Roxy was waiting for me at the furthest edge of the boundary which surrounded The Burrows where the hills dropped away to reveal the stunning view beyond where eagles swooped across the landscape and every shade of autumn bloomed across the trees, their leaves racing through the sky on the cold wind that promised an end to their glory.
My eyes fixed on my girl as I closed the distance between us with the others clustered behind me, striding through a field of stunning wildflowers which had definitely not been there the last time I’d been out here.
Roxy looked to me with a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, now wearing a stunning blood red dress made from hand stitched lace which left her back bare and had a train which swept out around her feet. Her long, dark hair had been pinned up with loose curls escaping to caress her neck and her face was painted with makeup, her eyes lined in black and lips ruby red like the pendant she wore around her neck for me.
Fuck knew how Geraldine had transformed her in the ten minutes since I’d last seen her or where the hell she’d found that dress but my pulse hammered hungrily as my eyes feasted on the sight of her waiting there for me.
Geraldine started sobbing loudly and Darcy beamed with tears in her silver eyes which I knew were for our situation, but I couldn’t focus on that in that moment. All I could see was her. The girl who had owned my heart before I’d even met her.
“Aren’t you supposed to walk the aisle to meet me?” I asked as I closed in on her, my brothers and family clustered close.
“I told you, no bullshit,” she replied with a shrug and I noticed the bouquet of roses that had been tossed by her feet, a breath of amusement leaving me as I looked at this woman who I wanted to offer eternity to, trying not to let my heart break at the knowledge that our happily ever after would end in a few short weeks.
“Are we going for traditional vows?” Geraldine choked out but Roxy shook her head instantly.
“No. I’m just going to stand right here and tell the world he’s mine. If anyone refuses to take my word on that then they can bring it up with me themselves.”
“Always so aggressive,” I teased as I moved to stand over her, noticing the flawless makeup and perfectly styled curls in her ebony hair which shifted in the cool breeze that danced all around us. Geraldine really did work fast under pressure.
“Says the Dragon who tried to drown me.”
I shook my head, unable to believe she would bring that up right now while simultaneously wondering why I hadn’t known she would. This fucking girl would be the end of me. But I was alright with that.
“Do you have rings?” Darcy asked me as Lance moved to drape an arm around her shoulders, looking at me with an expression that told me he was both happy and devastated. Which was pretty much the sentiment of all our guests unfortunately.
“He’s a treasure obsessed Dragon, you know he’s got rings,” Caleb joked and I breathed a laugh, pulling them from my pocket and offering Roxy the one meant for me to wear.
She eyed the simple platinum band for a moment, looking up at me in surprise and I shrugged. “You said no bullshit.”
A smile broke across her face like sunshine through the clouds and she took it, stepping in to me and taking my hand, pushing the ring onto my finger without so much as a proclamation.
“I claim this man to be my husband,” she said, a ring of power to her voice which defied the heavens themselves to deny her.
“I claim this woman for my wife,” I replied, taking her lead and slipping the ruby inlaid ring onto her finger in return and giving her a hungry smile.
Geraldine started gushing about our union and the stars and some shit which I guessed was her way of making this whole thing official, but I wasn’t able to concentrate on a single word of it as I swept my girl into my arms.
Roxy’s eyes burned with love for me and I dipped my mouth to claim hers, unable to believe that I would be this damn lucky as I found the woman of my dreams in my arms and my ring firmly placed upon her finger. She lifted her shin to meet me, her fingers curling into the front of my shirt and I closed the last remnant of distance between us, kissing her breathless beneath the grey clouds without a single fucking star in sight.
She’d been right about that. We didn’t need fate or rings in our eyes to know that we belonged to one another. And right here, without any of that, I felt the power of our connection far deeper than any bond could have granted us as I laid my claim on the woman who I had hungered for for so damn long.
And I knew that even death could never tear our souls apart again now.