I feel… good. The healers have done their work, it seems. More than I might hope for, even on my best days.
Gone is the searing burn through my muscles and the chilling ache in my bones. It would seem my appetite served me well. I’d be inclined to skip or give a twirl if not for the fact I don’t dare alarm him.
I don’t mind the unhurried pace. It feels good walking at his side. The heat of his body next to mine, the gravity of him. It feels like home.
As much as I have strived to become acquainted with Caerhollan and its surrounding lands, I know in my heart, next to him is where I belong.
“You look well.” His voice rumbles against my ear as he leans in and whispers. I fiddle with my sleeve a little. “Not the gown.You.” He stops. His finger tilts my chin so I look him in the eye. He doesn’t repeat his words, but he does respond. His lips finding mine. Tender and sure. Any tension I may have held melts away. When I open my eyes, I don’t pull away. I can sense the way his mouth has upturned to a smile; it matches my own.
Everything feels like a dream as we continue. I was so lost in his nearness it seemed like only a heartbeat before we arrived in front of the conservatory doors. He stops. It’s not the doors keeping him, it’s something else. His shoulders draw back, and he breathes more heavily.
“What is it?” I reach for his arm with both hands now.
“When I found you here…” He can’t bring himself to go on. I had only flashes from my fevered state. Running. I had been running. Here? It all seemed so foggy. He shakes his head as if shifting away smoke to clear the room. “I don’t want that memory to be what stays here. Not in this place, not in my heart.”
He opens the doors. Thick air, fragrant and moist, escapes the chamber before we even step in. Sunset has made way for the rich hues of twilight. Stars only just begin to take shape beyond the glass vaulted ceiling. The room is in full bloom.
He guides me by the hand into the room. “Things really came into their own while I was away.” He looks at the blossoms, then to me. “Remarkable.”
I blush at the attention. Standing with him here, it all feels magical. This amazing handsome man, the starlight, the smell of earth and flowers alike. I look around the room, trying to cut through the haze of my memory. The vines now seem to stretch impossibly high. Every bud seems to have awoken. Jasmin, lilac, even aster. Aster? That can’t be right.
“Mira,” Vale’s voice beckons my attention with gentle command. “I love you. I knew it long before we ever said the words, and with each passing day I know it more. I love you. Completely. Absolutely. The fire in your spirit, the kindness of your heart. All of it. I know I have asked so much of you, but, my love, I must ask one more thing.”
I feel frozen in place, unable to breathe. My hands in his are the only things keeping me tethered. I attempt to ready myself. Whatever it takesto stay at his side, I will face. Still, I am unprepared for what happens next.
His hands squeeze mine, and I brace myself for the worst. Thoughts whirl through my mind, too many to latch on to a single one.
He continues, “All the titles in the world mean little to me without you beside me. Whatever I am to this kingdom, I want you at my side, in every way. I ask not as Lord or King, but as a man. A man utterly in love with you.”
I draw in air as if it’s the last breath I may ever take.
“Mira,” he kneels before me and reaches for his pocket. “Will you stay, not just in Caerhollan, but with me always, as my wife?”
I press my palm to my lips, in too much shock to even process the words.
His eyes hold mine. No bravado. No command. Only devotion.
I answer with the truest words I’ve ever known “Yes, Vale. I am yours, always.”
Awash in both joy and relief, he slides the ring upon my finger and scoops me into his arms, spinning us both. I squeal in delight. He slows, but continues holding me there. I caress his cheek, the stone catching the torchlight and gleaming like a star plucked straight from the heavens. I look at it, really look at it for the first time.
“Vale!” I am stunned. I have never seen anything so breathtaking. An elegant flowing band vining around the large shimmering jewel, its green catching the light like new growth beneath the trees. Tendril arching up to hold it, as if the mountain itself could lift us to the night sky.
He sets me down delicately. “Do you like it?” Sincere yet tentative, as he if he worried I might take back my words, that I might still be endangered from the fever, or some twist of fate that might tear us apart.
“I love it,” I say, taking his face in both my hands. “I love you. I don’t need a ring or a vow to prove it.”
He takes my newly anointed hand and presses a kiss to the knuckles just beyond the ring, fondness sparkling in his eyes as he looks down at it. “It was my mother’s.”
I place my other hand over ours entwined and bring them to my own lips. A delicate kiss that speaks more than any words.
“This,” he says, lifting my hand, “is why I was delayed. Well, that and the storms. I’d planned the trip well. Or so I thought. There should have been plenty of time.”
He walks me over to the chaise where I do much of my journaling, and sits beside me, not once letting go of my hand. “I traveled to see my sister.”
“In Marothis?”
“Indeed.” He raises an impressed brow. “I’d heard you’d been making yourself at home, my flame,” he says with an admiring nod of approval. “It’s not an easy journey this time of year, but as my closest living family, I wanted her blessing first.”
