Luther's Pride - Part 14

The sparring circle in the garden had not drastically changed from when Luther and Helena had their match, yet there were several noticeable differences. The night-blooming yellow flowers were still in full bloom, surrounding the stone dais and the paths that led to it. The light-bearing crystals around the ring were now decorated with white silk ribbons half a meter wide, draping in gentle curves between the poles. 


The servants had swept and scrubbed the ring. The night air had grown colder still. 


The guests stood outside the circle proper, looking in at the square mat stuffed with straw in the center of the ring. The Cerul family, minus Helena, gathered to one side, standing apart from the others who naturally clumped into family groups. 


Their formal dresses and jackets were typical of those worn to weddings, and the dinner, while no comparison to a proper wedding feast or celebration, was sufficient to fill their stomachs and gladden their hearts with wine. The Verdell family huddled together, with Eira and Rhosyn holding hands in the center with their father. 


Emily Burville stood nearby but alone. 


Archibald, Colin, and Septimus Grey stood beside their daughter Holly, discussing their scorn for Emily’s brother Lucas. 


The conversation died down as Jowangshin appeared at the entrance, bearing the full regalia of her office as a Priestess of the Temple. Her white robes flowed beneath a gold vest bearing the runes of the twelve heavenly gods in two columns of gold thread on her white robes. Each was invoked to bless the union overseen by the temple and to aid the union according to their dominion. 


Behind Jo, walking side by side and hand in hand, Helena and Luther approached the dais. Each wore the same spotless white robe fastened at the waist with a sash, the chest open in a deep V. They walked together as if practiced, their bare feet warming the stone beneath them. 


Typically, temple musicians provided the music played during the approach to the temple altar: a chorus of voices raised in song accompanied by strings, horns, drums, and flutes. Music was still used with ceremonies outside the temple, but it was often simpler. 


Tonight, there was only one servant, plucking a five-string instrument with its goat-skin drum. He provided a folksy, stable-hand version of the typical holy song. The focused expression on the panicked young man’s face almost made Luther laugh. This was likely the most significant and wealthiest audience he’d ever had. 


He appreciated the servant’s willingness to perform given the short notice. Perhaps the blame for such simplicity was on Luther for not better planning for success. The arrangements for this wedding might have been better and more befitting his fortune if he’d thought ahead. 


Wulfric was the only other servant in the square. He stood quietly by the entrance, watching the guests more than the ceremony. He looked meaningfully across the square when he saw Luther watching him. Luther followed the gesture, but it took him a surprising amount of time to find Criella’s face in the gathered guests. She stood behind Bertilak and his partners, almost blending into the shadows of the hedge. 


Jo stopped walking as she reached the center of the dais and spun. She gestured for Luther to take his place on her left and Helena to take her place on her right. They stepped into place, raising their hands together. 


The three of them stood facing each other, forming a triangle. The music faded out quickly, and Luther felt every eye upon him. Helena’s smile was unrestrained, full, and bright. His own was smaller but growing as Helena’s enthusiasm infected him. 


“We gather tonight to join these two souls in union now and forevermore!” Jo’s voice shattered the silence. 


The Greys cheered, and the others echoed it, raising a fist to the sky in celebration. 


The dual moons shone over them, one toward the northern horizon and another toward the south, but high enough to be seen sharing the sky. The waning of one and the waxing of the other were roughly halfway through their phases. The stars filling the gap between them thickened like a sash, tethering the moons to each other. 


Jo lowered her moonward hands, joining the hands of Luther and Helena together. She smiled as she looked between them and saw their smiles. 


“Luther Le Fey and Helena Cerul, the two of you join this union of your free will?” Jo asked. 


The ceremony had officially begun. 


“I do.” Luther and Helena said together. Neither had been married before, but both had seen this ritual enough to know their role and what to say when. 


“You are sober and of sound mind?” Jo asked. 


“I am.” Luther and Helena said together. 


“You understand the permanency of this ritual and will endure no matter what hardships may lay ahead?” Jo asked. 


The questions echoed those that Criella asked him during his ritual bath, and Luther couldn’t help but remember Criella’s frown. He did not turn his eyes from Helena, but his mind wandered, and the thought of what might lie ahead and how short that path ahead might be made him wonder if Helena would join him when he spoke. 


“I will.” Luther and Helena said. There was no hesitation in Helena’s tone. She was a fearsomely brave woman. She inspired fear rather than allow herself to be driven by it. Luther wondered that no one had ever taken her up on her challenge before, that no one was willing to risk fighting her. Perhaps their outcome would depend entirely on whether or not Helena wanted to let them win.  


“You wish to be bound together in body, mind, and soul?” Jo asked. 


The prospect was not one taken lightly. Luther had been alone for many years. Criella was his companion in his youth, but besides her and his father, he’d rarely had anyone beside him. Then he undertook his travels, and even while surrounded by many, he walked alone. Now, he would never be alone again. There would always be someone beside him, with him in spirit if not in reality, a presence he would always perceive. He wished Criella wanted that, but Helena was standing opposite him now. 


“I wish.” Luther and Helena said, completing the recitations. 


The ritual was halfway finished, and Luther knew what came next. The most dramatic part of any ceremony, or at least, the part that had the most dramatic potential. So few ever took advantage of the opportunity outside of theater. 


“You are both unbound and have no partners that must consent to this union, but if anyone here can provide any reason as to why these two should not be joined, let them speak now.” Jo said, looking to the crowd beyond the dais. 


Silence reigned. Thirty seconds was the ceremonial time. In a typical engagement, their betrothal would have been announced, news spread far and wide, and any objections would have had a year or more to rise. Still, the betrothal period was not bound by law, merely by practice. During a ceremony, thirty seconds was all that was allotted, and though Luther did not fear objection, he wished the time would pass faster. 


Finally, Jo’s count ended. “Very well.” She said, lifting her hands toward the heavens once more. 


Luther and Helena joined her, raising their hands and uniting theirs over her as she stepped between them. The song began from Jo’s throat, low and rising higher. The union melody was joyful and quick. Jo’s singing voice filled the square, the words in the ancient tongue pronounced flawlessly.


The guests watched as Jo faced Luther while she sang. Her hands deftly untied the knot of his sash, which she pulled away. 


Luther’s robe fell open, revealing his naked body beneath. There was no shame in his nudity nor Helena’s when Jo pulled her sash away. Their nakedness was an aspect of the ritual and protected by its performance. The time and place for such things had arrived. Jo smiled as she stepped out from between them, letting them see each other’s naked bodies as the robes hung open. 


Helena’s eyes scanned Luther’s rigid muscles, hesitating as her gaze fell lower over the rigid muscles of his abdomen. She smiled, then lifted her eyes to meet Luther’s. 


Helena’s breasts hung free and plump, her rigid red nipples hardened at the pricking of the night air. Her body was like Luther’s, with their lines of muscles well-defined and sharp in contrast. She bore softer curves at her hips and breasts, had a smoother stomach, and a softer face as her ocean blue eyes met Luther’s rising gaze. 


They rolled their shoulders, letting the robes fall away. Jo continued her song as she circled them. She draped one over Luther’s shoulders, letting it fall forward. She crossed the ends behind him, then brought them forward. Jo knotted the sash to the other and draped it over Helena the same way, moving to her toes to reach Helena’s shoulders. In the end, they were bound together beneath the joined sashes as they continued holding each other’s hands. 


Luther felt the dull swell of magic push against him, pulling him toward Helena, binding them more than any sash. The music from Jo’s throat worked the spell and enchanted her listeners as she wove the silks around them. Following the prompt of Jo’s hands on their lower backs, Luther and Helena stepped closer to one another. One step on each foot, and they were in each other’s arms.


Luther let the music drive him, but he knew the steps to this dance. He’d seen weddings before. He kissed Helena, their lips locking, joining their bodies as the ritual spell joined their souls. Helena’s tongue slid between his teeth and wrestled with his as they gripped each other’s flesh. 


Together, they lowered to the mat laid for them, and Helena and Luther rolled together. Their roll ended with Luther on his back. Helena straddled him, their naked bodies obscured only by the sashes tied together and wrapping around them. Helena arched her back, sliding against him. Jo stood beside them, her arms raised, singing the song of their union to the heavens. 


Luther closed his eyes as he entered Helena, and Helena closed her eyes in bliss. Luther felt the song's crescendo as magic coursed through him, their bodies mere conduits to power. The presence of another soul joined him in his heart. 


The reservoir of his strength emptied, then filled deeper than before. He imagined Helena underwent the same feeling, and their connection was unspeakable and unspoken as their gazes met, and he understood. 


He raised his hips, thrusting into her. Jo’s voice filled his ears, and the star-filled night sky above them filled his vision. The stars burned above them, pins of light in the sky, crowning Helena’s loose blonde hair with their light. The strength in Luther grew, swelling with the music as the magic coursed through them. 


Helena arched her back, leaning toward the sky as she looked at the stars. She shook beneath the pressure of the magic and the pleasure coursing through her. Her release came, and Luther joined her in a drawn-out moment of exquisite pleasure when the world melted away and left them alone, floating together through the sea of stars above. 


The song ended, and Helena lowered herself to the mat with him, lying against him as Jo blanketed them with a single robe. The magic had done its work with the ritual ended, and the ceremony was over. 


Jo stood, raising her hands to the sky once more. “May the gods of heaven bless your union, and may you prove mighty!” 


“To your might!” The guests chorused, each lifting a fist toward the sky.  


Luther’s might was overfull by the union, and he had the strangest sensation of strength in his limbs as he opened his eyes. Helena stood first, wrapping the robe around herself. Luther stood next, taking Helena’s hand as she lifted him to his feet. 


Luther’s face was flushed as he looked at the crowd surrounding them. Jo draped his robe over his shoulders, and he closed it. She removed the sashes, freeing them from the binds by untying the knots. Together, Helena and Luther each raised a fist to the sky, joining the cheer of their assembled guests. 


“To your union!” Petros cheered. 


“To our union!” Luther and Helena cheered. 


Luther found Criella’s eyes watching him from her place in the crowd. Luther and Helena walked out of the circle, and their guests came up to shake their hands, clapping them on their backs, congratulating them, and cajoling as if they hadn’t just watched them consummate their union naked beneath the stars. 


Emily blushed slightly as she wished Helena and Luther well.


Luther turned to find Wulfric to call for drinks for his guests, but servants with trays were already moving through the square, distributing glasses and cakes for celebration. 


Helena beamed at Luther, kissing him once more amidst the cheering of her family. They moved through the guests. Typically, they would present their gratitude and be given gifts to bless their union, but with the suddenness of the ceremony, any gifts would have to come over the following days. Luther wasn’t worried about that. He already had more than he’d ever intended to possess.