Vow of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #2)

by Mary E. Pearson

The seer warned me about you. She said you were coming to cut out my heart. She spoke true. It didn’t hurt too much, now, did it? It hurt plenty. But I don’t want it back. It’s yours to keep—forever.

Kazi of Brightmist … you are the love I didn’t know I needed.

“A thousand times over, Kazi,” I whispered. “I would marry you more than a thousand times.”

Waiting for someone else to write your history was no way to live. Sometimes it was only a certain way to die.

But I had loved and been loved deeply and completely, not once but twice in my life. I would not trade that for all the riches that Montegue had to offer.

Synové’s brows pulled down defensively. “When opportunity knocks, you don’t go punching it in the face.”

Make a wish now, Kazi, one for tomorrow, the next day, and the next. One will always come true.

“Kazi of Brightmist … you are the love I didn’t know I needed. You are the hand pulling me through the wilderness, The sun warming my face. You make me stronger, smarter, wiser. You are the compass that makes me a better man. With you by my side, no challenge will be too great. I vow to honor you, Kazi, and do all I can to be worthy of your love. I will never stumble in my devotion to you, and I vow to keep you safe always. My family is now your family, and your family, mine. You have not stolen my heart, but I give it freely, And in the presence of these witnesses, I take you to be my wife.”

“I love you, Jase Ballenger, and I will for all of my days. You have brought me fullness where there was only hunger, You have given me a universe of stars and stories, Where there was emptiness. You’ve unlocked a part of me I was afraid to believe in, And made the magic of wish stalks come true. I vow to care for you, to protect you and everything that is yours. Your home is now my home, your family, my family. I will stand by you as a partner in all things. With you by my side, I will never lack for joy. I know life is full of twists and turns, and sometimes loss, but whatever paths we go down, I want every step to be with you. I want to grow old with you, Jase. Every one of my tomorrows is yours, And in the presence of these witnesses, I take you to be my husband.”

The queen once told me there were a hundred ways to fall in love. Maybe there were a hundred ways to find and give forgiveness too. I think I had already found a few of them.

Who will write our story, Jase? We will, Kazi. You and I will write our own story. And side by side, every day, that is what we do.