Page 54 of Guarded Knight (Echo Valley #3)

ONE MONTH LATER

It’s a book club night, but I know something’s off the second G and I step through the door at Pages and Perks.

For one, there are kids here at the book club because Luis has changed it up.

It’s a YA pick this month. Luis told me it was going to be fantasy with romance snuck in, like blended vegetables for the boys.

Just as well because Xander and the girls are in town, so it seemed like a fun thing to do with them.

The whole place smells like coffee, paperbacks, and just-baked sugar cookies. I breathe it in like it’s medicine. Even with the chaos, it feels like coming home in every sense of the word.

Kat and Santi’s boys, Theo and Owen, are already diving headfirst into the refreshments like wolves raised without table manners, while Poppy and Daisy, who are in town for the weekend, whisper in a corner, clutching designer tote bags.

They’ve grown up too quickly since moving to DC. I wish I could bring them back to small-town living, where nobody cares how many countries you’ve visited or how many languages you speak, only that you show up and support your friend’s book club and eat at least three cookies.

It’s only been one month since I last saw them, since they were pretending the horses were unicorns in the Mendez pasture. Since before I was abducted and realized that Gabriel and I are more force to be reckoned with than I ever imagined.

Since I decided I would stay here for good.

I’ve been on the books at Shadow Justice as a business development manager, but really, I take calls if they come in, and in my spare time I’ve been putting together the bones of a new charity for women with breast cancer, in honor of Gabriel’s mom.

Freya decided to stay, too, but her token role at Shadow Justice isn’t the same as mine.

My bestie has a bloodhound’s nose, and I think Anton got more than he bargained for with the number of questions she asks on a daily basis.

And lately, the two of them have been heading off to chase leads.

I think it’s honest work, but it could be a euphemism.

It’s December, and snow falls in fat flakes outside the big picture window, making me all the more prepared for the Young Adult romantasy on tap this afternoon.

When I found out the book was The Tide Between Realms, I scarfed down the chance for a reread. I’m Hollie Mack’s biggest fan. Self-proclaimed. I’m even wearing a crown barrette and my serpent sword t-shirt.

Everyone is here: Xander, Luis’ “friend” Julia, the Mendez boys, Penelope…

It might be over Daisy’s and Poppy’s heads, but Xander insisted they’d come to support Luis, and at a bare minimum, the girls would get plenty of cookies.

Gabriel hands me a drink, because he always makes sure I have one. Old habits die hard, but I see his doting less as protection or coddling and more as acts of service.

And boy does this man know how to service.

He’s hydration and heat and a thousand things I never thought I’d get to keep.

“I love that you come here to support your pops,” I say, taking a sip of juice, a far cry from the Sangria we had a month ago, but it will do.

“Of course.” He lifts a brow. “I couldn’t miss over-caffeinated middle-aged women trying to cast a spell on me? It’s a win-win.”

“You mean the ones who write fanfiction about you?” I stand on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek.

Luis claps his hands from the front of the room, standing beside Julia, though “beside” is generous. He’s practically leaning into her.

“All right, folks! Today’s book is The Tide Between Realms, which was probably written for people half our age, but we don’t care! Because we are timeless!”

Julia bumps into his arm with hers, casually. Luis darts his eyes to hers, and both their gazes twinkle before he addresses the room again.

“Now. Instead of our usual fishbowl questions, today is more of a casual get-together, trying to get the kiddos into reading. So we have a little game. Somewhere in this bookstore is a signed copy of The Tide.”

The room fills with oohs and aahs.

I need that book.

“And to motivate you boys…” He glances at Owen and Theo, who look up to no good at the refreshments table. “If you actually read it this month, I’ll give you twenty bucks.”

Theo puts down his cookie, and Owen slaps down his red plastic cup so quickly that some of the liquid splashes on the table.

“No ruining the store. If you pick up a book or merch, it goes exactly where you found it or you’re out. Penelope works hard enough to keep this place clean. Well… you know what I mean.” Luis wiggles his eyebrows and points toward the shelves. “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

The crowd is poised to plunder.

“Go!”

Chaos erupts.

The kids are laughing, and romance readers in orthopedic sneakers elbow through the store. Luis and Julia stand along one bookcase in a whispered conversation, and Julia laughs, pushing her hair behind her ear.

They aren’t looking too hard.

Ava grabs Enzo’s hand and darts toward the fantasy section. Santi and Kat herd the boys away from the smut shelf. Even Rio looks mildly entertained as he pretends not to look.

Freya and Anton run their fingers along the spines of the shelf next to me. “If I find it, it’s yours,” Freya says to me without taking her eyes off the books.

Anton leans in behind her. “Does that mean I have to hand it over, too?”

Freya smirks. “You can read it first. But then yes…”

I know the spine so well I only have to scan. I finish one shelf with Gabriel behind me patiently.

Just then, a squeal pierces the air. Poppy is holding up a book like she just pulled the sword from the stone. “I found it!”

Everyone claps.

Luis waves Poppy toward the front.

“Go on and look inside, Pops. See if it’s signed.”

She opens the cover, squints, and then frowns. “It’s… addressed to Auntie Lara.”

All eyes shift to me. Huh? My name is in it?

Luis gestures gently with a playful, hardly contained grin on his face. “Go on. Read the message.”

Poppy clears her throat.

“To Lara— To be loved by Kaian is lush. To be loved by Gabriel is divine. You already know the ending. You just have to turn the page.”

She looks up, brows pulled. “What does that mean?”

It hits me all at once… what this is. I turn, and Gabriel’s dropping to one knee. A silence falls like fog. Even the overhead lights feel dimmer. Every part of me knows what’s about to happen, but nothing prepares me for seeing it.

Even Theo stops mid-cookie.

Gabriel opens a box, and inside is a ring like nothing I’ve ever seen. Not just beautiful. Not just shimmering. It’s ocean and sky and starlight, set in sapphire and diamonds.

“You believed in happy endings, even when you didn’t believe in your own.

” His voice is the only sound in the room.

“And I didn’t know how to believe in anything…

until you.” He swallows. “Lara Young. You are the strongest, funniest, smartest pain in the ass I’ve ever met.

And if you let me, I’ll spend every last page loving the hell out of you. ”

I’m crying before I even realize it. Tears spill hot and fast. I nod wildly, breathlessly, with every inch of me.

“Yes.” My voice breaks. “Of course, yes.”

He slides the ring on my finger and rises in one clean, practiced motion. Then his arms are around me tight, certain, warm.

And the bookstore erupts. It’s dizzying—this much joy all at once. My whole chest aches in the best way, like it’s too full to hold anything else.

Freya squeals. Ava cheers. Penelope starts chanting “Book club wedding!” like she’s leading a revolution, waving a glittery Pages and Perks bookmark like a victory flag.

Luis rubs at the corner of one eye. Julia threads her arm through his and lays her head on his shoulder.

Ava’s eyes shine like she’s watching a sister’s dream come true, and I can’t wait to make her mine.

Anton just smirks, like he saw it coming a mile away and bet on the outcome.

Even Rio claps, slow and deliberate, gruff but genuine. A warrior’s approval.

And then there’s Xander.

He doesn’t cheer. Doesn’t move.

He just stands there, watching me with something deep and unspoken behind his eyes.

Not sadness exactly. Not pride either.

There’s a shift in his gaze, a new way of seeing me. Or maybe of seeing us. He’s not losing me. But he doesn’t have to hold me anymore.

Poppy hurls herself into me, arms wrapped around my waist. “Can I come with you to pick the dress?”

“You have to,” I whisper into her curls.

Daisy comes from out of nowhere and barrels into me. “Me, too!”

Gabriel leans in and wraps his hands around all of us, and the thought lands effortlessly. He’s always been my family.

A sudden honk, like a trumpet, fills the room.

Luis stuffs a tissue back in his pocket. “Who wants cake!”

Daisy and Poppy let go, running off to get a first piece, and my heart swells to proportions I never thought possible. They did this all for me.

He did this for me.

My cheeks ache from smiling. And I never realized it wasn’t before, but my soul settles.

Gabriel lifts my hand, kisses the ring like he’s sealing a vow. “I got red velvet, your favorite,” he whispers. “You’re mine now.”

I smile, every part of me full. “Always was.”

He stills. Drops his forehead to mine. His chest rises against mine, then he releases a breath like he’s letting go of something heavy… something that’s lived in his ribs for years.

The room comes alive again.

Theo and Owen argue over whether comic books count as literature, while Luis stokes the debate just for fun.

There’s so much joy in this place.

In these people.

I always thought I wanted freedom. Independence. To prove I could survive anything on my own. But no kind of freedom compares to this feeling. Being surrounded by care. Being chosen. Belonging.

Gabriel’s thumb sweeps a tear from under my eye. “You okay?” he asks softly.

“Best day of my life,” I whisper.

He grins, all heat and certainty. “We’re gonna have a good one, aren’t we?”

I look at the ring. At the bookstore. All this love packed into one little room.

“No,” I say. “We’re going to have two. This life.” We kiss softly. “And the next.”

Thank you for reading my story!