Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,56

did to his old wives. I did not know why it stunned me so, but it did. I’d thought that since I had given her my favor since she was a child, the choice would be an easy one for her, that she’d automatically pick me.

Alas, she did not. She was genuinely torn between us, but instead of being upset with her, instead of getting angry with her, I gave her a smile. I could never make her go against her heart. Whatever her decision was, it would be, and I would have to learn to live with it, just as Abner would.

When neither Abner nor I spoke, Morana went on, “I don’t know if I can. To choose between halves of my heart would be impossible. I would not be able to live without the other. I can’t…” She bit her lower lip, turning her face away as she muttered, “I just can’t.”

She couldn’t choose. She couldn’t pick one of us. I did not know why, but knowing I was literally on the same level in her heart as my brother was, it gave me both confusion and acceptance. There was nothing either one of us could do.

Surprisingly, it was my brother who broke the pregnant silence of the throne room, “Perhaps… perhaps there’s another way.” When both Morana and I looked at him, Abner added, “A way where you do not have to make that choice.”

Morana shook her head once. “What do you mean?”

I wanted to say something along the lines of: yes, what do you mean, brother? But I didn’t.

“Perhaps you could belong to the both of us,” my brother explained, glancing at me for a few seconds before going on, “both Winter and Summer. Spend six months with me, and six months with my brother. The ice could never get to you if you belong to Summer, to Ishan.”

“Are you saying… are you saying I would be a wife to you both? Is that even possible?” Morana questioned, her cheeks flushed with the possibility brought before her.

I supposed I could’ve let my brother speak, since it was his idea, but I chose to answer her instead, saying, “We are gods, love. Anything is possible with us.” Sharing my wife with my brother… that would take some getting used to, especially the whole six-month thing, but this way, each one of us got what we wanted. Abner got Morana, I got Morana, and Morana got the both of us without having to cut her heart in half.

Morana gazed steadily between us, and I could see the love she held for both me and my brother. “Would you both be okay with an arrangement like that?”

“Would you?” Abner asked.

She swallowed. “I never thought I would ever be able to keep you both. I never hoped…” Morana trailed off, a smile breaking through as she gazed up at us, at Summer and Winter, me and my brother, the two gods that had somehow stolen her heart while she wasn’t looking.

I had to hand it to my brother, I guess. Perhaps he wasn’t as cold to her as I’d thought.

Her hands lifted, shaking slightly, and she reached out to the both of us. Abner and I shared a look, and we each took one of her hands in ours. Once my fingers weaved through hers, her trembling stopped, and inside my chest, my heart felt full.

Even if I could not have her every day, I would get her half the year—and of course I’d pop in randomly too, just to make sure she was alright, make sure my brother’s chill didn’t freeze her.

This… this was unheard of, but we were gods. We did not answer to a higher power or to human customs. We could do whatever we wanted, and if that meant coming up with a yearly schedule for our little arrangement, then that’s what it meant.

I could not stop the dimpled grin from growing on my face as I gazed down at Morana. My future wife. Also my brother’s future wife, but I wasn’t going to think about him right now. All I could think about was the future, and the wonders it held.

Epilogue – Morana

If someone would’ve come to me years ago and told me I would be married to both Summer and Winter, well, I would’ve laughed in their face and told them about my plan to become the village hag, the woman who never married and lived by herself on the edge of town. Maybe