“No, it’s not. Fate is haphazard. It’s not certain. You and me…you are a part of me, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispers with a watery smile pulling at her lips.
“You’re mine and I’m yours.”
“Mutual ownership.”
“And I want them all to know that.”
“I think she makes it pretty obvious,” she giggles, rubbing her belly on my torso.
I’m being serious and she’s having a fucking laugh. Just fucking typical Fleur.
“I want them to know that if they touch you or threaten you, they’re coming at my flesh and my blood.”
“Again, you’ve made that pretty clear. To everyone.”
“I want you to marry me,” I tell her when her gaze meets mine.
A laugh erupts from her, and as fucking gorgeous as it is, I’m struggling not to put a gag in it.
“You’re serious.” Fleur sobers when I don’t join in. “Oh, wow. Okay…what made you come up with that genius plan, now?”
“I want you to marry me. That’s it. I want you to be mine in every way. I want you to share my name, and her name. I want the promise of more todays with you, better todays.”
“You don’t have to marry me because we’re having a baby, Casper.”
“It’s not because we’re having a baby. It’s that I’m…I’m obsessed with you—in a non-creepy way—and I want you with me all the time.”
“You want me to marry you.” Her fingers trace the seahorse on my chest.
“Yes.”
“Okay.” She looks up at me, her hands cupping my jaw. “I’ll marry you.”
“You don’t have to. I’m still going to love you if you don’t.”
“I know, and I want to. I want to marry you too…because I’m fascinated by you in a completely seedy, objectifying, creepy, and I can’t live without you ever again kind of way.”
My heart races so hard in my chest that my vision frays around the edges. Who knew this is what happiness feels like? I’m beginning to understand why people say they’re on cloud nine, because this is a great fucking high.
But like every high there’s a comedown, and before we get ahead of ourselves, I need her to know that this storm isn’t over. She still has a lot to learn. And I’m dreading her reaction when she does.
When she finds out everything about her mother and Lucian, who Lucian really is…I don’t know how she’s going to take it, or the fact that I’ve known all this time. Since Arabella figured it out.
This is all far from over, I still have shit to take care of.
I hug her to me, holding her as I tell her, “I’m going to kill him.”
Nodding silently, she rests her head on my shoulder again. Her breathing is even, but I feel the burn of her tears collecting along my collarbone.
“I know you think he’s someone important, but—”
“How do you know he killed my mother? Her autopsy said she drowned.” Fleur shudders, her hand moulding to the side of my neck as she tries to burrow deeper into me.
“I walked in the house, and it was so hot that day that the maid had left all the windows open before she went out. Mum told me to put sunscreen on that morning, but I didn’t listen, and she was having an episode, so I thought she was being dramatic. You know, she did that a lot. She would be fine, and then for some reason she would stop taking her meds and then she’d have a full-on psychotic lapse.”
“I know,” I whisper into her hair, pressing a kiss to it.