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Her heart hammered awkwardly in her chest. For a moment, Ellie considered whether she should try to brush it off—but only for a moment. It took no longer than that for her to know that she could never hide from this and fail to regret it later—no matter what happened in the next few minutes.

“I know there’s still… unfinished business between us,” she said, picking the words carefully. “I wronged you, and I don’t expect you to simply forget about all of that. Because itmatters. And I…” She swallowed thickly and steeled herself. “I know you think we must get married to protect my family and your friend from being hurt by this mess the pair of us have gotten ourselves into. Of course, I am still staunchly opposed to the entire institution, regardless of situations where a pair of perfectly reasonable adults are being forced to bind themselves together for life for no other reason than—”

“Ellie…” Adam began warningly.

“Wait,” she said as she raised her hand. She took another breath to regain control of herself. “What I am trying to say is that I… I don’t care. About any of that. I don’t give a… adamnabout it.” The curse felt good. Ellie smiled at the way it burst happily from her mouth as she raised her eyes to Adam’s once more. “What I do give a damn about is… this.”

The word hung awkwardly in the air between them. Ellie pressed on.

“The truth is that I am having a very hard time imagining what it would be like if you decided you didn’t want to be around any longer,” she admitted. “And I think I am having that difficulty because the notion makes me feel rather desperate—”

“Princess,” he cut in firmly, halting the manic flow of her words.

“Yes?” Ellie said weakly.

Adam’s arm slid down her back. His hand rested warmly against the curve of her spine as he looked down at her.

“What do you want?” he asked.

The question grew richer and deeper with meaning as it echoed through her mind in the voice of a ghost… in the whispering promise of a god.

What do you want?

There was no need to search for an answer this time. It was right there inside of her, thrumming with certainty regardless of whatever logic might have to say about it.

It simply waited to be spoken.

“You,” she replied.

Adam answered her with a grin. It was big and unapologetically happy, and the sight of it warmed Ellie up like someone had lit a cheery little fire inside of her.

The look in his eyes sharpened, speaking to something a bit more dangerous. The little fire simmered further up Ellie’s veins, sparking her nerves to quick, delicious life.

“Good,” he declared and kissed her.

Someone hooted at them from across the camp. It sounded like Lessard. And maybe that was Flowers who was laughing, and Feliciana telling him to shush.

Ellie didn’t really care. Adam’s arms were holding her close, and his mouth tasted like rum, waterfalls, and campfires—and thank god nobody had bothered to find the man a shirt, because Ellie was wildly certain that she had never been so happy before in her life.

“Geh wahn room!” Charlie shouted to another raucous burst of laughter—and when they started pouring the chocolate, Ellie didn’t even care.

She had everything she could possibly want right there.