When the ritual was done, Solyra went back to her village with a ticked off expression. Isolyn explained to Damon that Solyra was mad because the Ocean was able to refuse the ceremony, allowing them unable to get married. If it wanted, and that's what Solyra had been hoping for when she agreed to hold the ceremony to marry them, that's why she was pissed.
She told Damon in their church they had a theory that the Ocean can see through fate itself, and knows that there are people who aren't meant for each other, but the fact that they were allowed to be soulmates means the Ocean acknowledged them.
Of course during the entire explanation Damon didn't care about any of that, all he had on his mind was the fact he was going to get laid, after years of blue balls.
But he was glad that during the explanation he learned something else about Isolyn, it was that whenever she was nervous, she would either continue rumbling on about all sorts of things, or be eerily quiet while she kept glancing at Damon and blushing.
They got back to Isolyn's cavern, and sat on the bed, with both of them, not knowing what they were supposed to do next. It was the first time in Damon's life he was nervous about the act of sex itself, after all that's all where his confidence was spent.
[Ding! Host if I were you I would be beginning the act, otherwise you might find yourself dead before you know it.]
'Eh, what's going on, is there a threat to my life?'
[Ding! Yeah well.. it seems, I might've underestimated your target's future self. She's more resilient than I thought. You see, instead of being completely erased from existence like I thought, her existence itself it seems was too important to discard, so a parallel universe was created in order to keep her from being erased. But if you were to have sex with her past self, she would not be able to escape your claws.]
'Wait a moment, you mean to tell me, right now as we speak, there are two future Isolyn with one being my wife and utterly loyal to me and another being a dark self most definitely hell bent on killing me to maintain her existence. Is that what you're telling me?'
[In a nutshell.]
'Why didn't tell me, my marriage would try to erase her existence in the future?'
[Why would you care about a bad seed that will destroy the universe's balance and most likely reset everything from beginning. I mean you saw yourself your woman's existence is so dangerous that it created a parallel universe to maintain it's existence, that's something unheard off, after all there's a reason why time manipulation of a large scale is a taboo from all corners of the universe in the first place.]
'Its true she might be a bad seed, as you nicely put it, but it doesn't change the fact this people are the reason she ended up like this, there was no reason to go as far as erasing her existence. Next time if you make choices without informing me, I'll kill myself, do you hear me?'
[...]
'I said do you hear me?'
[The system understands.]
Damon exhaled a sigh of relief, he turned to face Isolyn and felt her anxiety in him through their connection. Damon could tell she was unsure about what they were about to do, but she was willing, because she trusted him.
"Are sure you're ready for this?" Damon asked, despite knowing the answer to that question.
"I.." Isolyn hesitated to reply, it's true she was ready and sure about trusting her body to her husband, but it doesn't mean she wasn't nervous as this was her first time.
Her heart was racing, as words of reply were caught on her throat. Her nervousness turned into uncertainty, and she started doubting everything. But she couldn't bring herself to reject Damon, she doesn't want him to hate her and most likely abandon her, just like everyone.
Isolyn looked down on her thumbs and fiddled them, as she held back tears. She could not dare to face Damon and tell him, she couldn't go through with it. She felt like she wasn't worthy or even ready for such a commitment.
"I..."
"You're not ready, right?" Damon said.
Isolyn didn't reply but Damon's words struck at the core of it. She wasn't ready, even though she desperately wanted to be.
"I..."
"Isolyn, look at me."
Isolyn look up at Damon with tears at the corner of her eyes. Damon reached out and tucked a strand of hair that was covering her eye, behind her ear.
"Did you know that when you genuinely smile at me, your eyes light up? It's as if they gain a life of their own, so I can tell even though you're trying your best to smile at this moment, you're afraid, even without our connection, I can tell, so please Isolyn, tell me, what you're really afraid of?"
Isolyn's hands started trembling, and she clenched them into tight fist to try to hide it. But Damon saw through her and covered them with his own. The warmth and care they brought her felt more real than anything she ever felt in her life.
Her sad smile slipped, as her lips quivered. Tears dripped down, and she finally broke down and sobbed like a little girl. Damon's heart skipped a beat, and he reacted with gentleness as he took Isolyn's head and brought it to his chest, so that she can cry without any problem.
As she cried Damon wondered if he had taken things too far or was this the proper response for them to take a step forward to a bond stronger than the one they had at a superficial level being held together by a mystical power? Whichever it was, he believes he was in the correct path. Because no one would leave themselves vulnerable to a person they don't at least trust, even a little.
Isolyn finally calmed down, but she didn't pull away from him. In fact, she wrapped her arms around his waist, and held on to him as if he would run away or something, if she didn't.
Damon stroked her hair, loving how smooth it was, but he did feel a little apprehension about the length, it was too long, something had to be done about it. It's not the kind of hair that's practical in a life and death battle.
"Say Isolyn, have you ever considered going bald?" Damon said jokingly, but Isolyn must've taken him seriously, because she pulled herself away from his embrace to glare at him with a cute pout.
"I'm not cutting my hair!" She said with a threatening tone.
Damon raised up his hands in surrender whilst trying to hold back a chuckle, until he couldn't.
"What are you laughin—"
Damon sealed Isolyn's lips with his own, and quickly pulled back with a proud smirk. And it widened when Isolyn's face flushed, and she didn't know how to react.
"W-wha—what was that for?"
"I couldn't help it, you're just too damn cute to resist."
Isolyn's became redder and Damon realised another thing about Isolyn, she couldn't take complements. She hid her flushed face on his chest, making Damon wonder if she realised what she was doing.
The mood turned somber, and through their connection Damon could tell, Isolyn had suddenly become melancholic.
"You asked me what I was afraid of, right?" Isolyn whispered, "to tell you the truth, I'm afraid of... everything."