Page 123 of A Kingdom of Shadows

I sigh, dropping my hands to the side, and say, "Darius—"

"Don't." He shakes his head. "I already know you will say not now, that it isn't the right time, that I am stupid to even suggest such a thing, but I have never been clearer about anything in my life than I am right now."

He is looking at me in such a way. How can I say no?

I release a sigh. "There is too much in our lives that we must deal with first—"

"And what if we don't get a chance again?"

I stay quiet because that is a possibility I do not want to even think about.

He cups my face. "Goldie, from that day I first met you playing with your marbles, I've known I wanted you to be my wife."

I shoot him an amused look. "You were a child."

He smiles so wide there are dimples. "A very intelligent and dashing child who'd met the most beautiful girl in existence."

I roll my eyes and grin. Turning my head, I reach for his hand on my cheek and gently kiss his palm.

Before I add another reason why not now, he says, "Come on, Goldie." He lets go and takes a few steps back. "I'll marry you a thousand times!" He raises his arms to the side without caring if anyone outside the maze will hear him. He picks off a blue hydrangea from the hedge and walks up to me again, offering it in his hand. "If you'll only let me."

I laugh, shaking my head. I am a fool completely in love with a dragon shifter I once desperately wanted to hate.

Taking the hydrangea, I twirl it between my fingers, smiling as I stare at each cerulean petal. "How about we make it a little game." I glance up at him, my lips curling into a smile at the sudden frown on his face.

"Not the most ideal answer," he drawls with a smirk. "But I do always love winning against you."

I shake my head, then raise my chin and wrap my arms around his neck as I hum in pensive mockery. "Well, if you ask me three more times to marry you, then I might say yes, but remember, you mustn't ask one right after the other. That would be cheating."

He cocks a brow, his hands curving at the small of my back. "Why three?"

"It is my lucky number."

"Not five?"

I drop my forehead onto his chest and chuckle before looking up. "Back then, five questions to ask you was far more reasonable than three."

His eyes are half closed as he smiles down at me.

My dragon shifter.

"Well," he lilts and clears his throat. "Naralía Brielle Ambrose, will you be my wife?"

If my heart could swoon, it would. I rise on the edges of my boots, my lips a breath away from his as I whisper, "One down, two to go." And kiss him with all the promises that we will one day.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Five of the kings' warriors trot up ahead on their horses. Aeron and Darius are at the front, leading us all through wooded areas of Terranos while Arlayna and I hang back. With the last task right at our feet, everything seemed to be tenser than before. Only yesterday, Darius had told me he wanted to marry me, to be his wife, to be a... Rivernorth.

It is hard to believe so much could happen in such little time. And though Darius and I knew the worst was not over, we still spent the entire evening in his room, under his bed sheets, against the wall, and our bare bodies tangled up.

I've never felt such blissful serenity before other than when I am with him.

My lips twitch with a smile as I stare at the back of him, riding his stallion. If I admitted that to him, I'd never hear the end of it.

"You two have certainly made up, haven't you?" Arlayna asks with humor in her voice.

I glance at her, gripping the reins of my mare. "Sadly," I joke, and she chuckles lightly. When I look back at Darius, now conversing with a few soldiers, I whisper, "he asked me to marry him."

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