so quick and my lungs can’t catch up. I clench my jaw and raise my raging eyes to meet his.
Asher and Kaino stop speaking, those around us stop speaking. My silence is passing into them and it’s as if they can feel my mood that’s boiling to the surface, threatening to spill over onto them.
“The courtesy?” I ask loud and annunciating. “You think I owe your people a courtesy?” My eyes are wide, my lips thinning between words, pressing tightly together as my mind swirls in a flow of angry thoughts. “Every man here, and a few women as well, have embarrassingly approached me as if I’m a pet to play with. To take home and entertain their lord with.”
“Fallon, this is not how we should discuss this. We should talk privately-”
“No, this is something everyone needs to hear,” I say, cutting him off, my eyes shifting from him to the large crowd around us. The crowd that’s watching me intently. “I am not your entertainment. I am not a chess piece to be played and pushed around the board. I am not an obstacle stopping you from living your lives and I most definitely am not a prize. I won’t join someone who sees me as a piece to be played, an obstacle or especially a prize.”
My narrowed eyes scan the mass of people before me. The males hold my glare and the females nod their heads in agreement. My loud words are shouted into the silence and are absorbed into their minds, to be understood or to be misconstrued but the words are taken all the same.
Asher does his best to remain impassive but I can see how his eyes are lit up with interest at my angry seminar I’m now holding. Kaino’s arms are crossed but he isn’t angry, he, too, is intrigued, his naturally tense features smoothing slightly. Luca smiles widely from nearby, all but cheering me on.
“I am not your opponent and I will not bow to a mystic who does not see me as a teammate.” Luca nods giving me courage. A strange fear and nervousness presses heavily into my lungs as I realize what I am about to do.
“With that being said,” I pause, walking slowly up to Asher, his brilliant silver eyes never leave mine, but search my face for any indication of what I’m about to do so publicly. “Asher Xavier… would you…” My mind searches for the word his grandpa used over a year ago. It’s foreign and my tongue struggles to pull it from my memory. I bend one knee, bowing before him like a servant to her master. “Would you marry me?”
I’m breathing hard but I keep a façade of calm in my features as I look up at him. His lips quirk, tilting up into a small smile. The crowd around us hums to life. Words flow quietly from one person to the next, as everyone waits for Asher’s reply.
As I wait for his reply.
“If you don’t marry her someone else will,” Gabriel shouts from behind us making me smile. A flush of red creeps over my face, making me even warmer.
Asher shakes his head, my heart falling a little with each passing second. He drops to his knees before me, a soldier surrendering to his conqueror, lowering himself to my level. Only a foot of space is between us as we kneel in the dirt together.
“I’ll ruin your life, baby,” he says quietly, touching his fingers lightly to the inside of my palms, not holding them but brushing his fingers against the inside of my hands. His touch is reassuring despite his words.
“I can do that all on my own. That’s not what I asked you.” His dimples appear, his perfect smile widening at my words. “I’m asking you to not screw it up any more than it already is,” I tell him.
He nods, leaning in and pressing his forehead to mine. I breathe him in, my eyes held wide open, not wanting to miss a word he says.
This is us. Always desperate for the other to catch up. Always patiently waiting for one to realize what the other sees. The world might always press in on us, but he continues to hold the sky up for me to walk this earth safely. I’d let the sky fall down around us if it meant I could be in his arms in the end.
“Well, how can I refuse a proposal like that?” he asks loudly for everyone