Orion had not meant to eavesdrop, but he was returning from her cottage with Petra, who had retrieved some of Nina’s clothing. Cassian walked with them but paused them on the path when they heard voices.
At first Orion wondered why she would come without him. Had she even been strong enough to walk so far?
“At least we do not need to worry about lightning striking her dead,” Petra whispered.
“Why would you even say such a thing?” Orion demanded.
“Gaia, the goddess of nature could probably bring down lightning bolts if she chose, and I have been fearing these past days if she would punish Nina for rejecting the gift from childhood.”
“The gift had been for me, not her,” Cassian reminded them. “I am the one who begged to save her. It was me who made the decision for her.”
“You were also a child who could not begin to comprehend what you were asking and how it would unfold,” Petra consoled.
“Had you not come along, Orion, I wonder if the dryads would have told her, but let her be content, as they put it.”
“We shall never know, but it no longer matters,” Orion reminded him. “You are now as free as your sister. But, then again, you always were. You chose to stay.”
“I’d not leave her.”
Orion turned more fully to Cassian. “You can now,” he said quietly, realizing that his courtship of Nina had been so strange that he had even forgotten how to go about it properly. “That is, if you allow me to marry Nina. I love her and I will care for her all my days.”
Cassian stared at him and for a moment Orion feared he’d be rejected.
“She has no dowry and brings nothing with her.”
Orion chuckled. “You know that I neither need nor want anything other than your permission to marry Nina.”
Cassian studied him a bit longer before he finally gave a quick nod. “If she will have you.”
He had permission, so Orion continued to the temple and entered it. Nina turned and smiled.
He could not recall seeing her face so relaxed. Not even her shoulders were stiff. Even when he’d kissed her, Nina had not totally relaxed, holding herself back. Perhaps too afraid to be vulnerable—to love.
He now understood, but now she was free.
He strolled toward her, taking in her appearance from her sunrise tresses, sparkling with gold, to the more traditional dress she had borrowed from his cousin, to slippers on her feet, and he couldn’t help but smile. There had been a comfortable wildness in her before and Orion truly hoped that it wouldn’t disappear.
As he drew near, Orion leaned forward. “You are wearing shoes,” he whispered.
“It is only proper,” she returned also in a low voice.
“And that dress, so…”
“Fashionable,” she provided.
“Not you,” he corrected. “I like the clothing you have fashioned yourself.”
Her cheeks slightly colored. “Yes, well, if I am not going to live in the grove, I should do my best to conform to what is proper.”
“Please, do not conform too much,” he said as he dropped to one knee.
Nina’s grey eyes, more silver today, widened. “What are you doing?” Her eyes darted, looking about as her cheeks grew redder.
Orion lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles. “Nina Jourdain, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
Her eyes watered as she smiled. “I would, but…”
His heart sank. “But what?”
