Page 126 of Savage Union
I approach the bedroom door and enter silently, eyes adjusting to the dimness. Caterina lies curled on her side, still wearing the white dress now stained with dried blood. Her hair has come loose from its elegant arrangement, dark strands spilling across the pillow.
The sight of her—vulnerable in sleep, yet still regal even in dishevelment—stirs something in me I've long denied exists. Something dangerously close to tenderness.
I cross the room and sit on the edge of the bed, studying her face. Despite her pretense of sleep, the tension in her shoulders betrays her wakefulness.
"You're awake," I state quietly.
Her eyes open, red-rimmed and swollen from crying. She doesn't bother denying it, simply meets my gaze with a directness that has always impressed me, even at her most defiant.
"Come to tell me it's over?" Her voice is hoarse, roughened by tears. "That I'm no longer useful to you now that the Commission knows about Liam?"
The bitterness in her tone doesn't mask the underlying fear. She expects rejection, abandonment—natural assumptions after the day's events.
"Why did you save me?" I ask instead, the question that's been burning in my mind since the cathedral.
She blinks, caught off guard by my directness. "What?"
"In the cathedral. The gunman was aiming at my back. You pushed me aside." I search her face for deception, for calculation, finding none. "Why?"
She pushes herself to sitting position. "I don't know."
"I don't believe you."
"I didn't think about it," she admits, frustration edging into her voice. "I just... reacted. I saw the gun, saw where he was aiming, and moved."
"Instinct," I observe.
"Yes." She meets my gaze directly. "Apparently my instinct is to protect you, even when it makes no logical sense."
"The Commission has withdrawn their mandate for our marriage," I tell her, watching her reaction closely.
Surprise flickers across her features, followed by confusion. "What does that mean?"
"It means there is no longer a political necessity for us to be married." I keep my tone neutral, revealing nothing of my own feelings on the matter. "Your connection to Costello has been deemed too problematic for an alliance."
Understanding dawns in her eyes, followed by resignation. "So that's it? It's over?"
"Do you want it to be?"
The question hangs between us, genuine in a way few exchanges between us have been. Her confusion is evident as shesearches my face for the trap, the angle, the hidden motivation behind my words.
"What I want has never mattered in any of this," she says finally.
"It matters now." I stand, moving away from the bed to give her space. "The Commission no longer requires our marriage. The political alliance it was meant to cement has been compromised by today's revelations."
She watches me warily, still trying to anticipate where this conversation leads. "And what about you? What do you require?"
The question deserves honesty, though honesty has never come easily to me. I turn to face her fully, abandoning the careful distance I've maintained since discovering her connection to Costello.
"I want you as my wife," I state simply. "Not because the Commission demands it. Not because of politics or alliances. But because you are the only woman who has ever challenged me, defied me, saved me—all while knowing exactly who and what I am."
Her eyes widen, disbelief evident in her expression. "You can't be serious."
"I've never been more serious." I move back toward the bed, dropping to one knee beside it in a gesture so foreign to me it feels like someone else's movement. "The ceremony today was interrupted, but not invalidated. However, I'm asking you now, directly and without coercion: Caterina Gallo, will you marry me? Not as a political arrangement, but as my chosen wife?"
She stares at me as if I've lost my mind, shock rendering her momentarily speechless. "After everything that happened? After what Liam revealed about me?"
"Your past with Costello is exactly that—the past. A desperate arrangement made before we met, born of your need to protectyour family from your father." I reach for her hand, finding it cold but steady. "I cannot blame you for seeking whatever escape seemed possible. I can only offer a different future."
