was a legal marriage," Kristoff said stubbornly.
I raised an eyebrow at him, crossing my arms. "Possibly, but you know, I've been thinking about this, and everything I've seen and heard the last few days has left me with the idea that a group like the Brotherhood is more likely to accept as valid a marriage ceremony that I agreed to and participated in willingly over one where the groom had to bribe people to make it happen, forge the bride's signature, and bring in false witnesses."
Silence filled the room.
"That is a good point," Christian said thoughtfully, his gaze on Mattias.
The latter's face suddenly broke into a grin. "Then you are my wife."
"Don't get too excited - that's only a supposition," I said, suddenly worried that Mattias might demand marital rights. "I don't know for sure which marriage is real."
"It is a reasonable point, nonetheless," Alec said, glancing at Kristoff.
"And one which means that the reaper here could still pose a danger if Kristoff's marriage won't stand," Sebastian added, nodding at me.
I sent him a quick glare. "Even if it's true, it doesn't mean I'm any such thing. I am not going to hurt anyone."
The silence that followed that statement was filled with disbelief.
I turned to Alec as the most reasonable of the men present. "Before Anniki died, she begged me to make things right. 'Let justice roll down like waters,' she said, and I have done my best to do just that. I will find her murderer, and see that he or she receives justice for that act. But I will not persecute the innocent. I didn't want the job, but now I have it, and assuming that I am given the power to back it up, by god, I'm going to do the best I can with it. I have ghosts I'm responsible for," I said, waving my hand around the room.
My little gang had been oddly absent, but I saw now that they had just been hiding. They stepped forward now, all of them, out of the walls, from behind the furniture, and from the doorways. All of them solidified for a moment, until the room was filled with them.
Mattias's eyes bugged out of his head as he took them all in.
Ulfur strode forward until he stood in the center of the room, addressing Christian. "We will not let harm come to Zorya Pia, Dark One."
The other ghosts nodded their heads. Tears pricked in my eyes, a warm gratitude swelling in my chest.
"I see." Unexpectedly, Christian smiled. "You have quite a formidable group of champions, Pia."
"I do indeed. And it's because of them, and others like them who I might be able to help, that I will remain true to my oath to Anniki. I will be the ever-flowing stream of righteousness, but it will be my righteousness. I will not be a Zorya who destroys people without due cause."
"You won't have a choice," Mattias said smugly. He blanched somewhat when he saw that everyone in the room focused on him. The ghosts had gone back to a translucent state and were grouped together at one end of the room.
"What do you mean?" I asked Mattias.
He jerked his shoulders. "What I said. You will not have a choice about using your powers. You think you will, but you won't. You are my wife, so once the ritual is conducted, you will not be able to keep from using your powers."
I stared at him in horror. "That can't be right."
"It is. Zoryas must cleanse. It is their reason for being." Mattias looked away, but a satisfied smile lurked on his lips.
I looked aghast at the others in the room. "I will not be used like that. If that's truly the case, then I will just refuse to undergo the ritual. I'll simply remain as I am, a quasi-Zorya, someone who can't do anyone any harm."
"We're not going to Ostri?" Hallur asked.
"I'm sorry." I turned to them. "I said I'd find someone else to take you if I had to, and that still stands. I promise. Barring that, there must be someone who can show me where the entrance is."
"The entrance to Ostri is a time, not a place," Mattias said, apparently engrossed in examining his fingers. "The opening to it is triggered by the Zorya during the ceremony of light. That is the only time you can lead spirits to it."
"Well, crap," I said, as conflicted as hell. I wanted desperately to get the ghosts to their final reward,