Page 160 of The Entanglement of Rival Wizards

“That was—” He looks behind him again.

A plate of parmesan cream sauce pasta vanishes, bite by invisible bite.

“Nick,” Thio realizes, and Nick rumbles, a happy little purr.

With a heaving breath, Thio faces me, his tongue working the inside of his cheek. He’s exasperated but his eyes are sparkling, not just in the emerald lights that dance around us.

“Is that a yes?” I prod.

He opens the box he’d had in his pocket and shows me a silver band. “Of course it’s a yes. I’ve wanted to marry you for years. It’s why I told your dad when this lawsuit started that, regardless of how it ended, he should tell me the verdict first.”

My brain slips right over hisyes. “You’ve been planning to do this since the lawsuit started? Forfour years?”

He nods.

Heat crawls across my chest, up my face. “Why—” My tongue feels too big for my mouth, my throat closing over. “Why’d you wait?”

Howdid he wait, more like; I’ve only been planning this for the past few months, and even waiting this long was torture.

Thio’s expression tempers, ineffably sweet. “Regardless of the verdict, I wanted the lawsuit to be behind us so we could count this as a fresh start. I wanted to be able to plan a future with you, foryouto have that future, too, unmarred.”

I shut the ring box and launch to my feet.

Thio teeters back in surprise, but I seize the collar of his scrubs and haul him into me.

“Propose,” I say. “I want you to propose to me.”

“But you—”

“I know. But I want you to do it, too.” I put my mouth on his. “Ask me, Tourael.”

He hooks his hand around the back of my neck, joy toying with the edges of his mouth. “Marry me?” he whispers.

I nod into the kiss, grinning. We both are, smiling so hard my face will get stuck like this, but I let it.

I don’t want to look back anymore. I want to, am able to, look forward now.

And the only thing ahead of me is him.