There were no rings to exchange because Amelia was already wearing hers and refused to take it off and I didn’t have one. Gabriel said a prayer and then announced to our small gathering, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

I obeyed.

I leaned down and pulled her to me. I devoured her mouth in a hungry kiss that left me dizzy and wanting more. Our magics had been entwined together all night and all morning, but with the promise of forever firmly made they were free to meld completely together until they were almost one entity.

I would make sure the union was complete as soon as I could get this girl alone.

I felt the somber attitude of the morning cut through our happy moment and I reluctantly let go of my bride. I smiled down at her for one more perfect second while the light of the eastern rising sun lit up the wide open Nebraska sky in a rainbow of pinks, purples and oranges.

“I love you,” I promised her.

“I love you too,” she vowed back.

“Will you meet up with Talbott?” I turned to Gabriel, tugging Amelia against my side. She squeezed against me before slipping away to talk to her parents.

Gabriel and I turned to face Amelia and her family as they talked with Eden and Kiran in the frosted over field. Their breath puffed around them in small clouds. They laughed some, they cried some and they talked seriously most of all. This was a momentous occasion, and I was happy to be married, but not one of us would look back on this day with joy.

“Yes,” Gabriel agreed. “We are going to track down Dmitri’s brother, Alexi. Silas had decided to follow a lead that would have taken him to Columbia, so that is where we will go. I will meet them in Mexico City.”

“I want you to end this,” I instructed. “End it. Do whatever it takes.” I glanced over at him with his eyes that flickered like flames and his robes. Damn it. “Am I asking too much of you?”

“No,” Gabriel assured me. “I was created a warrior.”

I grunted at that. “As was I.”

“You will not fight anymore. You are finished. Now you will be King,” Gabriel stated asking no questions only repeating answers he had decided on. “You have become the man you were meant to be.”

I chewed on his words for several quiet moments before venturing into more personal, more dangerous territory. “And what about you? Are you the man you’re supposed to be?”

A full minute of silence before he answered me, “I am the man I am supposed to be in this moment. And when I leave here I will hunt down a new destiny. It is not the wrong path, only a different path. The man I am supposed to be has yet to be decided.”

“If you need me….” I offered, unable to respond to his cryptic riddles.

“I won’t,” He answered honestly. “And when I’m finished you won’t need me either. I won’t come back to the Citadel. Whatever happens, you no longer need me.”

He was right, but I hated what his words really implied. I hated that he would give up our Immortal world again no matter what the outcome of his search was.

“Thank you,” I said instead of all my objections.

“Avalon, thank you,” he finished with finality.

And there it was. We had both given each other purpose in life; both helped each other find the right path. And now it was time to go our separate ways. His to rescue a friend, mine to my gorgeous wife.

Amelia looked at me from across the field and I tilted my head for her to come near while Gabriel left to say his goodbyes to Eden. She came willingly into my arms and stayed there this time.

“Will you go with him?” she asked, staring up at me, her chin resting on my chest.

“No,” I shook my head. “I have decided to fight this war from my throne, from where I should have been all along.” And that was the truth. If I hadn’t been on the battlefield I could have been tracking Terletov better, more accurately. I could have suspected something like this would have happened, or done a better job of preventing it.

Or maybe I couldn’t have.

But I knew now that my place was not on a battlefield where anything could happen to me. I had a call to rule this Kingdom and for the first time in my short history as King I needed to take that seriously.

And for the first time in my short history as King, that task didn’t feel so bad. At least not when I had my Queen by my side.

“Let’s go home,” Amelia commanded. And I simply followed.

I ruled the Kingdom, but she ruled my heart.