Storm's Rapture | Storms Series: Book 1 (This is a Co-Write)

Chapter 70: Rosanna

AN: The Piarari Key is below for reference. Be sure to drop some comments as you read. Enjoy!

Piarari Key
Vasia (vah-sia): snowflake

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cyris and I stood in my mother's potion laboratory the next evening. We'd spent the day sequestered in the laboratory, studying the recipe and figuring out how to handle the ingredients. And finally, we were ready to start brewing the potion. I turned on the burner and Cyris filled the cauldron with water. This was going to be tricky. I grabbed a couple of jars of herbs off the shelves and added a sprig of each to the mortar before grinding them up. Cyris watched me work with interest. I took a spoonful of the mixture and added it to the cauldron of boiling water before sprinkling the rest in. I gave the mixture a stir and turned to Cyris.

"Can you pass me the sage please?" I asked.

All the jars were labelled, so he had no trouble finding it. He handed me the jar and I dropped a couple sprigs of sage into the cauldron.

I created a few ice cubes and dropped them into the cauldron and then I looked at the jars again.

"What are you looking for?" Cyris asked.

"Pine needles," I replied. Cyris helped me look through the shelves and he managed to find it. He handed it to me, then I took out a pinch of pine needles and dropped them into the cauldron. I put the jar away and gave the mixture another stir.

"This is really tedious...you must be really bored," I stated as I stirred the mixture a bit more.

"Bored? No way! It's so cool to me how you can take these ingredients and turn them into a liquid that can do so many different things!"

I smiled at him and wrapped an arm around his body.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this, my love," I told him as I put the lid on the cauldron. "Now the 'fun' part. Waiting. According to the recipe the potion will take several hours to finish brewing. It probably won't be finished until sunrise. We'll need to bottle it when it's ready, so we should probably spend the night here...that is...if that's okay with you?"

"Sure! Whatever we have to do, Vasia," he stated.

I found a box of matches in my mother's desk and lit a fire in the fireplace and the room got a bit warmer. As the glow from the fire fell on Cyris, I couldn't help but take a few moments to admire him. His inky black hair was pushed back away from his face and his warm hazel eyes seemed to glow in the light from the fire. This man was perhaps the most caring person I'd ever known. We didn't always agree, but we cared for each other and he was everything to me. My solace...my sanctuary...my safe haven stood in front of me and I found myself wanting to marry him here and now. It had crossed my mind once or twice since I'd returned to the world of the living, but I never had a chance to voice my thoughts. We were alone now, so this was a good time to do so.

"I've been thinking..." I began. He glanced at me, giving me his full attention. "Before we get to Espor...I need to know...would you be willing to exchange wedding vows with me? I know it's not the same as a real wedding, but..."

"YES!" he blurted out. "Yes, yes! A thousand times yes!"

I blushed and gave him a soft smile. "Did...did you want me to go first or did you want to go first?" I asked.

His eyes widened in fear. "Wait, now?! Oh, well, I'm not actually prepared, Vasia..." he admitted.

I blushed more. I shouldn't have sprung this on him like that, but I'd been thinking about this for a while. There were so many things I wanted to tell him. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him and my brush with death had only made me want to marry him more. We were going to be walking into a war very soon and I wanted to walk into that war as his wife. I wanted to call myself his and I knew it wouldn't be official, but this was the best we could do given the circumstances.