The Gender War (The Gender Game #4)(19)

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head at me. “No it wasn’t—you only came after me because the king sent you to arrest me! Hell… you saved my life and then arrested me. I remember how angry you were.”

“I wouldn’t have been angry if it hadn’t hurt so much.” I flinched as she started to open her mouth, and added, “I understand now, but I didn’t at the time. Anyway, I digress. The point is… well… you made me feel like I had a chance at a future that wasn’t just me disappearing into the mountains. I felt like I didn’t have to be alone anymore.”

She smiled at me, resting her chin against my shoulder. “Viggo, you make me feel like I can do anything. Like I’m more than just this violent person everyone thinks I am. You… you listened to me when no one else would. I think that’s when I started to fall in love with you. Well… that… and your white-knight-damsel-rescuing thing was a bit sexy.” She paused. “Although if you tell anyone I told you that, I will deny it until the day I die.”

I laughed at the sincerity in her voice, but I had to focus on the part before the damsel-rescuing. Listening to her was such a small thing, but I could see in her eyes how important it was to her. “I will always listen to you, Violet. No matter what.”

“And I won’t ever let you be alone again, Viggo. No matter what.”

Kissing her in this position, with the water drawing ever nearer to us, was as impractical as it was delicious, and I had no qualms about it as I pressed my lips to hers.

When our lips parted again, I took a deep breath. “You know, this may not be the most opportune time, but I think I might regret it if I don’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“Patience, love. Would you mind it if we stood up first?”

She gave me a dubious look, but stood up. Luckily the back of the boat was mostly flat, and now that we were at a ninety-degree angle, it was easy to stand on it. I got to my feet, took her hands in mine, and then sank to one knee.

Violet gave me a confused look, but I just smiled as I gazed into her eyes. “Violet Bates, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

The shock on her face was worth it all. She gaped at me. Her lips opened and closed like a fish’s before she finally blinked and pursed them.

“I…” she stammered, but the whine of the life raft’s little outboard motor interrupted anything she might’ve said.

“Hey, guys! Over here!” came Owen’s loud bellow from behind Violet.

I growled at the worst interruption in the history of all interruptions. “He has the worst timing,” I glowered.

And then I heard a whirring sound in the distance. A heloship—maybe more than one—coming toward us. The sound was soft, but I knew it would get closer in no time.

Shaking my head, I laughed bitterly and slowly climbed to my feet once more. “Well, it seems like the world doesn’t want me to get my answer today. Why don’t you think about it? Just know… I want my answer sooner rather than later.”

Violet nodded, still speechless, and I turned to where the little red light on the life boat showed Owen frantically steering toward us, waving an arm at us to hurry up.





8





Violet





Viggo just proposed to me.

It was a simple thought, but one that suffused my world as Owen and Viggo guided the little boat back upstream toward where Owen had left the others. I would have helped, but I was still too stunned by Viggo’s unorthodox proposal to even fully understand what was going on around me. Well, that, and the day’s weariness was starting to get to me. The wound in my hand felt like it was sapping the strength from my bones.

I looked down at where I cradled it in my lap, staring at the black lines of electrical tape crisscrossing the bloodstained fabric. It hurt, yet I simultaneously felt the pain and did not feel it. It was like nothing that was happening was real, like I was just dreaming. A very odd dream; sometimes terrifying, sometimes wonderful—running that didn’t end, what felt like constant betrayals… And then there were the few moments I spent alone with this man, which felt at the same time so real, so precious, and so precarious.

I knew I wasn’t dreaming. This was all real; the hole in my hand was real, just the same way Viggo proposing to me was real.

Viggo wants me to be his wife. He wants to spend the rest of his life with me. In a little cabin in the woods, with a place for Tim, a place to build a family…

In the orphanage and then the prison system, the most I’d ever hoped for was maybe a little place for me and Tim, a future for him, a job as a warden for me… But this, this had blown my mind. I had never thought this kind of hope even existed for people like me. I’d never known I could want anything so badly.

But the dizzying warmth I felt at Viggo’s proposal was at war with dark thoughts of our situation. Where would this little house in the woods be? In Matrus or Patrus? Would there be anything left of either nation if we couldn’t stop this war? How could I even begin to think about my own future when there was so much peril ahead?

If Owen hadn’t interrupted, I’d have said yes. Despite everything. And I still could, I realized. I could make plans for the future, even if it was uncertain. I just had to find the right time… when none of our numerous well-meaning friends and allies were surrounding us.