Page 35 of Desecrated Reign

Encasing my arms around her waist, I draw her closer, placing a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose. “I am now, mo bhanríon. How was your sunset?”

“Hard, but easier than the last. I missed the darkness, though.”

Raising one hand, I sweep the damp, stray strands of hair that escaped her ponytail away from her face. “You do know you don’t have to keep us separate, right? I’ll never force you to choose. Maybe one day, when you’re ready, we can figure out how to let the light and dark shine at the same time. I want all of you, Saoirse, even the parts I know will always belong to him.”

“You have me, Rí.” She brings her hands to my face and cups my cheeks. “And one day soon, I’m going to be your wife.” Something sombre crosses her face, and instantly I am transported back to the night we interrupted Gabriel’s meeting, replaying the words she used as she tore my father down.

You publicly pressured your son into proposing to me in front of a room full of syndicate members.

I know our pending nuptials have been playing on her mind, and not because she doesn’t love me, but because she’s unsure whether what I said that night at her initiation party was real or because I had no other choice with the position my father put us in. For weeks—even before she let that comment to Gabriel slip—I’d been mulling it over in my head, wondering how and when I should bring it up, but Liam had just died, and it never seemed like the right time… until now.

Keeping her wrapped around my body, I ease us towards the privacy of the waterfall, not wanting Brodie and Shannon to overhear what I need to say. Once we reach the edge of the lagoon, I pull from her grasp, and hike myself from the water before reaching out to her with my hand. “Come with me, love?” It’s meant as a command, but with the edge of uncertainty lacing my words it comes out as more of a question.

Amber-hued eyes stare back at me, bouncing between my face and my extended arm; and when she finally covers my hand with hers, I take what feels like my first breath in weeks.

Saoirse places her free hand on the verge of the bank, then, with a gentle tug, I help her as she pushes herself to the shore. Within seconds, I’m guiding her behind the heavy stream of water and into the private nook I’d spotted earlier while I was swimming.

After leading her towards a free-standing rock, I place my hands on her shoulders and ease her into a seated position. “Wait here.”

Questions linger behind her whiskey eyes as she scans me from head to toe. “What are you doing?”

“Patience, love. You’ll see soon enough, but first I need you to promise me you’ll stay right here until I come back.” Uncertainty tightens her features, but fortunately for me, she trusts me enough to nod her head in agreement. “Good girl.” I lean in and kiss her forehead. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

Rushing back towards the tents, I bypass Shannon and Brodie, ignoring their quizzical looks as I barrel towards my tent and head straight for my bag—not the one we got from the crate, but the one we were told to pack the night before the trial.

My hand goes straight towards the lining stitched into the interior, and before long, my fingers are closing around the little red box I’ve been carrying around since the night before Liam died. I’d planned to give it to her after the party, when we got home, but then everything happened, I never found the right moment.

I do a quick check, making sure the contents are still safely inside, then I’m sprinting back towards the waterfall where I slip behind the flow. Keeping one hand behind my back, I close the distance between Saoirse and me. Before she has a chance to question where my sanity went, I drop to one knee and reveal the plush velvet box.

22

SAOIRSE

As I take in the small red box clutched in Rohan’s palm, my breath catches in my throat, and my heart beats wildly against my ribcage.

“Saoirse Ryan, I know we are already technically engaged.” A nervous chuckle slips past his lips. “But I wanted to do this the right way.”

My eyes stay on his as he sucks in a shaky breath to match mine. Around us, everything disappears as the sound of the waterfall drowns out the background noise, and all I can see is him. Pools of green stare back at me, softer than I’ve ever seen them before, spearing me with a look that undoes me in a way only Rohan King can.

“Even though we haven’t passed our second trial yet, I know what comes after is weighing heavy on your mind. You’re doing everything you can to become who you were born to be, and to do that, you need to complete all the trials, including marriage. Unfortunately, we don’t come from today’s world, and our families are steeped in age-old traditions, but I want you to know that this”—his free hand motions between us—“this is as real as it gets. At the meeting, you told my dad that he pressured me into proposing, and he did to some extent, but not in the way you think.”

Biting down on my bottom lip, I smile through the tears gathering in my eyes. He’s not wrong. With the third trial looming, some doubt has seeped in, making me wonder if this is what Rohan really wants or whether it is out of obligation to the syndicate. Don’t get me wrong, I know he loves me, but we are young, and I don’t want him to feel like he has to marry me for the sole purpose of completing our trials.

“You see,” he continues. “I’d already bought you a ring, and I was waiting on the perfect moment to give it to you. Sure, eighteen is probably too young to get married, and if we weren’t living the life we are, we’d more than likely wait until we are older. But now, next year, in fucking ten years’ time, the outcome would be the same.”

I slide from the rock, drop to my knees before him, and cup his face between my palms. “I love you.” Nobody on this earth can read me the way he does, he instinctually knows exactly what I need from him before I even know I need it, and right now, he’s reassuring me that even without the syndicate pressures, we would still be heading towards the same ending, together.

His smile is infectious as he leans in and places a chaste kiss on my lips. Then, he pulls back, latching his earthy eyes on mine. “Marrying you is not some trial to me, Saoirse. It’s not some twisted obligation to the syndicate, either. It’s a privilege, and I will spend the rest of my life worshipping you if you let me. I’ve told you twice now we are not the beginning of this story; we are the end. And that’s because when I look to the future, it’s you I see next to me. From the moment I first saw you, everything around me blurred into the background, and you became the only thing I could see in full definition. I want this, Saoirse. I want you for the rest of my life, however long that may be.”

“I want that, too.” And I do. The kind of love Rohan and I share is rare. He’s proven time and time again that he would do anything to protect me, to keep me safe. It’s the kind of love built for storybooks, that once-in-a-lifetime love that not many people find.

“I love you, mo bhanríon, more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life.”

“I love you, too.”

His fingers pry open the lid of the box, revealing a stunning emerald-cut amethyst cushioned by a ring of diamonds. “An bpósfaidh tú mé, mo ghrá?” Those pretty Irish words lick my skin, making a million butterflies take flight in my stomach. “I, Rohan King, kneel before my queen, asking you to be my wife.”

Unable to push the words he wants to hear past the emotional lump lodged in my throat, I swipe at the happy tear sliding down my cheek and nod my head instead, punctuating my yes with every bob as I thrust my left hand forward.

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