Jessica and Lucius Wedding

Chapter Twelve

Lucius pulls back from me, just a step, but continues to hold both of my hands in his, and his eyes are boring into mine, and gradually I see them change again.

Lucius has told me, many times, that he loves me. And I've seen that expressed in his eyes. But never like this. "I've brought you here this evening to ask you to marry me, Antanasia," he finally says. "I wanted to do it in this place, so significant to both of us."

All at once, everything - including time - seems to stop.

"Lu... Lucius..." I stammer his name, not sure I've heard right. Marriage to Lucius - both avoiding it and desperately desiring it - is practically all that I've thought about since meeting him and learning of the pact. I know that it's definitely in our future. And yet I still can't believe my ears, and I keep searching his face, almost like I'm afraid he's joking. "Lucius...?"

For once, though, there's no mischief in his expression. Not a trace.

He squeezes my hands more tightly, pressing them harder to his chest. "I want to ask you, Antanasia - in this place where we were promised to one another by mandate - to marry me not because doing so is required of you, but because you love me as I love you," he says. "I ask you to choose me of your own free will, because that is how I choose YOU. Not to fulfill a pact, but to follow my heart, which will settle for nothing less than a life with you by my side."

I want to scream, "Yes!" I want to cry out and hurl myself into his arms. But my feet seem rooted in place, and my tongue is locked in my mouth.

And then - standing before me as an equal, which seems right for Lucius and me - better than having him drop down on bended knee - he poses the question I've wanted to hear... maybe since the day I first saw him.

"Antanasia, will you marry me?" He releases one of my hands to push my curls away from my face, and his voice is softer as he asks again, "Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

That rare vulnerability I've just seen in Lucius's eyes is echoed in his voice, and it's that sweetness - that unguarded, hopeful request - that finally lets me speak. Because I know that this is the closest that Lucius will ever come to pleading for anything in his entire existence, and he's doing it for me.

"Yes, Lucius," I cry. At least, I think I cry out. But in truth, my voice is soft, almost choked. "Yes," I repeat, pulling my hands from his and wrapping my arms around his neck. I know he's heard me, but I keep agreeing, over and over again. "Yes, yes, yes..."

He clasps me to himself, whispering in my ear, too. "Thank you, Antanasia. Thank you for loving me - and for choosing me, too."

We hold each other for a long time as reality sets in. We're getting married, not to fulfill a treaty but because we can't live without each other.

Then Lucius slips one hand up into my hair, and I shift in his arms to see his face again just before he bends to meet my lips with his, kissing me softly. We kiss like that again and again - just gently. It's like we both recognize that the moment deserves reverence, just like the space in which it takes place.

And somehow, while we're still kissing, Lucius takes my left hand and places a ring on my finger. I never even notice him reaching into his pocket and have no idea how long he's held the object in his palm.

I know that most girls would probably squeal and pull back, wanting to see the diamond, but I never even open my eyes. I just slip my arms back up around his neck, not caring what the ring looks like. I'm perfectly content with what we're sharing right then...

"Antanasia."

The voice intruded on my dream, and I rolled sideways, shutting it out, not wanting to leave everything that I was reliving behind. But the voice - Mom's voice - interrupted again, and I felt pressure on my shoulder as she shook me. "Antanasia!"

"Mom," I groaned, wanting five more minutes of the dream. "Please..."

But my mother shook me harder, and as I reluctantly opened my eyes, I heard her laughing at me.

I blinked about three times, because sunlight was streaming into my room - and glinting off the huge, sparkling diamond that was always on my left hand now. A Vladescu family heirloom, which had been removed and hidden by Lucius's mother, Reveka, when she'd faced her destruction.

Then I looked at Mom, who seemed happy again, and maybe a little surprised to hear herself say words that kind of shocked me, too, even though I'd been planning, anticipating - and occasionally worrying about - this day for weeks.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she urged. "You're getting married today!"