He sucked his breath in sharply. “Don’t tempt me. Let’s finish this, and then you can chain me to your bed for the rest of my life.”

She laughed as he opened the door and they returned to the altar.

Once again, their families were gathered. And this time, Kalea and Darice were waiting for them. Sumi held her hand out for them.

Kalea took it and knelt down between them. Darice followed suit.

The priest came forward and untied the cord that had bound her and Dancer all night. He paused to smile approvingly as he saw the ring on Dancer’s hand. “While I may remove the temporary binding between you, remember that you have joined your lineages from now on, and you will protect your single lineage from any who would seek to divide it.” He raised a small knife and laid it across Dancer’s palm, drawing a small trail of blood. Then he did the same to Sumi. Taking their hands, he placed them together so that they could join blood.

The priest smiled at Kalea before he met Sumi’s gaze. “Sumi, now and forevermore of the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk, do you agree to share the full parental and lineage rights of your daughter, Kalea, with your husband?”

“I do.”

“And you agree that from this day forward she will be known solely as Kalea of the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk?”

Sumi nodded. “Kalea only has one father. Dancer of the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk.”

The priest looked at Dancer. “And do you, Dancer of the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk, accept the daughter of your wife as yours, and swear to protect her from this day forward as the progeny of your lineage?”

“I do.”

Next, he cut Darice’s hand and mixed his blood with Sumi’s. He held their hands together. “Sumi, now and forevermore of the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk, do you agree to share the rights of your lineage with Darice and to claim him as your own child?”

This was the same ceremony Cairistiona had done for her. “I do.”

“And will you agree to share the rights of your son, Darice, with your husband?”

“I will.”

The priest met Darice’s somber gaze. Everyone was well aware of the fact that once Dariana had been convicted of his father’s murder, it’d relegated Darice to the status of a bastard. Even though Syn’s DNA tests had proven Keris as his father, their laws no longer recognized Darice as a son of the War Hauk family. The only way to protect his standing and keep him from being disowned was to adopt him as theirs.

It was something both she and Dancer had agreed to immediately.