“Well, that’s your first mistake,” I scoffed.
His dark head turned to me, a confused look on his face. “Do you really think that is too much to ask?”
“I think your problem is that you only aspire to be a good ruler and not a great one,” I teased.
Dorian let out a breath and chuckled. “And that is why I need you. To knock me off my pedestal sometimes.” He sighed and became serious. “The crown is a heavy burden, and I can’t carry it alone. I need you, Eden. Please, say you will marry me?”
“Say you love me,” I whispered, “and I will be yours forever.”
“I love you, sparrow.” He grinned.
I bit my bottom lip and smiled back. “You’re wrong,” I said softly.
“About what?”
“A crown if shared isn’t a burden at all but a gift,” I whispered. “One that I will share with you. As long as you promise to stop calling me sparrow. I hate that nickname.”
“Then I guess that’s it. We can’t get married,” he mumbled, stepping away. He wrapped his cloak around his shoulders and prepared to step out into the night. The rain had mysteriously stopped once he kissed me.
“You’re going to give up that easily?” I teased.
Dorian turned and gave me a long searching look. “I fell in love with you the first night I saw you at my mother’s tavern. As soon as you walked in the room in that little brown traveling dress, your hair all askew, your blue eyes shining with determination and spirit. You looked like a little sparrow. I knew then, in that instance, that you were going to be mine. I didn’t know your name, your history or past, and I didn’t care. You were only sparrow to me. So, I will always call you my little sparrow.”
My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “Maybe you just call me sparrow when we’re alone.”
He turned to me, and his hands reached for my waist. “Can’t promise that. I’ve already changed the royal birds to sparrows in your honor. And they’ve been in flight training for weeks.”
“Stop!” I groaned out.
“Nope. There’s more. I got you a horse. Guess what his name is.”
“Sparrow.” I began to laugh.
“And I’ve got two new royal hounds. Guess what their names are.”
“No,” I gasped, now laughing so hard, I couldn’t catch my breath.
“Sparrow and Not Sparrow,” Dorian teased.
“Okay, okay. You can call me sparrow.”
He grinned. “Good, because I didn’t really name the horse or the hounds that. That would be ridiculous.”
The salamander came out of the firepit and rolled around on the floor. Dorian looked down at the fire elemental and said, “So you got yourself a new pet?”
“Yep.” I struggled to keep the laughter down. “Guess what his name is.”
“No?” Dorian choked on his own laughter.
“Sparrow,” I wheezed out, and my salamander looked up at us and winked.
Dorian reached into his cloak and pulled out a pair of glass slippers. My breath caught in my throat. I’d thought they were lost forever, destroyed in the chapel during the skirmish.
He kneeled down and lifted my foot into the slipper. Sure enough, it slipped off my foot.
“Doesn’t seem to fit,” he teased. “No wonder you kept losing them.”
“They never belonged to me.”
“Don’t worry.” He tossed the glass slippers onto my bed. “For I belong to you.”
Read Meri’s tale in
Of Sea and Song (Coming June 2020)
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Pre Order Available
www.chandahahn.com
Also by Chanda Hahn
DAUGHTERS OF EVILLE
Of Beast and Beauty
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THE UNFORTUNATE FAIRY TALES
UnEnchanted
Fairest
Fable
Reign
Forever
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THE NEVERWOOD CHRONICLES
Lost Girl
Lost Boy
Lost Shadow
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THE UNDERLAND DUOLOGY
Underland
Underlord
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THE IRON BUTTERFLY SERIES
Iron Butterfly
Steele Wolf
Silver Siren
About the Author
Chanda Hahn is a NYT & USA Today Bestselling author of The Unfortunate Fairy Tale series. She uses her experience as a children’s pastor, children’s librarian and bookseller to write compelling and popular fiction for teens. She was born in Seattle, WA, grew up in Nebraska, and currently resides in Waukesha, WI, with her husband and their twin children; Aiden and Ashley.
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Visit Chanda Hahn’s website to learn more about her other forthcoming books.
www.chandahahn.com