My parents stood with my baby brother, Bowen. Then there was Blake, Ansel, Ela and Keston, Zia and Rafi, and even my friends from Trinity, Will, the twins, and Harold. My faithfullady’s maid and groom, Anna and Henry, grinned up at me. And Caroline Herschel herself smiled like a tiny benevolent angel.
My eyes tracked back to the boy patiently waiting for my reply, all the love in the universe shining in his gaze. “You planned this.”
“I had help,” he said. “From your mama, your friends, and even the duke, who only reluctantly gave his permission after hours of my groveling and signing a contract in blood stating that I will never let you want for anything or so help me God.” I let out a choked laugh. “So would you make me the happiest man in the world, Lady Rosalin Zhenyi Chen?”
I stared at the boy I loved most in the entire cosmos.
“Of course I will.” I laughed through my tears as he kissed me. Cheers from below filled the air. “But first, I have a few very vital questions for you that may impact my decision.”
He smirked. “Another examination?”
I nodded solemnly, mentally flying through the specifications of my marriage plan and checking off each one. Scholarly aptitude and ability to engage in intellectual discourse—check.Progressive stance on women’s status and rights in the aristocracy—check.Emotional breadth and depth—check.Political views in favor of changing antiquated laws—check.Physical compatibility—extra check.I blushed at the last. “Possibly worse than the Tripos,” I told him.
Tarik held me close, wearing that smile I so adored, his bright blue eyes sparkling with challenge. “Do your worst, my lady. I look forward to proving my worth.”
I wanted to tell him he already had, but where was the fun in that?
“Very well,” I said, thinking hard, though it was quite impossible with the smitten way he was staring at me. “How many prime numbers exist between one and one hundred?”
“Too easy.” Grinning, he peppered my brow, cheeks, and lips with kisses instead, and it was only when we had climbed down the tower to my friends and family that I realized he had kissed me exactly twenty-five times…the correct answer to my question.
“Did you answer me in kisses?” I asked as we reached the bottom.
“Impressed yet?”
I pouted. “I should have said between one and one thousand.”
My very creative and clever fiancé winked. “According to the Sieve of Eratosthenes, then I shall owe you one hundred and forty-three more.”
Sieve of Eratosthenes…Be still my beating heart.
It was a simple ancient algorithm from a Greek mathematician in the third century BC that said any multiple of a prime number could not be a prime number. As two was a prime number, then four, six, and eight or any other multiples of two would not be prime numbers, and so forth.
Who said mathematics couldn’t make one swoon?
Because after nearly four interminable seasons, I had truly,finally,found my perfect match.
Epilogue
All bodies whatsoever are endowed with a principle of mutual gravitation.
—Isaac Newton
London, 1824
you Are Cordially Invited
to
A Novel Experience and Grand Celebratory Ball
At the Collective
Pall Mall, London
I stared down at the white-and-gold invitation, immense pride filling me at what Tarik had achieved at long last, four long and challenging years later. After many setbacks with property acquisition as well as the process of getting funding into place; working with architects and master builders; finding dependable tradesmen for various parts of the contruction, includingcarpenters, masoners, plumbers, and painters; and sourcing materials like stone and timber, we were finally ready for the big day.
The grand opening of the official clubhouse for The Collective had arrived at last.
