Page 262 of Reign

Elena chose me.

I’ve spent most of my life taking what I wanted, protecting what belonged to me, and ensuring no one had the opportunity to remove it. None of that feels like this.

Possession is simple.

Being chosen is something else entirely.

For the first time in longer than I can remember, I have exactly what I wanted.

Her.

Her brothers may complain.

They’ll learn.

Elena made her choice, and no one is taking it away from either of us.

“You’re staring,” she says.

“You have chocolate on your mouth.”

Her tongue darts out and misses it completely.

“Did I get it?”

“No.”

She huffs. “Then why announce it?”

“Observation.”

“Bullying.”

She takes another marshmallow and immediately sets it on fire.

I watch it burn.

Then I watch her.

There is a softness to this I’ve never allowed myself to want. Firelight. Burnt sugar. Elena framed by the flames as though she has always belonged in my unfinished garden.

At Obsidian, she asked me to choose something I wanted.

Now I want to give her everything she asks for.

More dangerously, I want to give her the things she has stopped asking anyone to provide.

Elena pulls the marshmallow from the fire and blows it out. “Perfect.”

“It’s ruined.”

“It’s mine.”

I understand the feeling.

She slides the charcoal marshmallow onto a graham cracker, then looks past the fire toward the unfinished garden.

“When is this going to be done?”