The Royal Assassin

Epilogue 1: I love you.

"Ace my feet are killing me, how much further?"

I squeezed Victoria's hand, "Not too far angel. Need me to carry you?"

I had decided to take her to our favourite forest, Grim Rock Grove. Where we used to lounge and talk for hours upon hours. But this time, I took her a little bit deeper into the forest; to one of my secret spots, I had never shown her.

"No need my love." She took a glance up, admiring all the stars scattered across the navy blue sky.

I liked when she called me that. It made butterflies thrash around in my stomach, and my cheeks go warm.

I tugged her closer and slowed our pace. I looked toward her, she slowly brought her eyes back down and stared at the rose petals on the grass. She looked up at me with a somewhat shocked face. I smiled down at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her against me.

We continued to follow the small trail of red rose petals, and soon in the distance saw the small bridge across the lake I used to sit at and throw rocks into when I needed to calm myself down.

I haven't been here in a while though, everything with Elisora had worn me out and I couldn't bring myself to make the long walk through the forest.

Everything with Elisora had went perfectly in the last six years. We had given every child in the slums a free education, banished the test and other laws that tore Elisora apart. We encouraged the rich folk who owned business to give any person in need a job, and that was going surprisingly well. The slums was slowly being patched up, although some people were still struggling. We did our best to help them, giving them food, water, blankets, and money. We were stabilizing faster than we thought, and that's all I could ever ask for.

I really hoped my mother was proud of Kai and me. I really wished she were here to see what we've achieved.

Even Victoria's sister, she had settled down a few blocks away from the castle. Vera had gotten married to Luke two years after I was crowned.

Now they were expecting their first child in three months.

Victoria visited her frequently. Sometimes even bringing me along. Their relationship was beautiful.

I took a deep breath and stopped just before the bridge.

At my very last step, the forest and bridge lit up. Fairy lights were scattered everywhere, sparkling in the moonlight. Small fireflies buzzed and flew around us.

I peeked down at Victoria. Her eyes wondered around the forest, the bridge, the lights, the fireflies, and then finally stopped at the small archway on the bridge. It was made with twigs, leaves, and small flowers.

The team had outdone themselves.

I moved my arm from Victoria's shoulder down to her arms. I grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the archway on the bridge.

The soft sounds of the lake and the buzzing of the fireflies filled my ears as I brought here under the arch way and guided my hand to her waist. She stared at me, tears welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

I cupped her face and wiped the tears away with my thumb, then gently caressed her face, my fore finger gliding across her cheekbone. Her hands travelled down to my torso.

"Victoria Agnello, I have loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. And I will continue to until the day I die. In the past few years, we have been together, every moment was something magical. It felt like a dream. And I will cherish that forever. But I want us to make even more of those moments together." My throat bobbed, "Victoria, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to spend every single second of my life with you. I want you standing by my side through everything and anything."

Tears rolled down both our cheeks now.

I got down on one knee and pulled the small black box out of my pocket. I locked eyes with her and opened the box.

a/n: this is what i imagined :) ngl i would die for this ring

I knew she didn't want anything too extra, so I had gotten her a gold ring with small leaves on it and an emerald diamond on the middle because it reminded me of her eyes.

"Angel, will you marry me?"

She smiled as a sob left her mouth. She bent down and threw herself onto me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered yes over and over again into my ear.

A sob left my mouth as I wrapped my arms around her waist and squeezed.

Victoria pulled back and kissed me. I kissed back, harder and much more sure of everything this time.

I pulled back after a beat. I stood up and pulled her up with me. She glanced down at the ring in the box and gasped.

"Oh god Ace, it's beautiful."

I pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. She admired it for a few seconds before grabbing my face and pulling my lips back onto hers.

"I love you, and I can't wait to have a future with you, my love." She said onto my mouth.

I rested my foreheadon hers, "I love you too sweetheart."

a/n: apologies for not updating in a while. this is just one of the epilogues, a few other parts will be coming out soon. thank you for reading and i hope you have a wonderful day my loves :)