too—even if there was only one Ravenwood on the side of Light. Macon rose slowly from the center of the chairs, fog swirling around him. Later, no one in Gatlin would ever recall seeing him at all.
He reached his hand to touch the nearest stream of light.
Gramma, who stood next to him, slowly followed.
Then Del, on his other side.
Marian, in front of them all.
Together, they—all of them—had formed both a circle, and a circle within the circle. Shooting rays of light exploded from the circles on every side.
Eternity within eternity, Ethan thought. Worlds without end.
Like so many spokes on the Wheel of Fate—
Like an old irrigation plow rolling to bring water to a dead field—
Like the tires of Lila’s car as they skidded off the road—
All of those moments were present in this one.
The past and the future were now.
Now—
Now, L, Ethan Kelted.
He watched as the brilliant sphere of light that was Lena stretched into the air, pulling itself into something so much bigger than just one person could ever be.
Ethan imagined her spreading her hands slowly in the air, and a delicate, luminous bubble radiated out from her until it was so large it had enveloped the entire meadow—connecting each of her friends and family, one to the next.
Even Nox, who sat in the front row, was now inside the protected space. Unlike the Mortals, he could move. He didn’t, though, not even as the sound of laughter echoed over him.
“A light show?”
Silas.
Ethan knew it was his voice, even if he couldn’t see him.
“Magic tricks? Girly soap bubbles and friendship circles? Is that the best you can do?” The dark words echoed out across the clearing, and for a moment Ethan thought the shadows themselves were speaking. “Hardly a match for the brute power of the Dark.”
“Isn’t it?” Ethan raised his voice, shouting up at the night. “I don’t see you penetrating this Circle of Protection, Silas. So yes. My friends are the best I can do.”
A surge of breathless black pounded Ethan, and he stumbled.
He raised his face, defiant. “Show your face, you coward.”
“Careful what you wish for, boy.”
The dark waves pounded him again and again. Ethan’s skin burned from the searing cold—the absence of life and love, of everything but hate and fear.
All around him the brilliant web of light shuddered, but held fast.
Then the darkness receded and left only pain.
It crept up Ethan’s legs, spreading across his arms. His head pulsed, and for a moment he thought his brain itself would explode.
I will not give in to it.
I will not back down.
He raised his voice again. “Leave us alone, Silas. Leave this place and never return. This is my home. My friends and my family. This isn’t about Link or Abraham or any one person, not anymore. For the last time, let it go. You have to stop.”
“Stop?” Silas laughed harder. “Do you have any idea what you’re trying to stop?”
“I’ve got the basic idea,” Ethan said, as he felt his anger rising above his pain.
“You’re ants, you Mortals. Maggots and spiders. Soon you’ll be trampled beneath our feet.”
“Yeah? Then come out and show yourself!” Ethan finally shouted. “If you’re so powerful, and we’re so weak, where are you? What are you hiding for, Silas?”
Ethan felt a cold current shudder past him.
Silas’s face appeared in front of him, hovering less than an inch away from his own. “Who’s hiding, boy?”
Then Ethan saw only a flash of silver—
And the blade was at his throat before he could say a word.
“Go ahead,” Ethan said, forcing himself to look at Silas. The Ravenwood’s eyes were two black pools, as dark as his face was pale. “Do it. I’ve been dead before. You can’t scare me.”
As Ethan said the words, he realized they were true.
I’m not scared. I can’t be. It’s up to me this time.
Silas couldn’t hurt any of them—or anyone at the ceremony—as long as they stayed together in the Circle of Protection. But that also meant they were trapped inside it. Only Ethan was outside the circle, alone in the dark.
Only Ethan could fight Silas.
That was why he’d given his ring to Lilian.
Not just to keep Lilian and his father safe, but to keep Ethan free to fight without risking the others.
He had no choice.
So he looked at the web of light and began to Kelt.
Don’t move, L.
I know you’re in there.
I also know you’re the most powerful Caster of them all.
You’re the air the others are breathing, the river that keeps the other fish from suffocating.
No matter what happens to me, you can’t break the circle.
Promise me.
You have to promise.
He couldn’t see Lena’s face, but he could feel her surrounding him with light, and lighting the way inside him as she spoke.
I promise, Ethan.
You’ve defeated death itself—
Come back to me from the Otherworld—
Wandered with me through the Underground—
No matter what happens, I know you’ll always be with me.
Because you’re my Wheel of Fate—
And because I love you, Ethan Wate.
Ethan reached his fingers out to the light in answer.
I love you too, L.
The light washed over him with a shock of electric buzz that he only remembered from the early days, before he and Lena could touch, and he smiled.
Ethan took a deep breath and twisted himself in Silas’s grip. “I’m not scared,” he said again.
Silas pressed the knife deeper into the flesh of Ethan’s neck. “That’s too bad. I should scare you,” he said. “Unless you’re stupider than I realized.”
Maybe I am, Ethan thought.
Silas dragged his silver blade, raking it up the length of Ethan’s neck.
Ethan kept his eyes focused on the web of light as he felt the warm flush of blood fleeing his body.
“I gave you a chance. Remember that.”
Silas laughed. “So generous, for a dead man.”
“You do what you gotta do,” Ethan said. “And so will I.”
Silas ripped his blade free of Ethan’s skin and raised it again—
A flood of Dark Demons came rushing out from the blade, hurling forward in great vomiting torrents—as if every demon Silas had ever controlled was now at his command—here in the meadow at Greenbriar.
The shadow world descended from Silas’s blade—
Devouring Ethan alive—
No
No
No
No
No
I can’t—
It’s too much—
“Macon’s pet Natural will be next,” Silas growled. “Then Abraham’s murderous Incubus.” He smiled. “Then maybe your father, in exchange for mine, eh?”
No—
Ethan closed his eyes.
He could feel the demon creatures crawling over him now, inhabiting him, consuming him. He flashed on glimpses of them as they screamed in his mind.
Leathery wings.
The stench of sulfur.
The air was burning.
His skin was burning.
Writhing snakes.
The landscape became bones, became fire.
The meadow became a lake full of corpses.
The air was thick with buzzing lubbers.
They crawled inside his mouth, choking him when he tried to scream.
The trees became water towers, dropping with bodies.
The ground beneath his feet became air, and he was falling, falling—
Lena!
I can’t—
L
E
N
A
.
.
.
It was her voice that finally cut through the pain.
Ethan!
Listen to me.
You have to find the strength to fight.
I’m right here.
We’re all okay.
They can’t hurt us.
It’s holding, can you see?
It’s working.
The circle within the circle.
Worlds without end.
But you have to fight.
Do you hear me?
We are stronger than we think, Ethan.
Stronger, and better.
All of us.
Ethan nodded.
He tried to push himself toward Silas, but his knees began to buckle.
He tried to claw at the shadows, but they danced around him, fast as flame.
All around him he could hear the darkness laughing—
And then another voice—
Great plan, guys!
Another laugh—
Someone deserves a medal.
Seeing as you’re all stuck in your big old Day-Glo Hula Hoop.
And Boyfriend here just got some super-nice new air conditioning for his jugular.
And with that, Ridley overtook what remained of Ethan’s conscious mind.
You may be stuck, Cuz—
And you may be half-dead again, Boyfriend—
But I’m not.
I’m not in your stupid sharing time circle, thank god.
Not anymore.
And you have no idea what I’m capable of.
Ethan opened his eyes—
Ridley—
Ridley raced through the Dark flames that surrounded the meadow now. As she moved, the Dark fire began to burn the meadow as powerfully as any Mortal fire, and the sky was now filled with not just evil, but billowing black smoke.
The trees were black and scorched, and orange flame beat against the shimmering bubble of light. As Ethan struggled to stay conscious, he could also feel Lena struggling to keep the circle lit—
Ridley, Lena called, sending a blast of energy in her direction—
Ethan nodded. You can do it, Rid—As the words formed in his mind, Ethan didn’t know if he was Kelting or praying.
He heard only a laugh in return.
Of course I can—
Ridley reached Silas before he even saw her—
Her hands had become blades, flaming swords, like some kind of avenging angel from a long-forgotten scroll.
Her eyes blazed violet and green and gold—
As she rolled into Silas, they exploded into a ball of energy and blood and light and noise—
Ethan willed himself to stay conscious. He reached out in his mind to anyone who could hear.
Hold the circle—
Hold—
The explosion rocked the clearing.
Ethan felt the ground ripping open beneath his feet.
Silas was screaming—
Hold the circle—
Then Ethan blacked out.
When Ethan opened his eyes, he was standing behind his father in front of the rows of white chairs.
“… I thee wed.” Lilian English smiled.
Ethan looked around, surprised.
The ring that sparkled on Lilian English’s finger was her own, the one Mitchell Wate had picked out for her at the very start of their engagement.
The Binding Ring was gone.
That wasn’t all.
The Dark fire was gone, just like the Mortal flames.
The demons had vanished.
Gone were the hybrid creatures and the Dark creatures and the rising shadows.
There was no sign of Silas Ravenwood, or his silver demon blade.
Ethan reached up for his neck, feeling for blood.
There was none.
Ethan only saw Lena, smiling at him from across the sea of chairs. The threat was gone. This was just his father’s regular old Gatlin wedding, as threatening or non-threatening as that may be.
Ethan could feel it, and he exhaled in relief.
The Reverend closed his book with a sly grin. “What are you waiting for? You may now kiss the bride.” Mitchell leaned forward, and their kiss was the sweetest kiss two oldish people in the middle of a Caster County meadow in the aftermath of near Dark destruction probably ever had.
Link couldn’t have told you that, though. He was too busy kissing someone else.
When he came up for air, all he could do was smile. “Sweet redeemer… Ridley Duchannes… if I didn’t love you so much I’d hate you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’d be right there with you, Hot Stuff.…”
Mr. Mitchell Wate and the new Mrs. Lilian English-Wate ducked their way through the birdseed and cheering and climbed into the open door of the old Ravenwood hearse, windows down. Nox Gates had offered to drive, in fact he’d insisted on it; he couldn’t wait to get out of town, and Lena’s grandmother had been particularly keen on getting rid of him. She’d been keen on a few other safety measures as well; another Caster would be waiting at the Charleston airport. Likewise, there would be someone at the Barbados house Lena’s Gramma had insisted on offering them, impersonating a cook.
Precautions were necessary, and after today it was impossible to think otherwise. You just couldn’t have too many Circles of Protection, when it came right down to it.
Still, it didn’t make for any less happy a wedding. And at least Ethan now knew that Silas Ravenwood would be out of the picture for a good, long time, if not forever, if not for a good, long time.
Link slid one leg over the seat of John’s old Harley. “Can’t believe he left this thing behind.”
“I can,” Rid said, slipping in behind him. “Poor guy.” That said, she seemed to have no problem knowing right where to put her hands.
Muscle memory, Lena Kelted.
Some things never change, Ethan Kelted back.
“I’ll miss you,” Lena said.
“We just need some time,” Ridley answered her cousin.
“And maybe a couple Advil,” Link said, cracking a smile. “Maybe a couple hundred.” He shoved one booted foot down on the gas, looking over his shoulder to Ridley.
She nodded and pulled on her helmet. “See ya, losers.”
“See ya, Cuz.” Lena took a step back.
“Hey,” Ethan said.
Link raised an eyebrow.
“You watch out for yourself, will you?”
“Me? You’re worried about me?” He scoffed at Ethan, making a fist. “Gun show, remember?”
Ethan shrugged. “Not worried. Just… I’d kind of like to have you guys in my future, you know?”
“You mean like a best man?”
“Shut up. Maybe. Someday.”
Link grinned. “Dude. Don’t you get it? I’ve been your best man all along. What makes you think I’d stop any time soon?”
Ridley’s arms circled his waist as he laughed, and she leaned her head against his back.
Then Ethan heard the Ripping sound, and they were gone.
John and Liv were the last to go, but once they had taken off for the airport, quiet descended over Ravenwood Manor like the snug lattice of a well-cut pie crust.
Everyone was gone now.
The sun was setting; Ethan and Lena watched it slip down behind the river, sitting with their backs against Lena’s bed. Her room, which Ravenwood had itself once again turned translucent, allowed for a perfect view.
“I’ll miss this,” Ethan said.
“I know. I can’t believe it’s almost September.”
“Two down. Two to go.” Ethan counted the years that kept them apart the way he and Link used to count the days until summer.
“Shut up. You love school.”
“Not as much as I love some other things.” Ethan smiled at her, and fumbled in his pocket—which only reminded him of his father looking for Lilian’s wedding ring, hours earlier. The thought made his stomach lurch and his face turn red. All this talk about weddings…
Still, he pulled something out of his pocket and pressed it into Lena’s hand.
A ring. Engraved. A circle within a circle, coincidentally.
“What is this?” She looked surprised.
“It’s for you. I figured, seeing as you lost one ring today.” Every Binding Ring had been lost today, not just the one Ethan had given Lilian English; they’d simply vanished. Liv was already working out the physics of it all, and Ethan knew she’d crack it eventually. But for now, it was a mystery.
“Ethan—it’s beautiful.” It actually wasn’t. It wasn’t much more than an old piece of tin, probably.
“You’re beautiful,” he said. She really was.
She smiled, examining the ring more closely.
He watched her take it all in.
“It was my mom’s. I found it in her jewelry box last week, when I was supposed to be looking for cuff links, and I kept it out. Marian said she got it when she was admitted into the Southern Scholars Honors Society, right after she finished her PhD.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I know it’s old. And it’s not real silver. And I’m guessing it’s worth about twelve dollars.”
“Even better.” She smiled, and he knew she really did think it was.
“Well, it meant something to her, and she meant something to me, and I knew that would mean something to you, if that makes any sense.” He knew he was rambling now, but he didn’t care.
“Perfect sense.” Lena’s eyes were sparkling.
“I know we have a whole lot of our lives still ahead of us. So I don’t want to get, you know, creepy or anything.”
“So our future is creepy now?” She laughed.
“You know what I mean. But the way I figure it, you’re you, and I’m me, and I can’t imagine ever being with anyone else.”
“I know.”
Ethan took a breath. “I tried to think about what it’s like to be with you. Like, the words for it. You’re not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
“It’s, well, it’s… an honor.”
“A what?” She looked pretty horrified, if he was being honest.
He didn’t stop. He had to get the words out. Sometimes the truth was just like that. “Loving you, Lena Duchannes, is the greatest honor of my life. Even knowing you would be, but this—well, this is better.”
“Ethan.”
“I’m not afraid of what’s going to happen to us. The universe can end all over again, and I’ve finally realized it doesn’t matter.”
“No?” Lena smiled wistfully. “You’re not holding out for a fairy-tale ending?”
Ethan shook his head. “This is real, and this is ours. This is my forever, as long as it lasts, and I’ll take it. Some forever with you is better than a thousand forevers with anyone else.”
“Even a fairy?” Lena blinked back tears, though she was smiling. She wiped her eye with one hand—and then used the same hand to wipe Ethan’s.
“What would I want with a fairy?” He kissed the back of her now tear-streaked hand. “And like I said, even this, it’s an honor. Just to be clear.”
“I believe you mentioned that.”
“Marry me, don’t marry me. Save the world with me or not. Love casts a long shadow, Lena Duchannes. I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out before.”
“You did. We both did. I think we worked all that out standing in the middle of Route Nine in the rain.”
Ethan tangled his fingers affectionately in her curls. “Maybe. All I know is, my mom is sitting on our back porch in some sunny other dimension, loving Macon Ravenwood as hard as he loves her, even if it’s only from his dark dungeon of a library. And Amma’s heart is so big I can almost hear it pound, even though there’s a sky between us.”
“Because love is the thing that stays,” Lena said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
That’s right, Ethan thought. He didn’t even have to answer. She heard the words as he thought them.
Because love.