Page 173 of Inside the Sun

"Six or five, if I’m counting right."

Ragnar furrows his brows. "Listen, one thing. The Ferros are planning something. It might be connected—"

"Yes! I know! It’s supposed to happen in about five days. A hit on a public figure, someone whose death will make headlines around the world."

"Exactly," Ragnar says. "One time I overheard the Ferros are cooking up something big, but no details."

"Whatever it is, I have a feeling it could help us."

Ragnar nods. "Seems logical."

We lock eyes. The air between us still sparkles.

"Do you think this miracle we talked about… could actually happen?" I whisper. "That the attack triggers a domino effect that ensures my family’s safety?"

Ragnar sends me a crooked, uncertain smile. "I choose to believe it. Before, I was… super skeptical and pessimistic. To the point of giving up on any chance at all. But I don’t want to give up anymore."

I exhale, long and slow, then murmur, "I still can’t believe it. It hasn’t sunk in yet. Do you know I fainted at the exact moment of your accident?"

Ragnar lets out a huff of disbelief. "Even before we closed the ‘energy circuit’?"

"Yes. Obviously, we’d already started… bonding."

There’s a long silence between us. We just stare, both of us in what seems like permanent disbelief.

The whole thing really did catch me by surprise. It just doesn’t feel real, or even fathomable.

"People are usually happy, almost ecstatic, when they find out…" I mutter and bite my lip.

Ragnar gives me a crooked smile. "They probably don’t have a problem with the mafia."

"Fair." I try to compose myself. After a few hesitant seconds, something starts to bother me.

"Aren’t you a bit afraid? We don’t know each other that well."

He averts his eyes for a moment, gazing out the gazebo window.

"I am aware. But somehow, it doesn’t bother me." Then he looks back at me with a soft smile. "The True Mate encounter is basically a promise from Fate."

"A promise?"

"It’s like a deal, Fate says:‘You don’t know him, but I promise you, it’s worth it. You’ll be perfectly in tune, not only physically and genetically, but also—" Ragnar taps his head, "—mentally. We can sync so easily and vibe with each other like with no one else. So it’s a guarantee. Even if we barely know each other now, we can be sure we’ll work out."

I grin. "I like it. The promise of love…"

Ragnar’s expression shifts, becoming more pensive, more melancholic. "Yeah. One we can build on. Work on."

Biting my lip, I slowly join him by the window and fix my eyes on the garden. "When I first saw this garden, I thought… how perfectly it matches my taste. Lately, I’ve had this silly vision for the future: that you and I could have a business like this one day. Landscape design. Merging modern, minimalist beauty with nature…"

Ragnar’s face lights up a bit. He glances at me with something like amazement.

"Really? You’re into gardening too?"

"Sure I am. My dad loved it. I always secretly admired his work, though I pretended not to. Just me being a brat."

"I’m pretty confident we’ll find even more common ground," he says with a wink.

"Yeah… the problem is, will we get the chance to explore it?"

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