“It’s about Grandamere,” he said.
“Oh.” I exhaled, trying not to let the disappointment show on my face. “Is she all right?”
“She is well enough, but with her failing health, she has decided to move back into the castle.”
“I see. That’s probably a wise decision. It’s better that she live somewhere with people around to help her.” I eyed him. “Is that really what you wanted to talk to me about?”
He smiled, but I found nervousness in his eyes. “Well, this is bit harder to do than I expected.”
He took my hand and then knelt in front of me. My body broke out in a clammy sweat, and I didn’t know why, but I felt warm tears in my eyes.
“I want you to marry me, Olive. I know our lives aren’t typical. I know we’ve no business trying to start a family with a world in danger of being destroyed, but goddesses be damned, because if we can’t live and make a future for ourselves, then there’s no point in carrying on.”
His gaze was so intense I couldn’t look away.
“Will you marry me, Olive?”
Had he really just said the words? I hadn’t been in my right mind for quite some time. Could I be hallucinating? But his hands felt so real and warm as he held my fingers, and I couldn’t mistake that overwhelming sense of joy. No hallucination could mimic that.
“Yes. I will. Of course I will.” I brushed the tears off my cheeks as he kissed my knuckles, then stood and took my face between his hands. He kissed me slowly and gently, and I knew then that I’d made the best decision in my life. After he pulled away, he took my fingers in his and carefully slid a ring on my finger.
The cool metal warmed as it touched my skin. I stared, confused as I looked at the ring. Jewels sparkled in a faint, bluish glow from the silver band. Oddly, the bunches of tiny gems reminded me of the hydrangea flowers I remembered seeing in my grandmother’s garden.
I lightly touched the gemstones and felt magic within. “Are these…?”
“They’re from the flower we found in the wild lands. I saw how much you liked the jewels, and I thought they suited you. I’d been trying for so long to find a ring, but neither elven nor Wult nor even Earth Kingdom jewelry suited you. But this flower, it seemed when you saw it, it knew you. I know how strange that must sound.”
“No—actually, I had the same thought.”
He kissed the top of my head. “You like it, then?”
As I studied the ring, I felt its magic combine with my own. I knew then that this ring was different; it was meant for me. Kull knew it as well. It represented who I was now, who I had become, and my potential to become someone better. I didn’t know what the future held, if I really would destroy the world because of Theht, if I would be able to find Lucretian and discover a way around the prophecy, or even if we would have a world to live in. But with my stepfather’s life saved and a real future with Kull to look forward to, I realized I had an actual chance at happiness, and that was good enough for now.
“As for Grandamere’s cottage,” Kull said, “she’s given it to me. She said since I was the only one who ever visited her, she thought I should have it. With a bit of work, it would make an adequate first home for a newlywed couple, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” I answered with a smile. “But I think it would be more than just adequate. I think it would be perfect.”
“It might not be perfect. We’ll live next to the keep, you know. We’ll have to deal with my mother dropping by at a moment’s notice, and then there’s Heidel, who will demand we accompany her on any quest she can come up with and leave any time she chooses—and that’s not to mention her temper we’ll have to put up with.”
I laughed. “Fine. Maybe it won’t be perfect.”
He gave me his lopsided grin, the one he reserved only for me. We looked out over the trees and I found the stars glittering—not the light cast from the enchanted ceiling, but real light. It didn’t seem probable that a star’s light, burning billions upon billions of miles away, could ever reach us, or that it could even been seen, yet it was there, so real I could almost feel its heat burning against my cheeks, shining just as brightly as the jewels on my ring.
I gently ran my fingers over the ring’s sparkling jewels, feeling a calming flux of magic, knowing that in the end, everything would be made right.
“We’ll have a future,” Kull said. “I don’t know how, but some way, we’ll survive this. And we’ll do it together.”
THE END
Goblinwraith
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
-From “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
I only fear one thing.
Being tortured, starved, beaten, burned, and left for dead should have broken me. Instead, I became stronger. I no longer fear those things. Not anymore.
I only fear one thing.
The mountaintop’s icy wind chapped my skin as I stabbed my knife through the wraith’s hide. Blood spattered on my breastplate. Again? Did this creature have any idea how long it took to polish silver? The monster spun around with my blade embedded in its back and snapped at my face, making me jump back, slip on the frozen pond, and land on my
