The Shadow Kingdom

Chapter 24 - Centennial

The first guests have begun to arrive. Much to Octavia's chagrin, Adrian wants to make an entrance with me on his arm. I play with the lapels of his Prada suit. "You look really dashing tonight. Even more than usual." I lean up in my five-inch Manolo Blahniks to kiss him. "I love you." I remind him.

"I love you more." The memory of our little tryst with Isabella dances in my head as his thumb brushes my lips. "Now about last night... Is that just for special occasions, or can we make that a regular thing?"

"Special occasions only." My tone is very adamant. He shakes his head in a crestfallen manner, and I grin. "Perhaps on your two hundredth birthday, we can do it again."

Adrian chuckles. "I have nothing but time." And he returns my kiss.

We walk arm-in-arm to the top landing of the spiral staircase. The conversations and laughter downstairs remind me of the Obsidian Castle. I'm about to confront another plethora of unfamiliar and most definitely unfriendly, supernatural faces.

"No matter what happens, promise me that you will not leave me alone tonight." I implore. Adrian nods understandingly. Even the frozen waters in the Hudson didn't make my teeth chatter as they do now. I expected Adrian to take the first step, but he is more frozen than I am. "What is it?"

His hand squeezes mine as if he's afraid that I will run away. "Will you marry me?"

My face blanches. My ears hear the words plainly, but to my brain, it sounds like Mandarin. The fanfare downstairs deadens to a whisper, yet the silence between us becomes deafening. He is proposing? Now? "Please. Marry me, Scarlett." He implores.

I will my tongue to move, but the only thing that leaves my mouth is laboured breathing. "Adrian, where is this coming fro..."

His finger touches my lips, silencing me. "You don't have to answer right now. Take your time; think about it." He smiles gorgeously, happier than I've ever seen him. The rings in his eyes glitter as if they are gilded. "Just know that I love you more than it should be possible for one person to love another. Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra, Elizabeth and Darcy; none of them come close to what I feel for you. I could live a thousand lifetimes and never find another woman who completes me the way you do. Nothing would make me happier than calling you my wife."

He kisses me with the greatest fragility. It is the polar opposite of our first kiss, which was filled with desire and need. It was a time when he had not yet earned me, when he was still proving himself worthy of me. Now, there is no doubt or greed in his kiss anymore. He knows that he has me.

Adrian leads the way down the treacherous stairs, and I put his untimely marriage proposal out of my mind for the time being. I have much more immediate problems to tackle. Even before we make it into the atrium, a storm of cheers erupts for the birthday boy. Adrian smiles and bows graciously to all of them while I desperately scan the crowd for a face I recognize.

Augustus is the first to raise his head. "Ladies and gentlemen, lords and ladies, I present the man of the hour – my son and heir, Nerva Shang!" Dozens of voices begin singing Happy Birthday as Adrian leads me through the seemingly infinite hallways to the great room.

From the atrium to the patio, I count at least fifty people here tonight. The men are every bit as regal as Adrian, and the women all have faces and outfits worthy of any magazine. The only time when they are unsightly is when they turn to face me. No one in the crowd looks older than thirty, so it's impossible to tell the ladies from their daughters. All of them however, think that I've stolen something to which they are entitled, a fact of which I am rather proud. I was about to ask Adrian how many of them he's slept with, but I decided that I didn't want to know.