Page 135 of Realm of Thieves

“Oh,” I cry out softly, my chest tight, my breath stolen.

He nods at the ring. “I hope you like it.”

As if in slow motion I reach out and pick it up. The ring is silver but there’s a hint of gold in it, reflective and bright. The band is simple until it gets toward the stone, where it forms wavering branches and ferns, wrapping around the stone like a nest. And the stone itself is a light blue crystal, fully transparent, with a glow that seems to come from within, bathing the air around it with an azure tinge.

It’s the most beautiful piece of jewelry I have ever seen.

“What is this?” I ask, my fingers trembling.

“It’s a proposal, lavender girl,” he says. I glance down at him and he stares up at me with so much hope in his gaze that my eyes immediately burn, my chest constricting until it feels like my heart has outgrown it. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

I stare at the ring, at the surreal glow, then back at him. “Are you serious?”

I expect him to crack a joke about how he’s always serious, but his expression remains intense and entirely focused on me. “More seriousthan I’ve ever been in my life. I love you, Brynla. And I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Whether that means at Stormglen or wherever our adventures take us, I want to be your husband. I want us to be a family.”

I try to swallow the knot in my throat. “Even though I might not be able to have children?” I whisper.

“We don’t need children to make a family,” he says gravely. “You are my family and we are all we need. Now, please, my knee is getting very wet and very cold.”

I let out a laugh, joy rising up through my body like a flock of doves. “Yes. Then yes, I will be your wife. I will marry you.”

He breaks into the most beautiful smile and gets to his feet. He comes over to the side of the horse and reaches for my hand. He holds it and slips the ring over my finger. “Thank the goddesses it fits,” he comments in relief. “I was a little worried there.”

I pull my hand back to admire it. “What is it made of?” I ask, turning it around, watching the blue glow of the sparkling crystal.

“Diamonds, from Esland,” he says to me. I look at him in surprise. “I wanted to give you something that reminded you of where you came from. So it would be a part of you always.”

I shake my head. “Our diamonds don’t glow like this.”

“Ah, well that’s from the cave right there,” he says, nodding past me. “I took the glowferns to Steiner and asked him to make another cube but one that would ensure that it would never lose its glow. He was able to melt them down and amalgamate them in with the diamond. Turns out his latest hit of suen turned him into an alchemist.”

“What can’t he do?” I mutter, still admiring the ring.

“Well, he doesn’t get to marry you, that’s for sure,” Andor says, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Now come here and kiss me.”

He reaches up and grabs me by the waist and hauls me off thehorse. I giggle and kick at him, and though I know I’m heavier to him now than I once was, he still does it with ease.

Until I lean on him and we both collapse back into the snow.

“Will you yield?” I say to him, grinding my body on top of him.

“You’re the one who just yielded to me,” he says, and with a grunt, he flips me back so I’m pressed into the snow. “My fiancée.”

Then he kisses me.

Deep, sweet, and full of joy.

A kiss full of hope.

The first kiss of the next chapter of our lives.

Epilogue

Vidar

A year later

“Your future bride is here,”my father says as he stands next to me, speaking out of the side of his mouth.

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