Page 133 of Kotori
"You didn't make me love you," she whispers, leaning closer. "You just gave me the chance to see who you really were beneath all that control and violence. And what I saw was worth choosing."
The last of my carefully constructed walls crumble in the face of her honesty. This woman—this fierce, impossible woman—knows exactly what I am and loves me anyway. Not because I forced her to, but because she decided I was worth it.
"Marry me."
The words escape before I can stop them, raw and graceless and completely unlike the careful proposal I should have planned. She blinks, startled, and I feel heat crawl up my neck.
"That came out wrong." I shift in the water, suddenly aware of how awkward this is, proposing while naked and half-disabled in a bathroom. "I mean…"
"Yes."
Now it's my turn to blink. "Yes?"
"Yes, I'll marry you." Her smile widens, becoming radiant. "Though your timing could use work."
Relief floods through me so powerful it's almost nauseating. "I don't have a ring. I should have planned this better."
"Kaito." She leans forward and kisses me, soft and sweet. When she pulls back, her eyes are bright and her face goes pinklike she's about to cry. "I don't need a ring right now. I just need you to mean it."
"I mean it." The words come easier now, weighted with certainty. "I want you as my wife. My partner. My equal." I pause, struggling with the next part. "Not because you complete me or some romantic nonsense. Because you challenge me. Because you make me better than I am alone. Because watching you become who you are has been the greatest privilege of my life."
The tears spill over then, tracking down her cheeks as she laughs. "God, you really don't know how to be romantic, do you?"
"No," I admit. "I don't know how to do any of this. How to love someone without trying to control them. How to be vulnerable without seeing it as weakness. How to build a partnership instead of just taking what I want."
"Lucky for you," she says, reaching for the soap again, "I'm a very good teacher."
I catch her wrist with my good hand, stopping her. "Teach me."
"What?"
"I love you." The words I've never said to her before come out rough, unpracticed. "And I want to love you the way you deserve to be loved. How to be the man you chose instead of the one who trapped you here." The admission costs me, but I force it out anyway. "I don't want to just possess you anymore, Paige. I want to deserve you."
Her expression softens, and she leans forward to press her forehead against mine. She doesn't say anything, doesn't need to. The silence between us holds everything. Acknowledgment, forgiveness, promise. We stay like that for a long moment, breathing the same air, sharing the same space, and I feel pieces of myself I didn't know were broken beginning to heal.
When she finally pulls back, there's mischief in her eyes. "I will. but first, let me finish washing your back. Your fiancé can't walk around with soap residue."
Fiancé. The word is so strange to me. "Bossy," I murmur, knowing anyone else who told me what to do would be a dead man.
"You love it."
I do. I love her strength, her defiance, the way she refuses to be diminished by my world. I love that she chose darkness willingly and found light in it anyway. I love that she saw through my careful control of the man underneath and decided he was worth saving.
As her hands resume their gentle washing, I close my eyes and let myself feel peace. Not the temporary satisfaction of victory or the fleeting pleasure of control, but the deep, lasting peace that comes from being known completely and loved anyway.
My Tanabata wish came true after all. She chose me willingly—not the mask I wore or the power I wielded, but the broken, violent, desperate man beneath it all.
My Kotori.
39
Epilogue - Paige
ThefirstthingInotice when I wake is the gentle flutter of movement beneath my hand.
After twenty weeks of pregnancy, these morning greetings from our child have become my favorite way to start the day. The distinct bump now clearly visible beneath the silk sheets, impossible to hide and no longer something we're trying to conceal.
The second thing I notice is my husband's hand resting protectively over my rounded belly, even in sleep.
