ZINA
So they got married again.
In a courtyard filled with white flowers.
To music played by obscure instruntalists behind the fountain.
They had a spellbound audience, but as far as the world was concerned, it was just her and Daemon.
Falling in love over and over again. Just harder this ti. And their vows, spoken in a trance tinged with disbelief, cut harder than silence itself.
Because it was almost unbelievable to know that they have co this far.
"Zina. For the longest ti, you’ve been my moon through the storms, and my light through the ruin."
"From the day fate bound our souls, you because both my delicious curse and my cure l
"I take you again, not as the woman I lost, but as the woman who found in the dark."
"Whether in sickness or in strength."
"Whether in sorrow or in solace."
"Whether the world rises or guts to ashes around us. I will still choose you—"
"I will fight beside you. Bless beside you."
"And when peace finally cos, I will rest beside you."
"For every lifeti to co, you’re my vow made flesh."
....?
She drew in a stuttering breath, smiling as the weight of his words cut deeper than any sword would ever.
"Daemon, my heart defied the grave to find you again. Because you are my beginning, my undoing, and my ho. So I now take you again as my mate and husband."
"To love and cherish you."
"To stand by you to face the storms that will co for us, because storms will co for us."
"To be your confidante for life."
"Whether in bliss or in pain."
"Whether in joy, or in anguish."
"Whether in plenty or in despair."
"Whether the gods bless or curse our na, my choice will not falter."
"I will ride with you, reign with you, fall with you. For to love you is to live twice, and I know it, that you’re my fated one."
"In this life, and every life after, I will always remain yours."
She barely heard the howls and thunderous clippings behind them as Daemon wound his arm against her waist, tugging her closer to him and engulfing her lips in a hot kiss.
This was wilder than their previous kiss—filled with unrestrained hunger mixed with sothing tasted like victory.
Zina smiled into the kiss, wounding her fingers over his neck even as Fionna excitedly yelled sothing she couldn’t hear.
That was when she felt it. A wet drop like tears, touching her face.
Then another.
Followed by another.
But while she was indeed teary eyed, the wetness hitting her face was far too cold to be actual tears.
That was when she realized that it was snowing. And while that wasn’t a novelty in the North, it could be considered one since they were in the thaw season. When the snow lted and the cold turned mild.
So there shouldn’t be any snow.
They disengaged from their embrace, and she stared into the sky in awe.
Cold wind gusted over her face, and her world completely stilled while her eyes remained fixated on the clouds.
That was when she saw it etched on the clouds like an impossible drawing brought to life—her mother’s face smiling down at her.
The kind of smile that she never saw on her face before she died. The kind of smile that said she was now finally breaking away from her chains.
In the past year, she had co to confront a harsh truth. Searching for the reason why her mother made such a sacrifice, she found that they were no different.
She would do the sa for her own child. And maybe that’s why Brynn’s miscarriage hurt so much. Because she would rather trade her life for her unborn child than bear the mark that she was responsible for her death.
And maybe her mother felt the sa way too.
In the thirty years she was hung in chains like an animal, she must have blad herself for everything that happened to her.
Blad herself for bringing a child into the world who was no more than a pawn in the hands of her captors.
Sacrificing herself was probably her way of forgiving herself. It was also her way of lighting the path for Zina to a brighter future.
So Zina wouldn’t waste this chance again. It was true that she was still scarred and hurt by a lot, but with the man who stood before her, she wa d confident she would recover.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day.
She was confident in that much. No one who received the kind of love Daemon poured in her would remain the sa.
So she watched as her mother’s smile in the sky disappeared, leaving only snowdrops rushing downwards behind."
"What are you looking at?" He asked her, cupping her cheeks.
She sniffled and smiled. "My mother. I think she is happy. I finally saw that smile of hers that I’ve long been searching for."
He didn’t question it. Didn’t stare at her strangely. Alas, the impenetrable Daemon NorthSteed who only believed in logic had long gotten used to her and her shenanigans.
Instead, he gathered her into his arms suddenly, causing her to yelp even as her fingers wound around his neck.
"Wh.. what are you doing?" she asked, noting that she was back to a stuttering, mushy personal before him.
He grinned. "Don’t we have wedding nights to catch up with?"
That was true. They had wedding nights to catch up with as a matter of speaking, but he need not to shalessly put it that way.
Before she could blink, they were moving in a blur. And between processing the loss of sensation from the falling snow, to the sudden loss of natural light to signify they were now within the four walls of the castle, Zina had her eyes on him throughout it all.
Admittedly, despite the fact that they had been married before, she was suddenly so shy to be alone with him.
They entered his bedroom, and he gently laid her on the bed, his eyes darkening into slits.
His fingers crept up, working to free the buttons that held the top of her dress. "We shall not live apart. This will be your room as well. If you find it too small, worry not. I plan on renovating the castle so I shall turn a whole wing into our room if I must."
What?
"Um... Daemon. To... tonight is my heat. Perhaps we should wait until tonight. I am sure you have matters to attend to, and I wouldn’t want to tire you."
A dark smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "How very fitting. Tire out then as much as you will because we won’t be leaving this room until morning light cos."
And then his lips covered hers, swallowing her until they were falling freely into ruin that baked for one whole year.
.
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