Page 93 of The Hunter's Empire

The cheerful ringtone cuts through the silence, and the moment I see Aurelia's name on the screen, a smile immediately pulls at my lips.

I answer before the second ring finishes. "Aurelia?"

"Zora!" I immediately pull the phone slightly away from my ear. The sheer excitement in her voice is enough to make me laugh. "You are not going to believe what happened."

The declaration is so dramatic that I sink back into my chair.

"Considering the volume level, I'm assuming nobody died."

"Keith proposed!"

For a second, my brain refuses to process the sentence. I stare blankly at the skyline. Then I sit upright so quickly that my chair rolls backward. "What?"

Aurelia laughs. The sound is bright and completely unrestrained. "He proposed!"

"You're serious?"

"Yes!"

"Oh my God."

"I know!"

"Aurelia."

"I know!"

I can't stop laughing. Partly because of the news. Partly because her excitement is so infectious that resisting it feels impossible.

"Start from the beginning." I demand. "And don't skip anything."

The next twenty minutes disappear almost instantly.

Aurelia enthusiastically recounts every detail of the proposal, beginning with the location and somehow circling through at least seven unrelated stories before eventually arriving back at the actual engagement.

Apparently Keith spent most of the day acting suspiciously. Apparently he was nervous enough to check for the ring every fifteen minutes. Apparently he nearly ruined the surprise three separate times.

And according to Aurelia, he almost dropped the ring entirely.

"I didn’t." Keith's voice suddenly appears from somewhere in the background.

Aurelia gasps. "Stop eavesdropping."

"You put me on speaker."

"That's not the point."

"That’s exactly the point."

I laugh and lean back in my chair.

Keith lets out a dramatic sigh. "For the record, Zora, the ring never came anywhere near the ocean."

"It absolutely did." Aurelia intervenes.

The laughter that follows feels effortless. For the first time since returning from Ireland, I find myself relaxing completely.

Eventually Keith takes control of the conversation. "Hey, Zora."