Chapter 143: I love you...

"I said I like you, Seris."

He smiled right at her without looking away.

Seris stared at him. Her mouth opened a little and then closed again.

She shook her head slowly and pulled her wrist free. "Alden. If this is some kind of joke stop it. It’s not funny."

"Do I look like I’m joking?"

She looked at his face properly. "From everything you’ve been saying?" She crossed her arms. "Yes. Honestly."

He laughed a little. "Then I did a terrible job. But I mean every word."

He reached into his coat.

Seris watched him and then went completely still when he pulled out a small velvet box and opened it toward her.

Two silver rings sat inside. Each one had a small stone that caught the moonlight quietly.

"A... Alden." Her voice came out softer than she meant it to. "What is this?"

"I bought them at the Apothesis market," he said. His voice was calm and steady. "If I was going to do this I wasn’t going to do it halfway."

He looked at her straight.

"I love you Seris. I love you enough that I don’t want to wake up one day and realize you chose someone else because I was too scared to say something. I’m done waiting. I’m done finding reasons not to."

Her lips pressed together. Her eyes started doing something she clearly hadn’t planned for.

"But you told me you weren’t interested," she said softly. "You said it clearly."

"I know." He exhaled. "It was probably the most stupid thing I’ve ever done. I kept telling myself that keeping my distance was the right call. That I was protecting myself." He shook his head. "But I was just scared. I built this whole idea in my head that I felt nothing and kept forcing myself to believe it. And then I almost lost you during that vampire raid and I understood exactly what a fool I had been."

She raised one hand and covered her mouth. Her eyes were shimmering now.

Alden held the box toward her. "You’re currently single. And I don’t want anyone to come along and stand where I should’ve been this whole time." He looked at her without looking away. "I’m done running."

The garden was quiet around them. The fountain kept going behind them with its soft steady sound. The moonlight touched the stone and the silver in the box and the tears Seris was working very hard not to let fall.

She looked down at the rings for a long moment.

"You’re being selfish," she said.

"I know." He stepped closer. "But this is the one time I actually want to be. I don’t care if it’s the sensible choice or not. I just want you."

He lowered himself onto one knee.

Seris looked down at him.

"Seris," He held the open box up. "Would you date me?"

And for the first time since Alden had known her she had nothing to say back. No clever line. She looked at him kneeling in the same garden where she had once told him everything and gotten turned down gently in return and she was completely undone by it.

She extended her hand.

And nodded.

Alden’s smile came slow and warm and real. "Is that a yes?"

Her cheeks had gone red. She nodded again because she clearly didn’t trust herself with words yet.

He took her hand and carefully slid the ring onto her finger. She lifted her hand and looked at it. The stone caught the moonlight against her pale skin and something in her expression broke open in the softest way.

"And this one is yours," Alden started. "You can put it—"

Seris stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him.

He went completely still.

Her silver hair pressed against his cheek. Her shoulders were trembling in the quiet way people tremble when they’re trying not to cry and it’s already too late. Her arms tightened around his coat like she needed something solid to hold.

"I hate you," she said and her voice cracked right in the middle of it.

He exhaled slowly. "Seris. Are you crying?"

"Don’t look." She pressed her face into his coat. "I don’t want you to see me like this."

She took a shaky breath.

"I was alone for so long Alden. Even before I met you I had already gotten used to it. And after you said no I kept telling myself I was fine. That I would be fine." Her fingers tightened against his back. "But I wasn’t, I felt so broken. There were times I felt so lonely I didn’t even want to exist anymore."

He didn’t say anything. He just listened.

"And even after all of that," she kept going, her voice unsteady in a way he had never heard from her. "Even when you hurt me I couldn’t stop loving you. I tried, I genuinely tried to stop." A broken laugh came out through the tears. "I hate you so much for that."

Alden wrapped his arms around her waist and held her properly.

He rested his chin on top of her head.

"And I love you lots," he said quietly.

Seris let out a small wet laugh that was half a cry dressed up as something else. "Idiot."

They stayed like that for a while. The garden stayed quiet around them and the moonlight stayed still.

Eventually Alden loosened his hold and Seris lifted her face. Her crimson eyes were still bright and tears hadn’t quite finished falling. He raised his hand and wiped them away with his thumb and then brushed a few loose strands of silver hair back behind her ear.

His fingers stayed in her hair for a moment.

"Your hair is really beautiful," he said.

Seris blinked. The blush came back fast. She ducked her chin slightly which was not something she ever did. "You really are something aren’t you."

Alden smiled. "Maybe."

She wiped the last of the tears away herself and looked back up at him. The composure she always wore was coming back but it had something different in it now.

"Then where’s my part?" she asked nodding at the second ring still in his other hand.

"Here." He held it out.

She looked at it. Then at him. "Give me your hand."

"Already bossy?" Alden said.

She narrowed her eyes. "Give me your hand."

He laughed and held out his left hand. Seris took his fingers and slid the silver band onto his ring finger until it sat flat against his skin. She held his hand for a moment after that just looking at it.

Neither of them said anything.

Alden looked at the matching band catching moonlight on his hand. "Well thank you Seri—"

Seris stepped in and wrapped her arms around his neck and rose up on her toes.

He had just enough time to realize what was happening before she pressed a soft warm kiss against his cheek.

It lasted a few seconds and then she pulled back. Her hands slid down and rested lightly on his chest and she leaned her forehead against him and he could feel her exhale slowly as she listened to his heartbeat.

Alden stood completely still for a moment. The warmth from where she had kissed him spread outward in every direction.

Against his chest Seris smiled.

"I love you too you dummy," she said quietly. "It took you long enough to figure out I’m the only one for you."

He laughed and pulled her close. "Yeah. I was pretty stupid about it."

"Very," she agreed without a single apology.