Page 102 of The Unseen Hour

He threw his arms back around me.

“This is truly the happiest moment I’ve had in the Ether. I know you wouldn’t want me asking your family’s permission, but I also know how deeply you care for them. I’ll find a way to win them over.”

I scoffed, picturing Ambrose with his nose in the air.

“I don’t care what they say. I won’t be separated from you.”

He’d waited all this time to return, and he was more concerned with how those closest to me would react. The only family he had left was a distant cousin who had taken over the estate, and even if by some miracle of the gods we could prove that Orion was in fact the rightful heir, where would that leave him? He’d be alone without family in a large house, on a large estate, and at odds with the cousin whom he’d just ousted from the position.

“What about you?” I asked him. “What of your family seat? Are you going to try and take back your estate?”

If he wanted it, I’d support him as well. I’d do anything I could to make it happen. I’d dig through every Holmes record in the library. I’d help forge documents if that’s what it took.

“Truthfully, I’d just as soon not. My goal hasn’t been to be the duke for years. If I never see my title again and need to pick up a trade, that would be fine. After my time in the Ether, I’d be happy to be a gardener on an estate, except …”

He stayed silent for so long that I worried he wasn’t going to answer at all.

“Except?” I prompted gently.

He looked away.

“What would I have to offer you, then? How could I ever ask for your hand with nothing to my name?”

My breath caught in my throat.

“There is no one else I want by my side. I would live with you anywhere,” I answered honestly.

I would not let the people around us be the thing that kept us apart. I would make my own decisions. I couldn’t control the consequences, but I was free to decide who I wanted to spend my life with.

“Oh dear!”

I threw a hand over my mouth.

“Should I be concerned?” Orion gave half a smile as he said it, his voice light.

There was one person in particular who might argue I wasn’t free to offer my hand to anyone. What was Ry going to think? Bellamy had started as a small annoyance, and now he might be the undoing of the best thing to ever happen to me.

“It shouldn’t be. There’s … something I haven’t told you. Something that I should have, but at first it simply wasn’t the priority on my mind. Then, I didn’t think it mattered, because the issue had surely resolved itself. But you do deserve to know. And it’s not that I’ve been trying to hide it. I haven’t even thought about it in weeks.”

I wrung my hands.

“Whatever you have to say, even if it’s a ‘no,’ I will listen openly. You know I’ll help you no matter what, whether you accept me or not.”

“I’ve already accepted. This has nothing to do with a lack of interest. It’s a problem with me, not with you. Once you hear it, you might want to take back your proposal.”

“I’m going to have to disagree with you there.”

The words were right on my tongue, but it took great effort to push them out.

“It’s … an engagement. Another engagement. I am engaged. I mean, I was engaged. Before this. I’m sure he thinks I’m dead now. But before the last Unseen Hour, there was a proposal and⁠—”

I was doing an awful job of explaining myself, and I knew it.

Ry’s mouth twisted down, his eyes focused on the dirt.

“I see. You have a fiancé. There’s already someone waiting for you.”

“It’s not what you might be thinking,” I rushed to assure him. “I am engaged, but I never even really said yes.”