“What are you doing?”
He fished around in his pocket and pulled out a gilded orb.
Oh, Goddess. Is he doing what I think he’s doing?She clapped a hand over her mouth.
“You are not just my home—you are my life. I want to spend every moment with you until the end of our days. KarmaKennedy, will you marry me?” He opened the orb to reveal a ring set with a sparkling, iridescent blue stone.
“We’re already married,” she squeaked.
“But under duress. I want us to marry because we love each other. Not because the king and queen ordered it.”
Oh, Goddess! Oh, Goddess!Joyful tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Am I not doing this right? Or maybe you don’t want to get married again. Maybe you wish to keep our marriage provisional and see how it goes?”
“Yes…no…I mean yes!” She realized she didn’t make sense. “Yes, I’ll marry you! I don’t wish to wait and see—I’m ready to commit to forever.” She held her hand out, and he slipped the ring on her finger and stood up.
“I love you so much!” She kissed him, lightheaded and dizzy, like she could float away with happiness.
“I love you, too,” he said.
She held out her hand to study the stunning ring. It was the most beautiful, unusual stone she’d ever seen, but what meant the most was that he’d given it to her as a symbol of his love. Love mattered, not jewelry, not possessions. But it was a pretty ring. Unique. “It’s beautiful,” she said. A thin silver-gold filigree wrapped around a blue gem mounted on a wide silver-gold band.
“I’m glad you like it. We don’t wear finger rings, so I had a jeweler fabricate one. Your sister said diamonds were traditional on Earth, but we don’t have them, so the jeweler substituted Kaldorite.”
“You talked to my sister about the ring?”
He nodded. “I told her I intended to ask you to marry me properly—and she told me about the tradition of the wedding ring. She helped me.” His mouth twisted. “She offered to keep you occupied while I went to the jeweler, so she took you tolunch that one day. I swore her to secrecy because I wanted to surprise you.”
That fateful day. “She never said a word.” No wonder Kismet had been so certain he loved her. Her sister was good at keeping secrets. You could tell her anything, and it was like locking it in a vault. She almost wished her sister had broken his confidence and told her why she was so certain he loved her. It would have given her more hope during the dark days. But all was well that ended well. He had surprised her in the most amazing way.
“We’ll have to invite her to the wedding.” He winked.
“Absolutely!” She smiled. “How soon can we get married?”
“I’ll talk to my father about his schedule.”
“For sure, your parents should be at the wedding.”
“I meant, he could perform the ceremony.”
“That would be great!” A fresh start with her husband and a fresh start with her in-laws.
“If you prefer a big royal wedding, that will take time to arrange.”
“No, let’s keep it small. Immediate family.” She didn’t need big and showy. The marriage counted, not the wedding. A pang shot through her that her mother wouldn’t be able to attend. It hadn’t mattered so much the last time because she hadn’t considered it a real wedding, but this one mattered. Still, Destiny’s absence couldn’t dim her happiness. She’d finally found the love she’d longed for. She’d had to wait for it, kiss a lot of frogs, but she got her prince. The prince of her heart.
“Whatever you want,” he said.
“What I want,” she said, unbuttoning his tunic, “is to show you how much I love and appreciate you. You’ve earned somegood karma.”
Epilogue
One month later
“Where are we going?” Karma asked as their husbands ushered her and Kismet out of the palace to a waiting hoverlimo.
Falkor exchanged a conspiratorial grin with Jaryk. “You’ll see. Get in.”
