“When he gently tipped his forehead onto mine, I grew still. This close, I saw every detail of his face. The bow of his lips, cut as if with the tip of a knife. The eclipses of his eyes.
“Let the aether bear witness,” he said. “I will never keep from you what you should know.” I closed my eyes. “I will never conspire against you, nor betray you by word or thought or deed. I will never, by choice, abandon you to your enemies, nor forsake you in adversity.”
The cord shivered. I could feel the heat of fever in my breath, caught in the space between us.
“In body and spirit, I am bound to this oath.” He clasped my hand to his chest. “Seo í mo mhóid shollúinte.”
―
Samantha Shannon,
The Mask Falling