Page 124 of Burning Crowns

Quickly, carefully, Rose knitted his wounds back together.When it was done, she opened her eyes to find her vision was blurry. But even so, she could still see the ice bear that was charging towards them. She screamed, bracing for impact, when a blur shot out from the trees and barrelled into the hulking creature, knocking it off course. Kai fell to the ground, punching and kicking the undead bear as they rolled over each other, again and again.

‘Kai!’ shouted Rose. ‘You—’

‘You’re welcome, Queenie!’ he shouted back, before ripping the bear’s arm clean off.

Shen shot up, holding Rose’s shoulders. ‘You’re pale,’ he said, searching her face. ‘You shouldn’t have—’

‘It will pass,’ said Rose, waving away his concern. ‘Help me stand, please.’

Shen helped her to her feet, anchoring her to him as he fended off what looked like an undead farmer swinging an axe. Mercifully, Rose’s head soon stopped spinning, enough that she could withdraw Daybreak from the twitching snow tiger before rushing back to help Shen.

‘You need to get out of here,’ he said, as four more corpses came stalking towards them. ‘Find somewhere safe.’

‘Like where?’ said Rose, shrilly. ‘There are dead things everywhere, Shen.’

Shen kicked one squarely in the mouth then glanced at Rose. ‘I can’t lose you again, Rose.’

‘You won’t,’ she said, wincing as she jabbed her dagger through the bones of a gaping ribcage. The skeleton reeled backwards, clutching at the phantom wound. ‘I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.’

‘Promise?’ Shen pivoted, pressing his back against hers as they slashed and fought in perfect harmony.

‘Promise,’ said Rose.

Time seemed to slow then, until all Rose knew was the sureness of Shen’s back against her own and the steady rise and fall of their chests as they battled dead beast and human alike. She wasn’t frightened any more. No, she felt braver than she ever had before. If they survived this, and theywouldsurvive it because she couldn’t allow herself to think any other way, then she would live the rest of her life like this. Bravely.

‘Marry me,’ she said.

‘What?’ said Shen, cutting down a rampaging cadaver with a single blow.

‘Marry me, Shen Lo. I love you. I’ve always loved you. You stole my heart as a bandit, and you have kept it as a king.’ Rose paused to cast a gust at an advancing leopard. ‘And I would marry you even if you weren’t a king,’ she went on between breaths. ‘Even if you were still a bandit.’

Shen laughed. ‘Is that meant to be romantic?’

‘Well, I don’t have very much experience when it comes to proposing!’ said Rose, hotly. ‘I’ve never done it before! Just say you’ll marry me, Shen.’

‘I love you, Rose. I’ll always love you. But this is a conversation I want to enjoy. Torelish. And right now, well—’ Shen slammed his elbow into a shrieking, red-eyed crone, before rounding on another. ‘We’re surrounded by dead people!’

‘A fair point,’ she conceded.

‘We need to finish this fight. And if you keep trying to seduce me, we’ll never make our way out of here!’

‘Proposing to you is not seducing you!’

He barked a laugh. ‘Trust me, it is.’

‘You are ridiculous.’

‘And you love me.’

‘You areinsufferable.’

‘Again, you love me.’

Soon, they were both fighting too hard to speak at all. When they had finally managed to battle their way free of their attackers, Rose looked around for Wren but there was still no sign of her anywhere. ‘I don’t think Wren’s here,’ she said, more to herself than Shen. ‘She must have gone after Oonagh.’

Shen scrambled up the nearest tree, climbing ten feet in a single heartbeat. He scanned the battlefield, shouting at the top of his lungs. ‘WREN!’

Lei Fan sent a warning gust to rattle the tree. Once she got their attention, she pointed towards the other end of the forest. ‘That way!’

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