“You have me, Empress.” He smiled into my lips, and the thought of his joy despite his fears—joy of simply being withme—was almost too much to comprehend. “Now what will you do with me?”
Everything, I wanted to say. Wake up to him every morning, argue and make up and cry and laugh. Show him my world and make it ours. Watch his daughter grow up and give her the best life she could ask for.
I wanted to love him.Both of them. For the rest of my life.
“I want to marry you,” I suddenly said, his lips on my neck and hands at my hips.
He froze. His chest moved as he breathed in deeply. Armsstraining, he slowly lifted off me, and his hair swung in my face, covering us like a curtain.
“You…what?”
“I want. To marry.You.” My lips curved into a smirk at the look on his face.
His mouth opened and closed. “Clarissa, that’s?—”
“If you say ‘that’s my line,’ I might have to smother you with this pillow.”
“There’s that violent streak again.” He shook his head with a small smile and a dazed expression. He pulled away to sit back on his heels, and I leaned against the headboard.
“We’re both lying if we say that isn’t where this is headed,” I said. “It doesn’t have to be now. It doesn’t have to be ayearfrom now. But you and Marigold are my family, Thorne, whether you like it or not. Fates, I asked you to move across kingdoms to be with me. You’re not getting rid of me anytime soon.”
He stared at me, and I bit my lip, laughing at my own outburst. Raking my fingers through my hair, I said, “I can’t believe I just asked you that. I’ve never been this…impulsive.” I let out a breath. “The first time I agreed to marry anyone, it was a calculated decision based on how it would be good for my empire. And I was willing to go through with it. I was willing to spend my entire life in ignorance of what it felt like to trulylove. Because that’s my purpose. That’s my duty.”
I got to my knees so I was face-to-face with him. “You know what?Screwmy duty. I can lead my people and still have the love I deserve. And that’s withyou. So, yes. I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Marigold.”
A slow smile grew on his face, and he raised a hand to cup my neck. “Just when I think you can’t surprise me anymore,” he murmured. “I suppose you do always get what you want.”
I eyed him hesitantly. “Does that mean…”
“Thorne Aris has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” he said with a chuckle.
My eyes widened. I opened my mouth to respond when a joltslammed into my body. I sucked in a breath and doubled over, my hands shaking as familiar power filled my veins.
“Clarissa? What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice urgent.
“It—it’s fine. It’s my magic,” I choked out, my body working to suppress a sudden shift. I didn’t need to shred these bedsheets and scare him away. Or hurt him again.
Scrambling off the bed, I stumbled to the porthole and shielded my eyes against the sun. Sure enough, the dark outline of an oncoming shore appeared on the horizon.
We’d crossed the borders into the Veridian Empire, and my magic had returned. I closed my eyes and breathed it in, feeling my fox half leap inside of me as my Shifter powers flooded my senses. It was even better than I remembered. Better than the small spurts of magic I’d gotten in Mysthelm when I siphoned the curse.
That well in my chest exploded with endless power. My skin buzzed with heightened senses—the air in the cabin swirled around me, bringing with it the distant scent of salt and brine on the sea, the drops of sweet wine at the bottom of the bottle Thorne and I left outside the door, andhim. The overwhelming smell of sweet grass, like the kind I trampled beneath my paws in the field by my cottage, and of musky leather from the notebooks my father kept in his office.
Everything was brighter. Sharper. Clearer. I’d forgotten how intense it could be. I had to grip the edge of the porthole as my arms shook from the force of it, taking a breath to steady my racing pulse.
Thorne climbed off the bed and approached me carefully, placing a hand on my forearm. “Does it hurt?”
I let out a breathless laugh. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s just…a lot. But it’s amazing.” I beamed at him as my magic finally settled into place. “It feels like everything is right again.” I grabbed his hand, and he wrapped both arms around my stomach, holding my back to his chest as we stared out the porthole and into the oncoming shoreline.
“It feels like home,” I said quietly. “Like I’m finally going home.”
69
Clarissa
THREE MONTHS LATER
“Why am I not surprised to find you here, on today of all days?”
