“Hi,” she whispered to me as soon as she reached me. The hacker carried a bouquet of blue orchids in her hands, and she handed it to Dragon before I took both of her hands in mine.
“Hi,” I whispered as I rubbed my thumbs on the back of her hands. Her palms were sweaty, and her face was a bright red that contrasted with her blue eyes.
“Freyja,” the skald repeated loudly once Zea and I both turned to him. “She is the mistress of love, passion, life, birth, marriage, and anything that happens between a man and a woman. As a woman, she is more complicated than a man, but she understands the way humans work better than even Odin, who watches all of us.”
The skald nodded at Zea, and her face turned even redder as she smiled at me.
“Without his wife, Odin would just be a grumpy old man with too many pets,” the skald laughed, and the rest of the Nordar actually chuckled. “But with Freyja, the All Father has a purpose. He loves those around him, since that is what his wife tells him is important, and what good is a man who does not have a happy wife?”
Zea nodded and then shot me a shy glance. Her face was almost purple now because of her blushing, and she gulped a deep breath before the skald continued. “The joining together of a powerful woman who knows secrets, and a man who can benefit from her wisdom and knowledge is what our gods want for their children. They smile down on this ceremony, and they lean forward to listen for the vows you will exchange with each other. Adam?”
“Zea,” I began as I turned to her. “I have never had a best friend until you came into my life. I’ve never had someone that I felt could love me, argue with me, support me, and confide in me like you. You’ve taught me to be vulnerable to my emotions, you’ve taught me to follow my passion, and you’ve taught me to trust others. You’ve done all this for me, even when you doubted yourself at every step during our relationship. You’ve cared for everyone that has ever cared for you, and I know that has sometimes led to heartbreak. I want our friendship to last forever. I want you to be a part of my soul. I want you to never be alone. I promise to hold you in my arms before you ask me. I promise to laugh with you when you need me to. I promise to honor you as your husband and friend. I need you in my life like a body requires food, and I never want to be parted from you.”
Zea was trying her best not to cry while I said my vows, but a few tears dotted the corners of her blue eyes. She squeezed my hands when I finished speaking, nodded, and then took a deep breath.
“Adam,” she began. “I told you that I was attracted to you the moment I saw you, and the feeling only deepened the more time we spent together. You are kind, brave, compassionate, and honorable. You have seen me at my best and at my worst, but you never turned away from me, you only loved me more and then demanded that I love myself more.” Zea started blinking rapidly and then she inhaled a sniffle to combat the tears. “I never felt like I was good enough for anyone, so my relationships always turned sour, but you told me that I am perfect for you, and I think you are the perfect man, soooooo… yeah. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I was lost before I found you and Eve. Now I know my purpose in life, and even though our life’s mission might appear impossible, it isn’t. We found each other somehow in the galaxy, and you made me whole. So, I think we can do anything, and I don’t even mind if we die trying, since I believe in the kind of things that I never would have thought true, and once we pass from this world, we will all spend eternity in Odin’s hall or Freyja’s field as lovers, friends, husband, and wife. I loved you the moment I met you, and I will love you past the end of all moments.”
Zea took a deep breath and then laughed lightly. “Also, I can’t believe I made it through my whole fucking speech thingy without crying.”
Everyone in the audience chuckled along with Zea, as she knelt before me as I passed her my knife.
“Who will witness?” Zea asked as she turned her head to the crowd.
“I will witness,” the room repeated, and Zea took a deep breath before turning back to stare up into my eyes.
“I am Zea Binti Zudani Zalayhe. Only offspring of Zudani Bin Hasmad Zalayhe. Only offspring of Hasmad Bin Zalayhe.”
“She is Zea Binti Zudani Zalayhe. Only offspring of Zudani Bin Hasmad Zalayhe. Only offspring of Hasmad Bin Zalayhe,” the room repeated.
“I am Zea Binti Zudani Zalayhe. Computer programmer and hacker of two-thousand and eighty-four security systems.”
“She is Zea Binti Zudani Zalayhe. Computer programmer and hacker of two-thousand and eighty-four security systems.”
The room began to fill with electricity, and the beautiful blonde woman bit her lip as she blinked at me.
“I am Zea Binti Zudani Zalayhe,” she stuttered. “I submit my body, mind, and soul to Adam Vaish. I will serve him as consort, advisor, eyes, arms, legs, and heart. We will be bonded both in life, and when we arrive in Valhalla.” Zea winced as the point of my ornate blade sliced open the skin of her left palm, and she almost fumbled the blade as she changed hands. Blood spattered across her beautiful white dress, and she took another deep breath while the audience repeated her words. Then she cut her right palm, and I grabbed the blade when it almost slipped from her fingers.
I was used to cutting myself with a blood coated weapon by now, and my hands were quickly pouring blood. I reached for Zea as I thought about all the close moments we have shared. One stuck in my head as our fingers touched: it was when I was in the elevator of the shopping mall the second time we had met. She had just watched her boyfriend get gunned down, and we were trying to flee from enemy Elaka Nota warriors. I’d jumped down from the elevator where we were hiding, and she had offered her hand to help me up.
She could have left me at any time, Zea was a survivor, and she could have escaped our brief partnership and sold us out to Elaka Nota just like her boyfriend did, but she hadn’t. Instead, she had offered to help me because she sensed something in me that maybe I hadn’t ever known was there. She knew I was a good man, and when I took her hand then, I knew that we would end up together.
As soon as our fingers connected, the blood flowed between us, and the power filled both of our bodies. I felt twenty kilograms lighter, and my heart danced in my chest.
“I accept your submission, Zea Binti Zudani Zalayhe,” I whispered as the weight lifted from us, and then I helped her stand as the skald declared that we were bound.
The audience cheered as I wrapped my arms around Zea’s slender waist. She was crying now, and I kissed her tear filled eyelids as we held each other. Then I kissed her mouth, and the air from her body filled me like a drug.
“May I present to you all Queen Zea Vaish!” the skald announced, and the guests all clapped while Zea bowed before them. Her face was red again, and the flush had spread down her slender neck and formed a spotted pattern on her shoulders. It was too cute for me to bear, and I kissed her a final time before she took her flowers back from Dragon.
Zea surprised me and the strange dragon-man by throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek, and then I escorted her to my other wives. Both Paula and Kasta were crying, and the twins hugged Zea for almost a minute while they whispered words I could not hear in her ear. Then they parted, kissed each other on the cheeks, and Zea continued on to hug Aasne, Elana, Sivaha, and finally Madalena. All four women kissed Zea on the cheek, but Madalena also kissed her on the forehead.