“I just needed to say I’m sorry again.”
“Okay?” He sounded confused.
There was something I needed to tell him. I was just not sure how. “The negotiations I was holding. They were for a spouse.”
“You want to marry someone?”
“I do.”
“So, I guess you’re here to tell me you’re sending me back to my brother?” Li Wei sounded downtrodden. Our relationship started rocky, but things are different now. I would never send him back.
“I did speak with your brother. I gave him back autonomy over his province.”
“Is it my sister? Is she the one you seek to marry?”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a large sapphirering with a golden band. “This was my mother’s ring. She gave it to me before she died. We were still being held captive by my uncle; I escaped soon after.”
“Wow,” he said. “It’s beautiful.”
“Give me your hand.” I took Li Wei’s hand, and I slipped the ring onto his finger. “A betrothal gift. The letter is on my desk. I gave your brother what he wanted most, and your brother sent along your dowry.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Be serious.”
“I am being serious.”
“You want to marry me?”
“I would like to marry you. Will you marry me, Li Wei?”
He scowled at me. “That’s ridiculous. I can’t marry you. I can’t give you what you most need: a child.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“You should. Your advisors won’t be pleased. The nobles will lose their minds.”
I laughed. “Let them. I don’t care about any of that. Are you saying you don’t want to marry me?”
“You know I love you and would marry you in an instant, but it’s more complicated than that, isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Not really.” It was, and this was going to create waves that wouldn’t be there if I chose someone else. I was willing to brave them, though.
“Now you’re just being silly. Please be practical. You’re twenty-eight and the king of Shenzhou. You should take this finding a spouse thing more seriously.”
“I want to be with you, regardless of the consequences.” I reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him close, gazing intently into his eyes. For a moment, we froze in time. His doe eyes were even bigger when they were full of longing and worry. “I will deal with whatever comes our way. I will take care of you, face whatever trials right by your side. I want to be withyou, Li Wei.” I leaned in, and our lips met in a kiss. For another moment, we got lost in each other again. Finally, I pulled away, but he pulled me back in for a long, sensuous kiss, one I knew he didn’t want to let end.
He pulled away, his face flushed. “I…so you wanted to get married? I want to get married.”
“What about your concerns?”
“You worry too much, Jun. I…we’ll work it out.”
I smiled as I took him into my arms, holding him tight against my chest. “Yes, we will, my love.”
Interrogation Techniques by K.L. Noone
U.S. Marshal Peregrin Gardner lay in the luxurious bed in the fantastical wood-paneled hotel room, naked but for the rumple of creamy linen and the warmth of the young man beside him, and tried not to panic.
He’d meant to be responsible. To do reconnaissance. To inspect this hotel in advance of the Senator’s upcoming visit, before the election and amidst the tumult of feelings about Prohibition and the money behind the shiny new movie-making studios and the powerful glitter of California. To prowl around and glare recalcitrant staircases and hiding-nooks and unsavory individuals into preemptive good behavior.
