bride of vengeance
"I've made my decision. She will be my queen."
For one suspended heartbeat, nothing happened at all. The candles didn't flicker. The crowd didn't breathe. And then thunder cracked overhead — sudden, violent, utterly wrong for a night that had been perfectly clear only moments before, the kind of sound that belonged to storms, not to clear skies over a palace garden. Pain seared through my shoulder like a brand pressed straight to the bone, and I bit back a cry as a mark bloomed beneath my skin, spreading like ink through water, gold light flickering just beneath the surface before settling into something permanent.
The mate bond has been sealed.