Page 98 of A Spark So Bright
Gunnar placed his hand on her back, and she could feel the tugging of his magic. Not yet. Not until the king believed.
The queen reached for Egil, her hand hovering in the air in front of his face. "Tell him there was a time when he knew what romance was. He would have chased me across the entire kingdom with the hounds nipping at his heels if he could have gotten one more day with me. He knows what love is."
Rose smiled. "She's touching your face, King Egil, asking you to remember how much you loved her, and how you would have chased her across eternity for one more memory. She says you know what love is, and that you need to remember it."
Then she released her magic, feeling the surge of it flowing into Gunnar's hands so that he could conjure the queen.
She stood in front of her husband, regal and poised, with her hand just in front of her husband's face.
The king fell to his knees.
He couldn't touch her. She was just a spirit, after all, and his hands went through her hips when he tried. But he stared up at her with a lost expression and tears in his eyes. "What magic is this?" he begged. "What tricks do you two play?"
Rose shook her head. "No tricks, just the ability of a bonded pair."
Gunnar rumbled, "How would I even know what she looked like, Egil? She died long before I could have met her."
Then the queen herself was the one to speak, and Rose could see how the sound of her voice shot through him like a hundred arrows. "My love. You would have granted clemency years ago. I remember how you would laugh when the young ones disappeared with their lovers, and how you and I would soon disappear after them. Do not let hate fester in your heart. Give them this chance, and may they gift us all with glimpses of those we love. Because we have never left you."
Tears streamed down his eyes. Then she felt the flexing of Gunnar's magic again, giving the queen more form. The king couldn't touch her, but she could touch him. The queen cupped his cheek in her hand, and he fell into her touch like a starving man.
"I love you," the queen said. "I never left, darling. How could I? You're still here."
A broken sound erupted out of him, and then the queen turned to them with tears glittering in her eyes. "Release me, Gunnar and Rose. I will remain as I always have, but if I may grant one pardon beyond the grave, it would be for the two of you. Go. Love each other well. And give more people the same gift you have given myself and my husband."
The magic faded, slowly, and she disappeared into the shadows where Rose could still see her crying. Happy tears, though. Very happy tears.
King Egil remained on his knees, his wings draped around him, a hulking, broken mass of a man. But he looked up at them and nodded. "Whatever my wife says," he said. "Pardoned. Now go and love each other."
Thirty-Eight
Gunnar
Gunnar felt all the fears and worries drain out of him. The king had pardoned them. They'd broken the rules, but now he could finally relax. He could look at Rose and know that she was going to be his forever, for as long as she wanted him at the very least.
The only problem was that he didn't know what they were going to do next. They were bonded. Technically, a blood witch had overseen the bonding, and that meant the ceremony that all the others got wasn't going to be the same as the one they did. She deserved better than that. She deserved the entire world, and that was what he was going to give her.
Gunnar stepped away from Rose for a moment, approaching Bjorn. "I need your help with something."
"You need my help with a lot of things," Bjorn grumbled, punching him in the shoulder. "You got yourself paralyzed and then bonded to a woman without knowing that you did?"
"Oh, I knew. I was awake for all of it."
"And you didn't try to stop her? Knowing what the connection was?"
Gunnar gave him a look. "Did you try to stop Astrid? You could have kept her away from that knife, knowing exactly where you were and what was happening. But you brought her in there and let her touch whatever she wanted. At least I was paralyzed and couldn't have stopped Rose if I tried."
Bjorn looked more and more unimpressed the longer Gunnar spoke. But finally he grunted out a noise that was clearly supposed to be one of admission, before he asked, "What do you want from me?"
"Have Astrid get a dress for her. I want to surprise Rose with some kind of ceremony, even if the binding is already done. You, me, her sister... Bring Ragnar too. He'll want to give me away." Gunnar's mind was already racing.
There were a lot of pretty places in this kingdom to choose from, more than most. But he knew she liked the wisps, and that gave him a perfect idea for where he wanted to show her how much he truly adored her.
"Ragnar won't be giving you away," Bjorn replied.
"Of course he will. He knows about this already and worked through his anger. Unlike you."
"Men aren’t given away to their brides."
