Waging War (39 page)

“Hey, Saira!” Ringo called from somewhere
over my head.

We both looked up. There was Ringo, sitting
on a rafter above the altar where he had probably heard every word.
He waved cheerily at us and then called out again. “I dare ye.”

I had no idea if he was daring me to climb
or daring me to marry Archer. All I knew is that he had given me a
reprieve from my brain-freeze and I could have kissed him for it.
Archer knew it too, because he smiled and released my arms. “Go,”
he whispered. “Show him how it’s done.”

I
did
kiss him, which surprised us
both.

And then I ran.

I sprinted the length of the nave and
bounded up the main altar. I was probably going to hell for
desecration of a holy piece of furniture, but I figured I was
already going for much more egregious transgressions, and I needed
the height.

From there, I leapt to the window sill,
which I used as a springboard to the heavy chandelier that hung
over the altar. Because chandeliers actually beg for it.

The chandelier did that thing they always do
when someone jumps forward to grab ahold of them – it swung. Away
from Ringo’s rafter, which was to be expected, so I had to use my
own body weight to give it forward momentum. This wasn’t a new
move, or even a particularly creative one, but the rafter I was
going for was higher than the chandelier. It was, in fact, the same
height as the one the heavy brass fixture hung from. Consequently,
I wasn’t gaining momentum so I could let go, I used the momentum to
flip myself forward and up onto the arms that held the lights.

The fixture beneath me now swung wildly
without my weight to steady it, and I had to use my hands and feet
like a monkey to make it up the chain. Then it was just a
playground swing up to the top of the rafter, and a balance-beam
run to the corner where Ringo sat grinning at me.

There was applause from Archer and Bas below
us. I waved, and then dropped down to sit next to Ringo with my
legs dangling over the edge.

“Pretty fancy,” he said graciously.

“The fact that I didn’t even see you get up
here means you did it in stealth-mode. Which way did you come?”

Ringo pointed out his route, which was
definitely less showy than mine had been, but would have taken a
lot less effort too. Then we sat in companionable silence for a
moment, watching Bas show Archer around the church and talking in
tones too low for us to hear.

“So, are ye goin’ to do it?” Ringo finally
asked.

“Marry him?” I couldn’t look at Ringo, so I
kept my eyes on the two Vampires.

“Yeah.”

I shrugged. “I’m too young.”

“Hmm.” He made a non-committal noise in his
throat. “What’s marriage mean to ye, then?”

I looked at him then, but there was nothing
piercing or particularly focused about his gaze. It was like he was
just shooting the breeze with his question. Somehow, that made me
relax.

“It’s a promise, I guess. A legal contract
that says ‘I promise to be your partner for life.’ And after that,
there’s kids and a house—”

Ringo cut me off. “We’re not talking about
after ‘cause ye can’t take more than a step at a time without
trippin’ over yer own boots. Do ye ‘ave any plans of promisin’ to
be anyone else’s partner for life?”

I scowled. “Of course not.”

He looked sideways at me. “Would ye want ‘im
to choose anyone else to be his life partner?”

“No.” My tone of voice made it very clear
exactly what I thought of that idea.

Ringo shrugged. “Ye’ve pretty much already
made the promises to each other. It seems the only thing missin’ is
the legal bit.”

“But why does that matter?”

Ringo turned my chin and made me look him in
the eyes. “Because it’s the one thing no one can take from ye.
Look, anythin’ could ‘appen, right? For ‘eaven’s sake, ye could get
lost in time as much as either one of ye could die doin’ the things
ye do. And then ye’d just be … done. But with that contract, ye’d
be ‘is wife no matter what, and ‘e’d be yer ‘usband. And that means
somethin’, Saira.”

Ringo’s inhaled breath had a shudder riding
on it, and I knew we weren’t just talking about me anymore. “It
means somethin’ that ye’ve made that promise, because not everyone
gets to.”

I looked at Ringo for a long time, and I
realized his face had changed since I’d known him. The angles had
grown sharper, and the planes had widened. He had long eyelashes
framing almond-shaped eyes, and cheekbones with the faint shadow of
facial hair on them. He wasn’t a street urchin anymore, and hadn’t
been a kid in a long time. There was something hurt in his eyes
that I knew had to do with Charlie, whom he hadn’t seen since she
left 1429 with Valerie Grayson.

“Would you marry Charlie?” I asked
quietly.

“If we were to each other what ye and Archer
are – without a doubt or ‘esitation.”

“You wouldn’t think you’re too young?” My
voice dropped to a whisper.

“Are ye so young as all that, then? Ye’ve
fought in wars, ye’ve battled men, and ye’ve stayed alive when the
odds were against ye. Are ye really so young as yer years say?”

I shook my head no, and he touched my
cheek.

“Then do what’s in yer ‘eart, and tell yer
‘ead to mind its own business.”

I smiled at that, and he grinned back. “It
was a good one, eh? Tell yer ‘ead to
mind
its business?”

I burst out laughing, and the sound drew
Archer’s and Bas’ attention up to us. We both stood to begin our
descent. “You’re a good friend,” I said softly.

“You too,” he responded.

He led the way back down his route, and we
were back on the stone floor of the church in under a minute. I
took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and strode up to Archer
where he stood with Bas. I gave Bas a kiss on the cheek in
greeting, which somehow seemed like the appropriate way to greet
him, then turned to Archer.

“I need to talk to you.”

Bas took a step back. “I’ll leave you,
then.”

I shot him a quick look, but then my eyes
were back to Archer’s. “Not in a church.”

Archer took my hand and led me outside
without a word. The night sky was blanketed with the kind of stars
you can only see when light pollution is of the hand-held,
don’t-trip-on-the-way-to-pee variety. We walked around to the back
side of the church, away from the village shops, to a small walled
garden. When Archer led me inside, closed the door behind us, and
sat me down on a stone bench in the middle of a patch of herbs, I
finally knew what I was going to say.

I looked around the garden. “Did you know
this garden was here?”

“I hoped.” His voice held all the rich, deep
tones of the man I’d loved for almost a year – but a year that
spanned centuries and with the kind of experiences that could fill
a lifetime.

“Why?” This Archer and I had never sat in my
mom’s walled garden. He hadn’t buried Henry in one outside Orléans.
He couldn’t know what they meant to me.

He tilted his head a little as he
considered, maybe wondering if I was testing him. I wasn’t really.
I already knew my answer.

“Why did I hope there was a walled garden
here?” He inhaled, as if gathering his courage. “Because it’s where
I
should
have asked you to marry me. There is a walled
garden at my father’s estate. He had it built for my mother, and
she planted everything in it herself. I never knew my mother’s
touch, or the way she looked, but I always imagined that she
smelled like the herbs and flowers in that garden. After you left,
I stayed with the Missus for several months, healing and learning
to be … myself. My father’s land borders the Wood, and often, after
his estate staff had gone to sleep for the night, I sat in my
mother’s garden thinking of you.”

He held my hand softly. “I wondered about a
life together. I wondered what you were dreaming of in that moment,
I even wondered what your favorite wildflowers were.”

“Bachelor’s buttons.” My voice was barely
above a whisper, so I tried again. “Bachelor’s buttons are my
favorites.”

He smiled. “Just the blue ones, or the pinks
and purples, whites and the deep wine colored ones as well?”

“All of them.”

He smiled. “I called them cornflowers when I
was young. They were my favorites too.”

Archer got up and wandered around the church
garden for a few minutes. He was wearing dark trousers and a black
pullover sweater that made him nearly invisible, but his eyes were
the first thing I saw when he came back. They were focused on me as
he handed me a tiny bouquet of bachelor’s buttons.

I smiled through the tightness in my throat
that threatened to come with tears when he knelt in front of me and
held my free hand. “Saira Elian, will you marry me?”

This was Archer – my Archer. He was my best
friend, the first person I wanted to talk to every night, the last
one every morning. His arms around me made me feel safe. His voice
in my ear gave me comfort. His heartbeat matched my own in every
way, and I knew that what gave him joy and peace would be the
source of joy and peace for me too.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I will marry you.”

We asked Bas and Ringo to come with us to
the walled garden. Ringo stood next to Bas, facing us and grinning
with his whole body. In one hand, I held the bachelor’s button
bouquet, and in the other, I held Archer’s hand. Bas placed his own
hands over ours, top and bottom, and looked around the garden in
delight.

“It is my honor to marry you under God’s own
roof,” he looked up at the star blanket filling the sky, “and much
easier to explain to those that would care that neither of you is
Catholic, and I am only so until the tide of my education turns
again.”

We laughed, and lightness filled every space
in my heart, mind, and body. For a moment, it felt like Archer’s
hand holding mine was the only thing keeping me on Earth, and that
without it, I could have easily floated right away. I was really
doing this. I was really marrying him.

“And as my education has been so thoroughly
steeped in words, I shall use some of my favorites to bind you in
each other’s love.”

Archer squeezed my hand, and I felt like my
smile lit up the garden.

Bas took a breath, then began. “Archer,
please repeat after me. On this day, I give you my heart.”

His eyes held mine as he said the words. “On
this day, I give you my heart.”

“I promise to be your lover, companion, and
friend. Your greatest advocate and toughest adversary, your comrade
in adventure and your accomplice in mischief, and your ally in all
things.”

Archer grinned, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I promise to be your lover, companion, and friend. Your greatest
advocate and toughest adversary, your comrade in adventure and your
accomplice in mischief, and your ally in all things.”

Bas’ voice was deep and rich. “I promise to
communicate fully and fearlessly, and pledge my love, devotion,
faith, and honor as I join my life to yours.”

My heart filled to overflowing with his
words as Archer repeated the vow to me, and when it was my turn,
the voice I was afraid had deserted me came back with full
confidence and volume. Ringo’s grin as I spoke was utterly
infectious, and by the time I got to “accomplice in mischief,” we
were all laughing.

Bas didn’t even try to keep a straight face
as he declared. “By the power vested in me, by every God I have
ever served, and all the rest there still may be, I pronounce you
husband and wife. Lord Devereux, you may kiss your Lady.”

Archer laughed out loud with a joy I had
never heard from him before, and then swooped me into a low,
dramatic dip and kissed me on the nose before he set me back on my
feet. Apparently the outrage on my face was hilarious, because all
three guys cracked up, and then promptly shut up when I threw my
arms around Archer and kissed him properly. On the lips. Like a
wife kisses her husband.

I knew my eyes were shining because I saw
them reflected in his when the kiss finally ended and we just
stared at each other, face to face, inches apart. Time may have
stopped for a while because I wasn’t aware of anything at all
except the man in front of me.

Ringo’s voice was the thing that finally
snapped me out of the blissful daze I was in.

“Ye get to kiss ‘er yer whole life, yer
Lordship. There’s two of us ‘ere who want to congratulate yer
Lady.”

I laughed as Ringo tugged me out of Archer’s
arms and pulled me into his own. He gave me a huge hug and swung me
around. I shrieked in surprise, and then surrendered. “When did you
get strong enough to pick me up?”

He set me down again and scoffed. “Ye suffer
delusions of size, milady.”

I snorted right back. “Since when do you
call me milady? And seriously, I’m huge.”

“Ye’re tall, but I’m faster and stronger and
always will be. And you became milady when you married ‘Is
Lordship.” He gave me his cheekiest grin, then kissed me right on
the mouth. “And that’s the last one of these ye’ll get until I’m
married and ye get to give it back.” My eyes must have been
enormous in my head because he laughed and let me go to hurl his
arms around Archer. They pounded each other’s backs with the hug of
brothers as they laughed.

I turned to find Bas behind me wearing the
same grin as I did watching Archer and Ringo. Bas turned the grin
to me, then took my hand and lifted the back of it to his mouth
with a courtly kiss I hadn’t seen since Tudor times. “Milady, you
have my deepest admiration and warmest congratulations.”

Milady again. The title felt itchy and
weird, and I thought I might get used to it when I was about
ninety. I hugged Bas tightly. “Thank you.”

He kissed my cheek and spoke into my ear.
“It is I who thanks you.”

I pulled back to look at him questioningly.
He smiled and took both my hands in his. “Your love makes him feel
whole, and you have given him peace our kind rarely allows
ourselves to feel. You may not have chosen this path yet had he not
asked, and I understand and respect that in your time one does not
necessarily marry so young. But I do believe in the rightness of
things. And this …” He indicated Archer and I together. “This is
right.”