“Like it?” She laughs through tears. “Anton, I love it. I love you. I love this whole insane fortress palace house. I love that you think I can do this. I love—” Her voice breaks. “I love everything.”
I kiss her. Soft. Gentle. Tasting her tears and her joy and everything we’re building together.
“Good,” I murmur against her lips. “Because we’re getting married here in a week.”
She pulls back. “What?”
“The courtyard. Outside. That’s where the ceremony happens. Wedding first. Then the coronation. I want everyone to see you become my wife before they watch me becomePakhan.”
“Anton—”
“No arguments. It’s already decided.”
“You can’t just decide—”
“I’m thePakhan. I can decide whatever I want.”
She glares at me, then breaks into a laugh that sounds like sunlight. “You really don’t do anything halfway, do you? Even when you’re trying to claim me.”
I smirk. “Didn’t have to try,malyshka. You were mine the second you looked at me.”
“Unfortunately,” she mutters, but her smile gives her away.
I kiss her again. Because I can. Because she’s mine. Because in a week, she’ll walk across that courtyard and promise forever.
And I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure she never regrets it.
I pull back, brushing my thumb along her jaw. “So,” I murmur. “You like it or not?”
She looks past me, out at the house—our house—bathed in late afternoon sunlight. The white stone. The fountains. The beginning neither of us saw coming. When she turns back, her eyes are shining, lashes wet.
“Yes,” she whispers, voice trembling through a smile. “I love it. I love you.”
I rest my forehead against hers, feeling her breath mix with mine.
“Good,” I say. “Because this? The house, the life, all of it… It’s yours. You’ve got a hundred days behind you,malyshka.Now I get the rest of forever to claim you.”
THE END
