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“I’ve found my mother, and she’ll be moving into a cabin on the grounds in two days,” were the words that kept echoing through your ears as you stormed into the forest. You were livid, to say the least, but you were pissed to the point where there were tongues of flame licking at your fingers and trailing in your footprints with every step you took.
On the one hand, you couldn’t blame Aleksander for wanting to offer his mother a safe place to live because she was, at her core, his mother. On the other, you were still filled with spite towards the woman because she wanted to leave you behind when you were chased out of your home after the lot of you were exposed as being grisha.
“Dearheart!” his voice called out to you from the darkness of the Ravkan winter night.
At some point, you’d stopped walking, you realized. Blinking, you saw that you were in the familiar forest around the Little Palace. “She’ll take you away from me,” you whispered, head leaning back so you could look at the stars through the canopy of the trees.
“What?” He was right in front of you now. Your Sasha sounded shocked, but you didn’t move your gaze to look at him.
“She wanted to stop you from getting close to me all those years ago, don’t you remember?” You were still speaking quietly, as if you didn’t have the energy to use your voice. You certainly didn’t feel like you could; all you could feel was tired. “As soon as she gets here, she’ll try to separate us.”
Suddenly, his large hands were on your shoulders and he was shaking you slightly. Brows furrowed, you finally met his grey eyes. He looked upset in a way you hadn’t seen him in a long, long time; there even seemed to be tears brimming in those eyes of his. “I would never let her.”
You gave a mirthless laugh. “It doesn’t matter. If she’s here, she won’t stop until she drives us apart.”
“Then marry me,” he blurted, hands moving to cup your face.
“A secret marriage will do nothing to stop her.”
“But will it soothe your worries? You already have my heart and mind, but would the vows assure you of that?”
Your eyes widened. “You’re serious,” you realized with a gasp.
“Deathly. You’ve been by my side longer than even her. Why would I joke about something like this?”
Stunned couldn’t begin to cover it. “Your response to pissing me off by telling me your mother is coming to live with us--”
“Live with us is a bit of a stretch, dearhear--”
“--is to ask me to marry you?!”
“Is this your roundabout way of saying no?”
You started laughing. You couldn’t help it. The disbelief-fueled giggles just bubbled up uncontrollably from the middle of your chest. Tears were running down your face and your stomach hurt from laughing so hard as you grabbed the front of his kefta and hauled him into a hard kiss. “That’s a yes, you fucking lunatic.” A wave of seriousness stole your mirth as your head tipped forward. Seemingly reflexively, he kissed your forehead. “Don’t let her come between us, Sasha,” you pleaded, voice weak once more.
“Never.”