Page 63 of Must Love Scones and Secrets
“Really?” I called, hardly daring to believe it. “You forgive me?”
“Yes. I love you, you royal idiot.”
At that moment, Winifred stepped forward, her hands weaving an intricate pattern in the air. Green vines suddenly shot up the side of The Sconery, twisting and growing at an unnatural speed until they formed a sturdy, living ladder that led to Rosalyn’s window.
“Climb,” Emmalyn urged me, making shooing motions with her hands. “Just like in the book.”
Winifred casted once more, the spell causing the entire front of Rosalyn’s shop to be covered in bright pink soullock roses.
Rosalyn gasped.
“Go on, Lord Thornwick,” Emmalyn told me.
I hesitated only a moment before tucking the flowers under one arm and climbing up. The vines were surprisingly sturdy, holding my weight easily as I made my way up to Rosalyn’s window. When I reached her, she was smiling through tears, her wings fluttering with emotion.
“Oh, Bjorn,” she whispered softly.
“I’m truly sorry,” I told her.
“I know,” she replied. “Otherwise, you’d never let Emmalyn and Winifred talk you into the Thornwick and Beth proposal scene,” she said then wrapped her arms around me, placing a sweet and soft kiss on my lips. I nearly dropped the flowers in my eagerness to hold her, one arm wrapping around her waist while the other still clutched the bouquet.
Below us, the crowd cheered. I vaguely registered Winifred doing something with her hands, and suddenly, a burst of rose petals exploded all around us, tiny pink sparks shooting off into the sky.
Everyone below called out excitedly, whooping and clapping.
When we finally broke apart, Rosalyn grinned at me. “You do realize everyone in town will talk about this for years, right? A Prince of Frostfjord, climbing up to the pixie baker’s window on a magical vine ladder.”
“Let them talk,” I said, surprising myself with how little I cared about the spectacle we’d made. “All I want is for you to be happy. As long as you’re happy, nothing else matters.”
Her eyes softened. “Iamhappy. I love you, Bjorn.”
“I love you too.”
Whatever challenges lay ahead, my duties in Frostfjord, her business in Moonshine Hollow, the inevitable meeting with my family, we would face them together. We would make this work because sometimes true love was just as magical as the tales in storybooks.
CHAPTER 19
ROSALYN
Icouldn’t stop smiling.
Even as Bjorn moved away from the window, joining me inside, my cheeks hurt from grinning like a fool. Merry watched us with his usual judgmental stare. Still, even he seemed affected by the moment, his little horn softly glowing pink as he flicked his tail and pretended not to care about the romantic scene he’d just witnessed.
Bjorn stood in the middle of my apartment, looking regal but also adorably uncomfortable in his royal attire. The silver torc around his neck gleamed in the morning sunlight streaming through the window, and the blue of his tunic made his eyes even more striking.
But the expression on his face took my breath away—a mixture of joy, relief, and love so intense it made my heart skip. Those same blue eyes that had looked at me with desire in the cabin now held something deeper, more profound. And this time, there were no secrets between us.
“Well,” I said, trying for lightness but hearing the breathless quality in my voice, “that was…”
“Awful? Embarrassing?”
“Perfect,” I assured him, reaching up to touch his face. “Crown and Crumpets. Chapter fifty-eight.”
“Did I live up to the literary standard?”
“You exceeded it,” I assured him, rising onto my tiptoes to press my lips against his.
Bjorn’s arms slipped around my waist, drawing me closer. “I was desperate. When Winifred told me you were coming to see me, that you didn’t hate me…”
