Page 64 of Angels Don’t Date

“No? What is the condition?” He frowned intently, all of his energy and attention on me. He was made of so much energy. Our children would be absolute terrors. Children? Really?

My heart glowed and warmed in my chest as I smiled slowly. “The condition is that you love me forever.”

He closed his eyes, looking like a sleeping angel, or like someone had given him an instantaneous death. “Why would you want me to love you forever, Princess?”

I swallowed hard and then whispered against his ear, “Because I love you.”

For a moment time stopped as we both stopped breathing. Then he shifted, dropping to the floor at my feet while he gazed up at me, his wings outstretched while he clasped my hands. “You love me? Even though I’m an idiot, and I lied, and bound you without your consent, and got you married without your knowledge?”

I hesitated then nodded. I really, really, really did. I loved him so much from his ego to his outstretched arm in the tub. And now I was blushing. “Yes, I love you.”

He nodded soberly. “Perfect. You’re as mental as the rest of us. You’ll fit right in.” He picked me up, threw me over his shoulder like a barbarian, and carried me away.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked, breathlessly clinging to his shoulders.

“Bed. I’m about to pass out, and it should be somewhere I can comfortably regenerate all the blood you stole while you stare at me like a stalker. Or maybe that’s you that needs to be comfortable. Definitely you. And then when I wake up, we’ll start on our happily ever after. I’ll bake so many marvelous things for you. And kissing. Do you think it would help you forget what a bad idea it is to accept our marriage if I kiss you fairly often?” He set me carefully down on the bed and then collapsed beside me, almost boneless. I really had taken a lot of his blood. Funny that it took so long to catch up to him.

I curled up around him, resting my head on his chest in the perfect hollow between his shoulder and his pectoral. “I should probably tell you that I saw you in your tub. It was a bit stalkerish of me, but I promise I wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for the goblin assassins.”

He opened his eyes and frowned at me. “You saved me from goblin assassins? Did you eat the bodies?”

I blinked at him. He said it with absolutely zero condemnation. I shook my head. “I burned them with heavenly fire.”

He nodded. “Next time, you should eat them. It’ll make you stronger. One thing my wife will need to be is strong. That is, if you’ll have me. To be perfectly honest, I’ve scrolled on your account more than is entirely healthy. Seeing you gives me peace. Knowing you’re somewhere in the world, being a bright beacon for happiness and adorableness makes me happy. I love you so incredibly much. I can’t believe it took me so long to realize it. My father must have known. Everyone must have known. Except for me.”

“Well, you are…”

“An idiot,” we said together, then burst out laughing.

He nuzzled my hair. “I truly am compared to my brilliant wife. That’s the amazing thing about you, however educated, talented, and powerful you are, you have this eternal air of humility and kindness. I hope you rub off on me. I need more virtue if I’m going to live up to my father’s legacy.”

“You don’t need to live up to anyone else. You’ll build your own legacy. You’re good enough without trying to be someone else.”

He bit my shoulder. The shock was like sweet lightning and honey. I growled and pinned him, but he only smiled with his eyes shut. “Passing out soon. I love you. Forever.”

“Forever is a long time.”

“Not long enough.”

His arms tightened around me. Together we would build our own world. Something beautiful, magic, and full of love that would last forever.

And while he was unconscious I was going to give him a rune he’d never see coming. Marriage was all about equality.

Epilogue

“Happy Birthday Katriana! Happy Birthday, to you!”

The song erupted into kazoos and clapping while Madame Granite hit the last thundering chords on the piano. The Cat’s Pause shook with the cheers, or maybe that was just my chair, as it was perched on two legs, and me balanced on top of my angel who was balancing on the chair while juggling kittens.

“Sh,” he said when the cheering went on too long. “Black Heart doesn’t like the noise.”

I beamed at him. “You’re such a good pet papa.”

He smiled like he didn’t mind the rune in his arm that made him able to understand our kittens.

“Katriana,” Sultry said, leaning over to hand me a present, dark eyes seductive as usual. “I got a new text, Egyptian, but with interspersing Armenian! Would you like to look at it with me this week?”

Richard thumped the chair to the floor, all four legs, and wrapped his arm more securely around my waist, losing a kitten in the process. “My wife and I will be out of town all week. All month. I intend to keep her very busy.” He ran his nose along my neck, and I shivered, all goosebumps and happiness.