Vow of Thieves

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." He squeezed my hand. His brown eyes danced, just as they had the first time he spoke those vows to me. It was my turn now. I took a deep breath. Were any words enough? But I said the ones closest to my heart, the ones I had said in the wilderness and repeated almost daily when I lay in a dark cell, uncertain where he was but needing to believe I would see him again. "I love you, Jase Ballenger, and I will for all 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.

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

You have not stolen my heart, but I give it freely

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.

It doesn't always take an army to save the world. Sometimes it takes just one person who won't let evil win.

Every one of my tomorrows is yours

Maybe some lies, maybe most of them, were lies we only told ourselves.

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

Do not pass a rose without stopping to smell it. It is a gift that may not always be there.

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

Sometimes you need to own one whole day. Maybe that’s what makes you brave enough to face another.

Truly great leaders don’t have to chase love. It finds them.

I love you, Jase. No matter what happens ahead. I want those to be the last words you hear from me. I love you.

I felt myself falling deeper into the world that was Jase Ballenger. “Never. Not a thousand tomorrow’s could I ever be sorry. Trouble with you makes me glad for it. I love you with every breath I will ever breathe. I love you Jase.” “More than an orange?” he asked between kisses. “Let’s not get carried away, Patrei.

Was this what families did? Bared their souls in front of an entire room of people? Their confessions left me raw. These were the kinds of conversations I didn’t know how to have.

There is always a way out, Kazi. Blink last. Die tomorrow.

I love you Jase Ballenger, and I will for all my days.

We are easily seduced. It’s magic lures us, and we are it’s willing victims.

I’m not sure how long it will take to convince my heart to stop racing every time I’m confronted with no place to hide. Maybe a lifetime. Are you up for that?” “That’s a lot of riddles.” “I still have a few in me.” I did too.

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.

Say it again, Jase. But you already know the answer. But it’s an answer I will never grow tired of. And maybe I never tired of telling it to her.

I finally understood that history wasn’t just written on walls and in books but made in a thousand daily decisions, and some of them went wrong, some went right, and some decisions just had to be made because time was running out. Waiting for someone else to write your history was no way to live. Sometimes it was only a certain way to die.

You are the love I didn't know I needed.

Jase promised me a lifetime with him. He promised a mountain full of trees and a family that would grow to love me again. He promised we would write our own story. And I made promises too.

Every one of my tomorrows is yours.

What’s wrong with getting married again? I would marry you a hundred times over. She kissed me, berry juice still on her lips. Only a hundred? she asked. A thousand times.

Once upon a time, long long ago, before monsters roamed the earth, all the stars hung quietly in the sky, and great cities of wonder and light reached up to meet them.

Or what, Jase? What are you going to do? I am your brother!” My chest heaved. “And Kazi is my wife!