Under Your Moon

Secret Garden

Cinder thanked the pilot and met Iko at the exit of the small airship. A large crate was filled with their suitcases of clothing, a few sentimental things taken from the castle (like her coronation pictures) and a whole shipment of vaccines for the Eastern Commonwealth. Torrin was waiting for them at one of the
Docks near the castle.

"Welcome."

"Thanks. Should we help unload?"

"No, I think we can handle it. The emperor is excited to see you."

Cinder swept up her hair into a ponytail as she walked. She pushed back her bangs and almost excpected to feel a grease stain, though it had been months since she had touched a machine. Iko was busy exploring and trying to map out the whole castle.

Cinder found a small door that led to a magnificent landscape. She was stunned by the amount of flowers. Wandering around, she found a koi pond with a bench near it and sat down. Really, shouldn't he have shown up by now?

"Your majesty." someone said behind her. Smirking she didn't turn around and simply replied;

"She has left the building."

Kai leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Not really."

Whatever that means. 😜

"Are you sure about us, Kai? You wouldn't rather marry the Queen Of England?"

He laughed. "Why? There's a queen right here and besides, England doesn't have a queen." He sat down, wrapping his fingers around the back of her hand. "Don't worry about the politics of our relationship. That's my job." He pulled her close to him and she layed her head on his shoulder.

"Its funny." she said.

"Hmm?" he asked, combing her ponytail with his fingers.

"Its not even official and there are people planning our wedding."

"Yeah, I guess that is funny."

"Have we even gone on a date?"

He sighed, "If we have I can't even remember." Suddenly, he jumped up and started towards the castle.

"Where are you going?"

"Umm... Nowhere just go put on something fancy and meet me here in half an hour."

"Oooookayyy." she murmured, standing up and going to her room, which was suspiciously right next to Kai's, and found a long, plain black dress. Half an hour later, she traipsed to the gardens and reached for the knob of the door.

It swung open before her and she was greeted by a million fairy lights and hundreds of brilliant red flowers. Kai was standing by a table set with probably the fanciest meal she'd ever seen. He was nervously smiling as he pulled out a chair for her and for once she was glad she couldn't blush.

"Now, we can say we went on a date." He told her. One of the waiters brought out a bottle of champagne after they had started eating the lavishly prepared noodle dinner.

"I don't think either of us is old enough to drink that." she pointed out.

"Really, last week you were the literal queen of the Moon and now you care about the legal drinking age?"

"No, I guess I don't."

For hours, they talked about this and that. Then, she ventured up to her room so she could show him postcards from Cress and Thorne. Back in the garden, as she was pulling them out of a box, her coronation after party pictures fell out and into the ground. He picked them up and looked through them. A smile traced every corner of his bright face.

Then, he saw the one of him and her dancing.

"You know, I almost proposed right then. I even had the ring."

She stared at him.

"Why didn't you?"

"I didn't want us to get married because you were a queen. I wanted us to get married for love."

"That is so beautifully sappy, Kai." she said, before kissing him. He kissed her back, leaning against the bench by the koi pond. He sat down and pulled her with him. She pulled away, laying out with her head in his lap.

"Cinder."

"Hmm?"

"Will you marry me?"

"In what world would I say no?"

Kaaaaiiideeeerrrr. Sorry this chapter is a grammatical nightmare, but I sort of love it. So, wedding? Or skip it?