Page 81 of The Champion
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” Victor said with a spoonful of rice pudding going to his mouth. “I was happy before when we made plans for our future in Wisdomia, but these four months of not knowing if they would ever come true makes this moment doubly potent.”
“It’s funny how losing something makes you appreciate it more, isn’t it?”
Swallowing his pudding, Victor dipped his chin. “I’m never letting you go again. I hope you’re okay with that.”
With a wide grin on my face, I broke apart the bun with butter that I was eating. “I’m more than okay with that, but we still need to explain to my father that we won’t be marrying.”
“Nope.” Victor waved his spoon in the air. “I’m marrying you.”
My hand with the bun lowered to my lap as I sat staring at him. “You don’t mean that.”
“I met Bastian earlier today.”
“Who?”
“That book-loving Huntsman who has a major crush on you. Remember at Thor’s wedding when Mason talked about a candidate for you to marry?”
“You met him? How?”
“He was in France. It has to be the same man because his name was Bastian and his mates all seemed to know he had a thing for you.”
“All right, but what did he say that made you change your mind about marriage?” I asked.
“He said that as long as you’re not a married woman, you are fair game.”
I laughed. “I’ve been fair game since I was eighteen and trust me, there’s been a lot of men like him trying to get my attention.”
“I’m marrying you, Freya!” Victor’s words came resolute and with conviction.
“What happened to marriage being comparable to self-mutilation and cannibalism?”
“Forget I said that. I didn’t know any better.”
“But we talked about finding a different way of living together in Wisdomia. One that doesn’t feel as stifling to you.”
Victor narrowed his eyes. “Do you not want to marry me?”
“Of course I do.”
“Fine. Then that’s settled.”
“But the psychic said I would never marry.”
Leaning his head to one side, Victor pointed out, “She also said humans have free will. Maybe she was a fraud or maybe she couldn’t see marriage ahead of us because I was too closed off to the idea. I say that we let your father announce our union. I have no problem with the world knowing you chose me.”
“Actually, he’s been talking publicly about Wisdomia and telling people to sign up if they want to go with us.”
“That’s quite a different approach from the French government, who was scared their citizens would leave. Jonah said that, in the Motherlands, Shelly has talked about it in interviews and Ada and Albert have created a place in virtual reality that informs about our vision for Wisdomia. Apparently, they have had millions of people visit to see what it’s about.”
“How much did they tell you about our progress with Wisdomia?”
“Who?”
“Thor, Magni, Jonah, and the others.”
“Just that there’s a huge interest and Jonah said the Motherlands are sad to see the Polo family go.”
“Hmm. Once I got back here and involved Indiana and his family, everything went from the planning phase to the execution phase fast. They’re working on establishing the infrastructure for the first thousand people to live there, right now. Last week they had a bit of snow that delayed things a little, but when we go, you’ll see that it’s already taking shape.”
