Page 139 of The Arrow and the Alder

But Seph suspected where his mind had gone. “I’m so sorry about Evora.”

A muscle worked in Alder’s jaw, and he clenched and unclenched his hands. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it. That I wouldn’t have…” He shut his eyes and shook his head.

“But how could you have known?” Seph still didn’t understand the reason behind Evora’s betrayal.

“Because…I knew how much she’d cared for Massie when he worked for my mother.”

Seph’s lips parted as understanding dawned.

Alder continued. “Evora was furious when the queen sent him away, but she stayed and I believed—wrongly—that she’d gotten over it. I thought her fidelity to my family would eventually be enough to shed light on the sort of man that he was, but…I underestimated how singularly focused love can make a person. I understand that now.” His eyes opened and he looked at Seph.

Seph’s cheeks warmed, and her pulse took flight. Now was the perfect time to bring it up, but she glanced away instead, overcome with nervousness.

“Alder, I?—”

“I wanted to ask?—”

They spoke at the same time, and Alder chuckled lowly. “You first, darling.” He lifted one hand and stroked her hair.

Which imparted some of the courage she’d lost. “I’m not sure what comes next.”

“What do you mean, exactly?”

“Well.Exactly. I don’t know. I am one ofyounow, and so I don’t belong back in Harran?—”

“Do you want to go back to Harran?” His voice sharpened, and his hand stilled in her hair.

“I need to see my family, Alder. The Rift is safe, and I need to find my papa and Levi, and make sure the rest of my family is all right.” She paused, and he waited. “But beyond that…I don’t know.”

Alder sat up a little straighter, and this time he pressed his palm to her cheek and turned her face toward his, forcing her to look at him. “Can I tell you what I want?”

Her gaze clung to his as she waited.

His thumb traced patterns along her cheek. “I want you,” he said, cradling her face as he gazed straight into her eyes. “I want you to be my wife. My equal. Mybetter. I want to share my bed with you every night and wake to you every morning, and I want our children to know that their mother sacrificed her life and all the power in the world to save it. To saveme.” He stopped, and Seph found she could hardly breathe. “I know you love your family, and I would never ask you to abandon them. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, and I believe they could enjoy life here. They will never want for anything—that, I swear to you. I will do whatever you ask of me, but I don’t want a future without you in it. I love you, Josephine.” These words spilled over her like sunlight, warming her from the inside out. “And so I came here to ask…what I mean to ask, my sharp little arrow…is if you would give me your whole beautiful heart and marry me?”

Seph stared at him, into his handsome face, his palm like fire upon her skin, and her heart swelled. “You already have my whole heart, Alder.”

His answering smile was like the sun on a cloudless day, but then that smile froze, as if he were struck by a sudden thought. One he didn’t like very much, and his eyes narrowed just a little. “Is that a yes or a no?”

He sounded so suspicious, she couldn’t stop her grin. “Do you promise I can see my family first?”

“What if I don’t want to wait that long?”

“Then you had better marry me soon.”

“I’ll find someone to conduct the ceremony right now.”

Seph laughed. “Then yes?—”

“Oh, thank Demas,” he said before she could finish. He claimed her with a kiss, and Seph hardly noticed the field of flowers blooming all around them.

One month later…

Alder watched Josephine gaze upon the door of her home in Harran, her breath rising in a cloud before her. Snow dusted everything, draping this little mortal village in white. It was a sharp contrast to the warmth of Weald they’d enjoyed these past few weeks.

He wasn’t used to the cold anymore.

He’d drawn his hood to hide his ears, and Josephine had done the same. Just to be safe. Neither of them had any idea what to expect on this side of the veil. Yes, the war was over, but the kith had used mortals for too long. The road to healing would be arduous as they untangled all of the trauma that mortals had endured at kith hands. It was a soil choked with weeds and thorns, and it would take time to till them all away, to soften the earth so that it could be ready for them to plant new seeds.

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