Chapter 53

Nicki froze in Stefan's grasp, the light hold of his fingertips somehow too strong for her to escape—but she didn't want to escape, if she was honest with herself. Stefan seemed to be waiting for her to say something though, and she stammered out a response. "Well—I mean, thank you. I'm lucky to?—"

"No, I don't think you understand." Stefan squeezed her hands, seeming to send warmth directly to her, through her fingers, into her veins, swirling in a tight protective whirl of strength and focus. "When you first walked into my life, you turned it upside down. Inside out. I'd never met anyone like you, and I didn't want to know you."

Nicki blinked. "Oh," she managed, stung to the quick. She tried to pull her hands away, but Stefan wouldn't let go.

"You see, I realized almost instantly how much you would change me," he said instead. "How you would smile at me and brighten my whole world, how you would challenge and provoke me, irritate and frustrate me. And most of all, how you would make it impossible for me to live for even one day without knowing that you were safe, you were healthy. And that you were mine."

Nicki jolted, jerking her gaze up to meet Stefan's when she realized she'd been staring at his mouth as if she couldn't quite process the words coming out of it. His eyes were the color of a winter sea, a turbulent blue-gray, and she felt her heart kick up its pace. Not frantically, not erratically…but as powerful and true as Stefan himself, standing like a rock in the storm that was building around her.

"I—I don't—I didn't mean to upset you," she finally said, and Stefan's fierce expression wavered, a warmth coming into his eyes as his lips curved into a tender smile—a gentler smile than she'd ever seen on his face.

"But you did upset me, Nicki. You changed everything for me by walking into that room. I know you have a life beyond these walls, beyond the four corners of this kingdom. You have an entire world of adventures to live. But I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't want you to share those adventures with me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want you to stay with me—by my side—to see what we could find if we explored this world together. Not racing each other to the finish line, not seeing who reaches the top of the hill first, but learning how fast and how well we can run together, pulling and pushing each other, if need be, or simply holding each other close. Because I love you, Nicki. I think I have since the first moment I saw you. And that's…" he swallowed, and his smile faltered a little, his expression suddenly a little dazed, as if he hadn't expected to say all those words at once. "That's what I wanted to say. To ask you if you'd consider remaining here in O?ros. With me."

Nicki wanted to respond—she really did. She wanted to speak with the same flowing and beautiful words that Stefan had. Words that no one had ever said to her, no one probably even imagined saying to her, even if she'd slowed down long enough to let them. But the tears welled up in her eyes and she shook her head, hard, her voice barely a rasp as she finally managed speech.

"I—yes," she said, her heart overflowing with its own set of tears, breaking down and dissolving the tight web of protections she'd built up around it for so many years. "Yes, Stefan. I can live anywhere in the world, I think, as…" She let her gaze fix on his, his beautiful eyes steady and true, staring back at her. "As long as you're there with me. Because I love you, too."

Her words were barely a whisper, but it didn't seem to matter as Stefan bent toward her, claiming her mouth with his.

"It's going to be all right," he said, when he finally broke away from her. "You'll have to trust me on this."

Only then did she hear the sound of applause.

Nicki's head came up, as Stefan turned with her, his arms around her as if he thought she would fall. But he stood with her, not before or behind her, as she looked out at people she had come to care about impossibly much over the past few weeks. The king and queen, standing together with hands clasped. Dimitri, Kristos, and even Cyril, all of them watching Stefan as if he had six heads.

And Queen Catherine, her face radiant with delight, her hands clasped to her heart as if her every wish had somehow come true.