Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
I reach into my pocket, pulling out the ring I've been carrying for the last week. I hold it out in the palm of my hand.
"Marry me, princess."
She blinks wide, startled eyes. "Troy, didn't you hear me? I've been lying to you. You can't be with me and have what you want."
"I heard you, angel. But you're wrong." I grab her hand, pressing my lips to her knuckles before I slip the ring onto her finger. "The only way I get what I want is if I have you. If I don't have that, I have nothing."
"Troy," she whimpers.
"Marry me, princess."
"Do you mean it? Troy." She presses her shaking hands to my face. "Do you mean it?"
I clamp my hands around her waist, resting my forehead against hers. "I've never meant anything more, sweet Thalia. I don't care about destiny or curses. I don't give a fuck about magic or our fathers or kingdoms. All I want is you. I want you so damn much it's become a physical ache. You've consumed me from the inside out. There is no Troy without Thalia. I can't live without you. I need you to marry me so I survive." I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, needing her to understand that I mean it. I'm not asking to save her. I'm not sacrificing anything here. "Even if you tell me no, you'll never be cursed again, Thalia. My heart will still be yours. Nothing will ever change that. Not because fate demands it but because I do. You belong to me." I brush my lips against hers. "All fucking mine."
"Troy," she sobs, burying her face in my shoulder as sobs wrack her body.
I lift her into my arms, reveling in the feel of her soft body pressing against me again. It feels like it's been a fucking lifetime. She clings to me like I'm a lifeline, her tears soaking into my shirt. But I don't care. All that matters is the woman in my arms and the fact that she's mine.
"You'll never go another day believing that my soul isn't yours, princess," I breathe, climbing to my feet to carry her out of the mine and into the night where we belong. "Not a single fucking day. I love you. Every perfect inch of you."
Her sweet voice whispering those three words back to me is the most perfect sound I've ever heard.
"I love you, Troy."
Chapter Fifteen
Thalia
Idon't know where we're going, and I don't care. I'm in Troy's arms, and everything in my world feels right again for once. It hasn't been right in what feels like an eternity.
The last two days have been hell. Every minute hurt. After fleeing the cabin, I stumbled through the dark for hours before finding a small cave. I curled up there until morning, sobbing uncontrollably. When I finally stopped crying, I replayed every moment with him, trying to figure out where it went wrong.
I kept coming back to the same realization—Troy wouldn't try to kill me. Even if he hated me, he wouldn't do that. No matter what that man said, Troy wouldn't do it. I refused to believe otherwise. I couldn't believe it.
The fact that I was still awake—that the curse hadn't sunk its claws into me again—gave me hope.
I wanted to go back to the cabin to get my phone so I could call him. I wanted to hear the truth from his lips, but when the sun rose, and I tried to find my way back, the man was still in the woods.
He's been back every day—watching me. I found the mine instead and decided to hide out inside until he gave up and left. Even if I was just waiting for Troy to tell me himself that it was over, I needed to hear it from him.
I never thought I'd see him again, though. When he showed up, the only thing I could think was that the man was going to come back and finish the job. He'd kill me for breaking my promise.
Hearing Troy confirm that he didn't send him was supposed to allow me to move on…except even as I told myself that's what I'd do, I knew I wouldn't. A thousand lifetimes could pass, and I'd still love him just as fiercely.
I didn't expect him to tell me he felt the same. I'd convinced myself that he couldn't. I spent every freaking night huddled on my makeshift bed, praying the moon and stars I drew on the walls weren't the only ones I'd ever see again, terrified they would be. Even when all the evidence said differently, I was still afraid. That's what fear is—irrational, overwhelming, illogical.
I'm not afraid any longer.
I feel like I'm living in a dream.
Except, I don't think this one ends. He loves me, and the curse is truly gone. I'm free in every sense of the word.