The Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)(79)

"You're stunning," he said in a hoarse voice.

Zach arched a brow at me. "See? That is a compliment."

Adrian crossed the short distance between us and pulled me into his arms, but when I tilted my face up, he didn't kiss me. Instead, he caught my hand, pressing something hard into it.

I opened my hand and gasped. A large, oval-shaped diamond winked up at me, but in addition to the fiery colors it reflected from the overhead light, it also glittered with...darkness. I didn't understand how until I held the ring by its platinum loop and saw black diamond baguettes beneath the center stone, their color reflecting outward.

Darkness and light, just like the two of us.

I swallowed several times, but my throat still burned from the emotion overloading me. Adrian couldn't have gotten this from a hotel store, and he'd had no time to go anywhere else. 

"When? I mean, how?" I choked out.

"I bought it after you told me you didn't want to see me again." Each low, rasped word slammed right into my heart. "I've been carrying it around for months, promising myself that one day, if I didn't give up, I'd see you wear it."

With tears blurring my vision, I held my hand out, and Adrian slid the ring onto my finger.

"I only have one more hour," Zach said, breaking a moment I would've wanted to live in forever. "We will need all of it."

Adrian raised my hand to his mouth and kissed it right above the ring. Then, with a wide smile, he turned to Zach.

"Let's do this."

* * *

WE ALL RODE in the limo, but our destination turned out to be so close that we could have walked to it: St. Patrick's Cathedral. If the past hour hadn't been such a whirlwind of the impossible made real, I would've been impressed to see Brutus perched on one of the cathedral's soaring towers, beating his wings as if claiming it for himself. Then Zach walked up to the massive doors of the elaborately styled, multistory church and, with a burst of light from his hands, broke the locks open.

I followed Adrian inside. Brutus landed with a thump moments later, and then the gargoyle entered the church. If I'd thought the exterior was impressive, the interior put it to shame. Instead of pale gray-colored stone rising majestically into tall, pointed peaks, the inside walls were warm amber shades, and that effect was deepened by the countless candles that Zach somehow caused to blaze with light as we walked down the long aisle.

When we reached the altar, the curved archways and magnificent stained glass windows faded into insignificance as I turned to face Adrian. His gaze was almost feral in its intentness, but a smile curved his lips as he stared down at me.

"Do you like it?"

"It's more than memorable." Even my whisper sounded loud in the huge, empty building. "It's unforgettable."

"Adrian," Zach said, suddenly sounding even more formal than his usual stuffy style. "Take Ivy's hand."

He did, and the warm curl of his fingers around mine stilled my nervousness. I didn't know what this ritual involved, but my experience with the supernatural made me brace for a lot of pain. Still, I'd go through agony with a smile to prolong this moment. For longer than I could imagine, Adrian had been told that his choices had already been made for him. That no matter what he did or what he wanted, his life would culminate in an awful, unavoidable betrayal. Yet still, he'd fought with everything he had, and now, I was about to be an integral part of his victory.

And my victory, too. In my darkest days, I'd thought what I felt for Adrian was fate's cruel twist on top of an already impossible destiny. After all, I wasn't some great savior, prophecy or no prophecy. I was just a girl doing the best I could while knowing that it probably wouldn't be enough. But right now, I didn't have to be the last Davidian, with all of the expectations, pressures and supernatural challenges that came with that title. I could just be Ivy, and as I looked at Adrian, I didn't see the last Judian, either. I saw the man I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with, however long or short that turned out to be. I thought I'd known what happiness was, but those instances had been mere shadows and glimpses of what I felt now, with Adrian holding my hand and Zach about to tether our souls together.



       
         
       
        

"Ivy," Zach said. "Take Adrian's hand."

I did. With our hands clasped right to right and left to left, our arms formed a loose X between us. Zach closed his eyes, held his palms up and began to speak in a language I'd only heard once before.

Demonish sounded beautiful yet harsh, with each syllable a melody broken by roughness at the last moment. I didn't know the official name of the language it had originated from, but that was what Zach was speaking now. Angel-speak, I'd called it the other time I'd heard it, and I'd thought that memory had exaggerated its indescribable exquisiteness. Instead, it had dulled it. Listening to it was like having every stunning visual I'd ever seen transformed into acoustics and then poured into my mind. It was hypnotic, euphoric, and when I felt wetness on my cheeks, I realized that it had brought me to tears.