Page 89 of Enchanted Crown
“Is this a love letter?” I asked, holding it out of his reach. “If so, I will not breech your privacy like that.”
“Not exactly,” Emric said.
“Have you been writing your own sea shanties again?” John asked from his chair; he hadn’t moved at all. Nor did he seem fazed.
“Not exactly,” Emric again said.
“Then why is it so important to you?” I asked.
He stopped fighting against me. “Oh, for gods sakes, just read it.”
I did. It wasn’t a love letter at all. Or a to-do list. Or a sea shanty. It was a list.
Words likereverie, insolent, volatile, misanthrope, respite, andtenebrous.He had been checking them off one by one.
My eyes went to Emric’s. “Your budding vocabulary.”
He fidgeted beneath where I still had him pinned down. “I’ve been reading and trying to expand my vocabulary.”
Miles died laughing at the door, but something in Emric’s eyes had me refraining. Though it wasdamnfunny that he kept parchment with words on it right there in the pocket of his jacket.
“You do not have to do this for us,” I told him. “We accept you just as you are.”
He groaned and shoved me off him as I handed the parchment back over, which he did not hesitate to tuck right back into the pocket of his jacket. “I know but the lot of you are smart. So absurdly smart it makes me feel lacking sometimes. So I have been reading in my spare time. I write down words I like and have been trying them out in conversation. Turns out, I actuallylikereading.”
John supplied from his chair, “That is great so long as you are not trying to be anyone other than yourself.”
Emric sighed. “My humor is not helping me find my own soul bound love, so I thought maybe improving myself in this way might.”
“She’s out there somewhere,” I told him as I helped him to his feet. “And she will take you and all your quirks. All your tenebrous moods.”
There was a pause in which Emric grinned, and then we were all laughing.
I would miss Emric when he left for home, but I was entirely grateful for the people in my life who had made all of this possible. And John was staying. I still couldn’t believe it. Yes, I had Malachi and Amory and Esta here.
But now my life in Dra Skor would not have to be entirely cut off, separate from my life in Wylan. They could meld together.
CHAPTER 31
An unexpected knock on the door had Archer, John, Emric, Dex, and me all moving. Emric tossed the small box to me, which I hid in my bed.
I was going to propose to Esta tonight. After the celebration ball we were about to attend. I had skipped the war room meeting this morning to plan with Emric and John while Esta had been preoccupied.
It was simple. With some help from John, I would do it here. On the balcony where it had all started.
I knew she loved me. Now that she was no longer ignoring our bond or quite as terrified, I constantly felt her love for me. Yet I was still nervous. The treaty had bought Esta only a few months. Much had happened in those months. But was she truly ready to have my ring on her finger? Because the moment she did so, she announced to the entire realm where we stood.
Together.
Dex pulled again on his jacket. He was looking a bit more dapper than he usually did for these things. He normally wore guard clothes, but since he was a guest of honor, he was in a suitwhich matched my own. And since he hadn’t brought one, Archer had to raid Malachi’s closet to get something which fit his broad chest. It did fit, but just barely. Miles was also ready to go, filling in for Dex on guard duty.
Emric opened the door a crack in answer to the knock. “Oh, hello,Your Highness.” He looked over his shoulder at me, which was suspicious as hell, but such was Emric. I gave him a nod, the ring long since tucked under my pillow until later. “We weren’t expecting you.”
Archer face palmed himself out of view of Esta.
She gave Emric a simple shrug. “I thought I would go in with Keir tonight.”
When Emric opened the door wider and gestured her in, I tried my best not to gape. She was wearing a blood red dress and looking as stunning as ever. The image of her when she had first been shifted back into her human form flashed across my memory. How thin and unhealthy she had looked. The woman before me was radiating with health and beauty both.
