“As long as it’s not mine.”
She threw her arms out to her sides. “Not right now. But I reserve the right to kick it if necessary.” She was quiet for a minute. “What happened? How did I almost kill you?”
“You didn’t almost kill me,” he chuckled. “For one, I’m a dragon. I don’t get hurt that easily. And I think time will tell us more about your background, or your family history, and we’ll get some answers. I believe you just experienced your first dragon fire.”
“It just felt like I couldn’t control my anger and when you pointed at me, something just…snapped.”
He rubbed her arm. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Hopefully sooner than later.”
“I think we should get married.” The words blurted out before he even realized he had spoken.
For a moment, she didn’t move. Finally she turned her head to look up at him. “Excuse me?”
He closed his eyes. He was ass-deep in it now, he might as well bring it home. “Married. We should get married. Isn’t that what people do when they’re mated?”
She rolled to her side and propped herself on her elbow. “I know I’m not much up on my royal families and the rules they live by, but I’m pretty sure that even a king has a proper way to propose to a girl. That proposal sucked.”
Relief flooded through him that she didn’t seem opposed to the idea. “I know. It royally sucked. But I’ve been thinking about it and it makes sense.” He didn’t want to say too much, but also didn’t want to say too little. “If it turns out you’re with child, I figured you’d want the townspeople to know you were my wife first. Not because you… because we…”
“Had to?” She sat up and straddled his lap. “I love you for even thinking about how I’d feel in front of the town as the hussy that got knocked up just so you were forced to marry me.”
He kissed her nose. “You love me?”
She bit her lip before she shrugged. “I guess.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “If I have a shitty way of proposing, that was absolutely the shittiestI love youI’ve ever heard.”
She pulled him into a tight hug. “I’ll work on it while you work on that proposal.”
“Do I need to ask your father’s permission?”
“Oh, hell no. We don’t have to be that proper.” She pulled away and rose. “And no offense, but let’s work on it later because we both stink.”
He stood and put his arm across her shoulders. “One shower or two?”
She rolled her eyes. “Two. I want to get clean, not dirty all over again.”
“Your loss.” He pushed her shoulder. “Beat you to the locker room.”
Her laughter made her heart soar as she chased after him.
Chapter Nineteen
Bryn
Hilda was thrilled to see them when they stopped by her room on their way back from the gym. Bryn had made Sven promise not to discuss a possible marriage until she had had time to process the idea. Having his family already planning the wedding was not the way she wanted to handle the situation.
Hilda was propped up in her bed when they walked in. She smiled at them and laid the book she was reading off to the side.
“I’m still recovering from overdoing it at the party,” she explained. “I had such a grand time though. I didn’t want the night to end.”
Sven sat down next to her and kissed her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Martin popped in a bit ago to tell me that Eva was healing nicely and would be able to visit in about a week or so. That poor girl has had it rough.”
Bryn took a chair nearby. “I feel so guilty about her getting hurt.”
