Page 94 of Seph

“So? Friends first, then lovers. It’s a great way to start. Hey, your father already fixed us up, remember? Introduced us,” he smirked. “‘Crow is yours.’ He said that. Now, take me.” His eyes sparkled with hungry mischief.

Emily’s blushing cheeks turned an even darker shade of pink. “That’s not what he meant, Simeon!”

“It’s open to interpretation!”

“Simeon, it’s too much. No one has ever... No one has ever loved me like this, so fast. So completely.” Her lower lip trembled. “It can’t be real.”

“Oh, it’s real. 24 karat and a shiny rock the size of a golf ball’s worth of real, Huntress. Idareyou to marry me, Van Helsing,” he growled, a teasing glint in his eye. “Can’t ignore a challenge from a vamp, can you?”

Emily’s startled face hardened. “Fine!” She held out her hand, fingers shaking.

“Um. Wait. I don’t think this is exactly how one should propose...” Hades looked nervously between the couple and then turned to his wife and children. “Seph, maybe we should ask them—”

“Dad.” Zag pointed behind his father. “I think it’s okay.”

Hades turned back around in time to witness Simeon swooping Emily up into his arms as they shared a resounding kiss.

“Ah. Good.”

Seph tugged on Hades’ arm. “We should go inside and let the kids get home.”

“What about the vampire? It’ll be dawn in a few hours,” Hades fretted. To his wife, he whispered, “Ididthreaten to send him and all vampire spawn into Tartarus for eternity. Considering what a nice person he turned out to be, I feel a little guilty.”

“I think they’ll come up for air by then. Look, there they go.” Seph smiled as the newly engaged couple sprang apart at last. “Congratulations, you two. May you have a love like ours.” She leaned against Hades and snuggled into his side as he put his arm around her shoulders. “One that lasts a thousand years without wavering.”

“Something steady. Always there,” Emily agreed, eyes shining at Simeon.

“Worth going on for.” Simeon smiled back.

Persephone came forward and took Simeon and Emily by the hands, garlands of white flowers springing from her touch toadorn them. “Thank you. You have no idea how grateful I am, how much I wish... Words cannot express...Thank you,” she concluded, kissing each one briefly on the cheek.

Simeon looked at Emily, his own forbidden love, his own treasure. My own Seph, he thought.

“No, thankyou,” he whispered and led Emily toward her new car.

Hades and Seph disappeared inside the motel. Zag and Milly simply disappeared.

“Want to go home?” he murmured, settling in the car, not at all surprised to see their luggage was already inside it.

“No. Not until after we got to the magic store and let the rest of the family know we’re okay,” she sighed, running her hands over the steering wheel.

“You said family,” Simeon pointed out as she drove through the dark streets of Pine Ridge.

“I know.” Emily drove past the Night Market. “Still open. Want to shop?”

“No!”

She chuckled and flexed her fingers. Her ring felt heavy—and perfect. A solid reminder that someone loved her enough to ask for her to share his entire life, good or bad. “I love my ring—and the husband that comes with it.”

“Mmm. Thank you. You know... I didn’t mean to rush you into things. I had been thinking this whole time about how I could use my wish for you. Maybe wish for you to find true love. Or get your mother back? I even thought about asking for my own soul, so maybe you’d... love me.”

“Oh, Simeon,” she whispered. Her heart clenched inside her chest at the desperate wistfulness in his voice.

“I bet he’d give us another if we asked. If you want something instead of the ring.”

“Are you kidding?” Emily screeched, clutching the ring to her chest and glaring at her future groom with wide eyes.

Simeon sighed. “Thank God.”

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