Lacey's Warriors (Bondmates #6) - Ann Mayburn Page 0,74

Priestess as she lifted her hands toward the sky and began to chant in an odd tone and language that Lacey’s crystal could not translate.

Gwarnon and Chel looked up as well, and Lacey followed their gaze, gasping when the stars began to fall to the Earth. At least that’s what it looked like at first, but then she realized these sparkles were materializing out of thin air, then drifting down like what she imagined the snow in heaven looked like. She would have reached out and touched one, but her hands were held tight by her bondmates.

The High Priestess lowered her hands, then spoke in a heavily accented voice that Lacey was able to understand. “The Lord of Life has heard your plea to bind your souls, and he has found you worthy. Do you, Lacey Taylor, daughter of Lady Tara Taylor, pledge yourself to these men? To be bound to them until the end of time?”

“Yes,” she smiled, the combined joy of her husband’s rejoicing filling their bond. “Absolutely I do.”

The question was repeated to Gwarnon and Chel, and they both responded with an enthusiastic yes that had the watching crowd laughing.

The High Priestess smiled, or at least Lacey thought it was a smile and said, “Then may the Lord of Life bless this bonding. May neither man nor time tear it apart.”

Gwarnon grabbed her first, kissing her hard as Chel wrapped his arms around them both. A moment later Chel’s lips replaced Gwarnon’s, then all three of them shared a kiss as best they could. Unable to contain her joy, Lacey let it out, everyone around them gasping as her overwhelming romantic love for her husbands hit them like a powerful wave. An odd, tingling icy sensation on her chest had her looking down in awe as her bondmark formed, right in the center of the slight valley between her breasts. It was somehow both strong and feminine, thick lines and primitive swirls that came together to form an eternal pattern. The black mark shone like liquid ink or the shiniest of latex, and she ran a wondering finger over the surface of her skin.

Lifting her gaze to Gwarnon, she found him staring off over her head, his lips set in a dark frown.

Abruptly, he shouted, “Sniper! Everyone down!”

Gwarnon managed to tackle all three of them and threw his body over Lacey’s. Her ears rang as a high-pitched squeal cut through the air like scream mixed with the air being let out of a balloon. Above her, Gwarnon let out a harsh grunt while Chel yelled something. The shrieking stopped, and she stared up into Gwarnon’s face, watching the life fade from both his eyes and their bond.

Then he was being lifted off her, and she was screaming, screaming so loud she thought her throat might shred. Dimly, she was aware of Jillian, physically all right but screaming as well, being hustled inside by Wythe and a contingent of guards. She reached out for Gwarnon, now surrounded by Kadothian Warriors in green armor—Healers, her dazed mind reminded her, they were healers like Chel. But as she reached out, she noticed her arms were covered in blood, as was the front of her dress. So much blood that the hem was growing sodden with it, but she wasn’t hurt.

Gwarnon’s blood. She was covered in her husband’s blood. So much…

Black spots danced around the edges of her vision as their newly formed bond strained and groaned beneath the trauma Gwarnon was enduring. She could feel him slipping away, could feel Chel’s panic as he frantically worked on her husband. While she couldn’t do anything for Gwarnon physically, mentally she threw out her energy into the bond between them, straining with all her might to somehow draw him back, to bring him home again.

Phin stepped up behind her, catching her has she swayed. Holding her against him, turning her away from Gwarnon, Lacey was confronted by the sight of the High Priestess, dead on the alter dedicated to the Lord of Life. Her awareness dimly registered that this was like a huge sacrilege, and she wondered if the Lord of Life would smite the bad guys who’d tried to kill her and her husbands on her wedding day.

There was only one woman capable of such treachery.

“Lady Melissi,” Lacey pushed away from Phin, baring her teeth as her heart swelled with hatred. “It was Lady Melissi, I’m sure of it. That fucking bitch just couldn’t stand her son being happy. I’ll fucking