Page 25 of On Brutal Thrones

I glance at Thorian. He gives the slightest nod, and my heart starts pounding.

Divines, I'm nervous.

I've fought monsters. I've faced gods. I've walked into battles knowing I might not walk out again. Somehow, none of that prepared me for the terror of lowering myself onto one knee in front of the woman I love.

Thorian and Talon kneel beside me. Nyx goes completely still, and I open my hand and hold out the ring.

For one awful second, all I can see are its flaws. The uneven weave. The tiny frayed edge I couldn't quite hide. I should have practiced first. I should have made another one. I should have given her something worthy of her.

Then Nyx makes a tiny sound.

I look up.

Tears are already filling her eyes. And suddenly, I understand that she isn't looking at the flaws. She's looking at us.

“Nyx,” Thorian begins.

His voice is steady, but I know him well enough now to see the tension in his shoulders.

“The first time I saw you, you were standing before the gods, demanding a place in these Trials. I told myself my interest in you was about winning.” His eyes hold hers. “I was wrong. Somewhere along the way, winning stopped being the only thing I wanted.”

Nyx presses her lips together, tears spilling over.

Thorian’s expression softens. “You became the future I wanted.”

She makes another little sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

Talon looks up at her next, and for once, there's no teasing in his expression.

“I followed you into that garden because there was something about you I couldn't walk away from,” he says. “I didn't understand it then. I do now.”

His smile appears, small and unusually vulnerable.

“I spent a long time wanting my old life back. Then you came along and made me want one I've never had instead.” He reaches for her hand. “Preferably a very long one, with you in it.”

Nyx laughs through her tears. Then they both look at me.

Fuck. I had words prepared, yet every single one disappeared.

Nyx looks at me with tears running down her cheeks, and all I can think about is my family. The people I lost. The people I'm still fighting to save. For so long, the word family has meant grief, fear, and an empty place inside me that nothing could fill.

Until her.

I swallow hard. “Losing my family was the worst thing that ever happened to me.”

Her expression crumples.

“For a long time, getting them back was the only future I could imagine. Then I met you.” My voice catches, and I don't bother pretending it doesn't. “And somehow you made that future bigger.”

I glance at the men kneeling beside me. My friends. My brothers, if they'll let me call them that. My future family.

Then I look at Nyx again.

“I still want to save them. I always will. But now I want to bring them home to you. To us.” I hold the ring toward her. “I want the house with too many rooms. I want your ridiculous parties and Talon complaining about everything and Thorian learning how to celebrate. I want mornings where the first thing I worry about is what we're eating instead of which one of us might die.”

Talon clears his throat. “For the record, I don't complain about everything.”

Nyx laughs wetly.