Page 45 of Dragon's Desire

"God, I can't believe I'm saying this, but yes."

Peter slipped the ring on her finger, and they both stood up.

They kissed, and she whispered in his ear, "Was the fingering just to soften me up?"

"I figured it couldn't hurt to be reminded of what you have to look forward to and prove I'll always do what I say."

29

KIERCY

Kiercy looked dumbfounded at Peter.

"We've been engaged less than a month, and you're suggesting we just elope!" she said, perhaps a little louder than she intended.

"Do you not want to get married?"

"If I hadn't, I would have told you to go fuck yourself."

"I think you tell me that quite often. Have you been dropping subtle hints?"

"I'm serious," she said. "I do want this. I think I should have my head examined, but I want this. If we're going to do this, we need to do it right."

"What do you mean about doing it right?" he asked.

"Handfasting."

"Wait," Peter paused. "You want a witch's ceremony?" He looked at the floor and then up at her. "Okay, we can do that. In Vegas."

"I want my family, friends, and coven there. And your family and friends."

"Our families? Together? Maybe we should revisit that idea of having your head examined because that's some of the craziest shit I've ever heard. You want to put a bunch of witches and witch hunters in the same room?"

"Well, it wouldn't be in a room. It'd be outside, in the woods."

"This is a joke, right?"

"No. I'm serious."

"No," Peter said. "I mean, we all have family members we hate, but I don't think you want my clan murdering yours."

"And what makes you think they'd win?"

"Because they're all highly trained and really paranoid."

"Let's not get into a 'my dad can beat up your dad' thing, okay. But I am serious about this. We've got to rip the band-aid off. Or were you planning on never talking to your family ever again after we marry?"

"I just don't see how we're going to make this work?"

"You're the one who asked me to marry you."

"Yes, but I wasn't really thinking about marrying your family."

"That's what this is. A blending of families. We figured it out. They can too."

Planning a wedding is always hard. Still, this one not only had the logistics of getting timing to line up but also included what would essentially be peace negotiations between two warring factions.

In the end, there were some family and friends on either side who flat out refused to attend. But they actually ended up only being a small minority. The timing and location were negotiated between the clans, and a neutral third party was put in charge of what was essentially security.

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