Mercy’s ooga-chaka baby virus that saved the world was classic, and the team had high-fived her over that. She and Baddar had done some hiking around the sights, then joined them here. They weren’t yet talking marriage, but they’d become inseparable.
At the edge of the water, Leif sat with Iskra and Taissia, making sandcastles. They’d both vowed never to let the little firecracker out of their sight again. And Leif had heeded Adam’s warning to “put a ring on that.” He dug in the sand and framed out what looked like a book. In the center, he dropped the box, then covered it, his heart thumping harder than usual.
“What are you doing?” Iskra asked, shifting to look at him. She leaned closer, her long dark hair teasing his shoulder. “Is that a book?”
Leif smirked at her wrinkled nose. “Do you remember at the Pearl—the first time”—he squinted up into her eyes—“what you said to me?” He stretched out, giving his still-aching leg wound relief as he continued writing on his sand sculpture.
“Which time?” Confusion pinched her expression as she again looked at what he was building.
“Before you jumped into the churning sea.”
A smile slid onto her olive complexion. “Letters of Marque.”
“That’s right. A special license to capture vessels of a nation at war, then basically a transfer of ownership.”
Iskra seemed truly confused. “So?” She laughed. “Is this—”
“Go on.” He pointed to it. “Break the seal.”
With a bemused smile, Iskra dusted her hand over the book he’d made of sand. Buried in it, she found the package he’d wrapped. Drew it out. “What is it?”
“Open it.”
She removed the butcher paper. “Shoes?”
He grunted. “No, that was the only box I had. Look inside.”
She removed the lid, and her lips parted. Wide, melty eyes locked on his.
“I thought, since that thing brought us together . . .” He nodded at it. “Keep going.”
She gently opened the leaves of the Book of the Wars, her mouth still hanging open, and found what he’d hidden. “A ring.”
“You issued a Letter of Marque at the Pearl—and now I insist you make good on that special license.” He slipped his hand behind her neck and drew her closer. “We were at war, you captured me, and now you have to take ownership.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Oh, it’s too late for that.” He pulled a folded paper from the book. “See, this is a marriage license.”
She gasped. “But—how? They said—”
“When will you learn that I have powers?”
“Enhanced abilities,” she corrected, stealing the words he’d always shot at the team.
“That too. After saving the world, a lot of people owed me favors. So I called them in. Your citizenship is official. And, apparently, so is our marriage. As of today. On this beach.”
Tear slipped down her cheeks.
Leif faltered, his bravado lost. He swallowed, realizing that, with his nerves over his unofficial-official wedding thing, maybe he’d done this wrong. “Did I screw up again? I thought you wanted—”
“No—yes.” She shook her head. Hands framing his face, she kissed him. “I never thought after Hristoff that I would find this.”
Relief chugged through him as he slipped the ring on her finger. “Find? You captured me, woman!” He kissed her back. “I am, forever and always, your prisoner. You get me and a lifetime of bad jokes.”
“I know where you can get a quick divorce,” Cell called.
“Hey—you were supposed to be leaving!”
“Me or Iskra?”
Leif surged toward Cell, but Iskra called him back. “Hey, I thought you said you were my prisoner.”
He dropped next to her. “Man, I feel the ball and chain already.”
Iskra gave him a demure look and leaned in to kiss him.
As he took her into his arms, epiphany struck: the truth he’d been looking for hadn’t begun to unfold when he’d taken matters into his own hands. It had started that day at Aperióristos Labs, when Iskra walked into that facility, took aim at his heart, and irrevocably altered his course. Far more than the Netherwood project ever had.
That was love. And it wasn’t a ball and chain . . . it was an anchor that had saved him amid a storm rising, kings falling, and a soul raging.
Ronie Kendig is the bestselling, award-winning author of over twenty-five novels. She grew up an Army brat, and now she and her hunky hero are adventuring on the East Coast with their retired military working dog, VVolt N629, and Benning the Stealth Golden. Ronie’s degree in psychology has helped her pen novels with intense, raw characters. Visit Ronie online at www.roniekendig.com.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Books by Ronie Kendig
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part One 1
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Part Two 21
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Epilogue
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
List of Pages
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