Thalor held the shimmering bead out, his hand still trembling slightly from exhaustion. The pearl didn't look like a typical gemstone; it looked as if a drop of the ocean had been frozen and polished, radiating a soft, pulsing light that seemed to respond to the beat of my own heart.
"I didn't want to bring it up until I knew you were ready," Thalor whispered, his voice gaining a tiny bit of strength. "But I wanted to be prepared. For whenever you decided it was time."
I took the pearl from his palm. It was cool, almost vibrating with a strange, dormant energy.
I looked at the three of them—my husbands, my guardians—and felt the weight of what I was about to do. This wasn't just a physical act; it was a permanent carving of my soul into theirs.
"The process of using the pearl is," Thalor began, his words more directed to the others than me, since I already knew. "Mouth to mouth."
