The Exiled Elf Prince Next Door Dies on Day Seventy novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Two Plots, One Gate
Snow had been falling on Sunhollow Valley since noon.
The new gate between the two plots stood open in it, with a lantern hung from the post.
Behind the gate, in what had been a field of stones, a thin green haze of winter barley showed through the white.
It had sprouted nine days ago.
Caelrin had stood over it in the frost, scowling, and Aoi had pretended not to see him cry.
Now it was night, and the bedroom was warm.
He was carrying her through the door with her legs round his waist and her mouth on his.
"Put me down," she said, laughing.
"No."
"Caelrin."
"I have wanted to carry you over a threshold since the first week. I shall take my time."
He set her down at last at the foot of the bed.
The yellow quilt had been turned back, and a fire burned in the little iron grate, and the windows were blue with snow-light.
She stood in his old green coat, which came to her knees.
He unbuttoned it, one button at a time, and slid it off her shoulders, and it pooled on the floor.
Under it she wore only his shirt.
"I have a question," he said, quietly, "and I want to ask it before I lose my mind."
"Ask."
He took her left hand and kissed the knuckles.
Then from his pocket he drew a narrow ring of pale silver, wrought in a pattern of tiny leaves.
"The Border Guard made it," he said. "From a shaft of the old wall."
"I am told that where I come from, the one who gives it asks to be hers for all the years there are."
Her mouth opened.
"I am a hundred and sixty," said Caelrin. "You are twenty-seven. I will outlive the whole village."
"I will not be able to bear it if you leave before I do. I will bear it anyway, if you will have me for as long as you have."
"Yes," Aoi said, before he had finished.
"I have not asked."
"Ask faster."
"Will you marry me, Aoi?"
"Yes. Yes. Yes."
He slid the ring on her finger with shaking hands, and it fit.
She threw her arms around his neck, laughing and crying, and he lifted her off the floor and kissed her.
The kiss went on a long time.
It was deep and slow and hot, and his tongue stroked hers until her knees went weak.
She tangled her fingers in his hair and found the points of his ears and rubbed her thumbs along them, and he growled.
"Bed," she said against his mouth.
"Yes."
"Lie down and let me look at you."
He lay back, and she knelt over him on the quilt and took off his shirt.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Exiled Elf Prince Next Door Dies on Day Seventy are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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