Page 115 of Walking in Darkness

I couldn’t get the gasp of surprise out before he continued. “Marry me here and marry me there, because I want to belong to you in every single way.”

Tears blurred my eyes, love overflowing—there was no way to contain it where it erupted inside me.

This man who’d been nothing more than a fantasy. My everything. The only one I’d ever wanted and the one I’d thought I could never have.

“Pax.” It was a whisper.

Adoration and awe.

“Marry me,” he begged.

“I’m yours, Pax. You have all of me. Every promise. Every minute. Every oath that I could make.”

“So, you want to make this one with me? This oath.” He brought my knuckles to his lips and kissed them.

My teeth raked over my bottom lip, and I whispered, “I do.”

His nod was soft.

Ardent.

Filled with a joy that neither of us had ever imagined we would find. Even if it was fleeting. Short-lived. If we only had this moment, it didn’t matter because it belonged to us.

“Don’t move,” he told me with a half grin tugging at his mouth, and he slowly peeled himself away before he moved to the edge of the bed.

His attention hunted through the room before it settled on whatever he’d been searching for. He stood, and I shook all over again when that glorious, fierce body was fully on display.

The man hewn and carved.

His skin a canvas of our lives.

His scars a covenant given to this mission.

He crossed the room to a floating shelf where there were a few things on display, including a candle encased in glass that had a black ribbon tied around it.

He tugged the ribbon free, and he turned around. A mix between an adoring smile and a smirk was tacked on his face as he sauntered back to me.

He climbed onto the bed on his knees and took my hand. His eyes flicked between me and my left ring finger as he started to carefully tie the ribbon around it.

No words were said between us when he did, but my heart was shouting.

Singing.

My heart. My love. My Nol. You are mine eternally.

Once he had it secure, he ran his thumb over the ribbon, staring at it for a moment before he lifted his gaze back to mine. “This ribbon is temporary, Aria, until we get through this mess, but the promise it represents is not.”

“We’re going to make it through this.” I sat up, and Pax leaned forward and fisted his hand in my hair, tipping my face up to his as he looked down at me.

“We will, Aria. We will get through this, and you’re forever going to be mine on the other side.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Aria

Jill came to check on me. She was shocked by the amount of healing I’d done, though she said she shouldn’t have been. She examined me before showering me with her love and belief, then reluctantly said she needed to return to her family.

I hugged her for the longest time, thanking her over and over again, before I got into the shower after she’d said her final goodbye.