Askar walked to the end of the room. His silhouette was the only break in the whisper of light from the long windows that lined the walls. I took the final four steps up into the space with him, watching the stars as they came to life around his back. A blue haze skirted over the planks of the floor, bringing the night in with us, and despite how dark it was outside, there were still shadows that cast over him and I. Shadows from the mountainscape lit only by the Heavens. He barely touched the book I'd left behind as he passed by the end table and checked the view out one of the panes.

"This is a lovely place to be," he said. "Thank you for sharing it with me."

"Aye, I like it up here," I told him. My throat felt dry, and my palms were sweating. I wanted to tell him. I wanted to say the words.

He stood in front of the bench that was built into the framing and opposite of the stairs. He didn't move when I kneeled on it to show him the sky and all the constellations that I knew.

"Beautiful," he said.

"You think everything is beautiful," I teased him. "But you're right in this case. I wouldn't be surprised if you could see the whole empire from this seat. But even if you couldn't, you can see so far, and that's poetic for me. This is my terrace."

His hands slipped into the pockets of his trousers, and for a moment, we just sat in peaceful silence.

"Eliza. If you are not ready to say the words to me, don't. If you're not ready to leave, don't. That's all there is to it, but I am not going anywhere unless you ask me to. I'll travel home and back for as long as it takes for you. I am yours; I've decided it."

I swallowed. "You are so patient with me," I said.

"I have waited a decade for this moment; I will wait forever if I must."

I shook my head. "I have not been lucky to know patience like yours," I said. "I'm sorry I'm dramatic and a lot, and that I overthink, and that I...."

He was quiet. "You apologize for being who you are; I've just declared I love you for the same reason."

"In Gosil," I started, working up the nerve. "On your balcony..."

"I said a lot of things in Gosil. We were upset in different ways."

"Yes, but..." I hesitated. "You said that you had been hopeful."

"Yes."

"That you would stand on your balcony and look out across the sea... To the mountains and past, and that despite the fact that you could not actually see me, you dreamed of me."

He looked down. "...Yes. I did."

"I thought you were distancing yourself from me, not confessing how you felt. I'm sorry to be so thickheaded, but... Ask. Askar... I believe you when you say we're each other's halves."

"You do?" he checked. His expression changed.

"I do. It's evident in everything isn't it? My culture is built on war, yours is built on life. Your home lies near a volcano, mine is made of ice. You dreamed of me, of romance, and I– I've been coming up here since I was a child," I told him. "Since I first discovered that this door led anywhere of consequence. I wasn't exactly shown it; I meant it when I said this is a part of my home that is rarely traveled. But just like you and your terrace, I would come up here to my tower, and I would dream, too. Just differently. But that's how it's always been for us, yes? We fill each others voids."

"What did you dream of?" he asked.

"You won't like it; you're the romantic of our pair, I'm afraid."

"I want to know anyway," he said. "Show me what it means to be Eliza Rose."

"...I was not thinking about a Duke a thousand miles away. Love was never something I was particularly looking for; it feels bad to tell you that, but it wasn't until your cousin that I thought I would ever feel it. Before him, I expected to marry some lord who wanted a title and land, and after Krist, that thought returned... It doesn't matter now. When I would come up here, I came up here to be alone. I came up here to pray. And for childish things, things that would never happen, like dragons and adventures. I think, just to prove a point. Just to live in my melancholia. The one time I allowed myself to believe that fairytales were real... I was punished for it. Before Kristjan, I had dreams of traveling as far as I could go. I would look out to the mountains and I would wonder what secrets it held. What kind of animals. And I read; I read science books; I read fantasy. When I met your cousin, he told me ladies didn't travel. I changed to cater to that concept to make him happy. Even though I have always thought that I would make a dreadfully wonderful pirate given the chance. I mean, I've always longed to sail the sea, to fight skeletons and ride horses bareback across rivers, but... but... hilariously, as it turns out, I get rather homesick, and very quickly at that. Sort of ironic, really."

"I think you faired just fine fighting swans. Worse than any skeleton I know," he said.

I chuckled. "...One time in particular, the day my brother was deemed Heir, I prayed a dragon would take me far, far away. At first I thought it was jealousy, but I was just bored."

"And a dragon was your solution?" he asked. "Though I suppose that's quite the coincidence, given why I came here?"

"Yes. It was not lost. I prayed for a beast to sweep me free, and sure, maybe he was years late, but I heard you say 'dragon,' and, well, it was supposed to be ridiculous enough never to happen. That was the point of it all, to make it a safe sort of want. Then disappointment was expected. But then I heard it... I heard you cry dragon and then how could I unhear it?"

"But a dragon?" he laughed. "Of all things."

"That book next to you?" I motioned to it. "It's my favorite. It's the very first I ever read on my own. I mean that no one sought out for me. Yes?"

He picked it up.

"It's about a knight and a dragon. I was quite attached to the concept. You see, the dragon was not a villain; she was good. As good as, no, better than, the hero was. And that's an idea. A knight and a monster became unlikely friends. They... Well, they swindled a lot of people out of a lot of copper, so maybe they weren't exactly very good, but! It was a good story, I thought. Of course... Now that I am saying it out loud, it sounds morally questionable without spoiling some things."

"Aye, it's not exactly knightly to rob and swindle, is it?" he cracked.

"No... but the knight wasn't always a knight. He was lying; he was a peasant. It's a mistaken identity, you see, and while it starts as a con, he does save many, many people by the end. He changes. He becomes honorable. Of course, the King will have him hanged anyway because of law, right? But the dragon saves the knight by swooping down onto a crowd of people who— Well, the whole message is that life is not black and white. Justice is not black and white. People are not black and white. Our futures are not black and white; there's a gray area. Heroes can be crass and damaged and not what people expect them to be, or they can need saving. And bad characters, or deviant, clever, manipulative beasts, monsters even, can be just silly things trying to live their life in the pursuit of something outside of what other dragons do. Something scary might not be scary if given the chance to matter to someone. In this case, if given a friend. That some things that are presented one way actually mean something else entirely. Something more than face value. That things can be measured with more than just–"

"The Scales of Justice," he said.

"Yes! You've read it?" I asked.

"No, love," he gestured. "I read the title."

"Oh. Ha! Yes. Well, it should be in the library, but I had been reading it again before the faire," I said. "But there's a metaphor here..." I felt a lump in my throat. "The metaphor is... it's marriage. At least for me. No, it's not even marriage. It's love. I'm the dragon. I am both the dragon and the knight. And so are you. And I hope that by telling you this and by reminding you of the dagger and all the time that we've spent together, you might hear how serious I am about us. Even if I cannot bring myself to... I do not wish to come off too strong and ruin this. I am not ready for our story to end."

"Eliza, my love, you're not coming on too strongly," he said. "I came to Oreia to court you, didn't I? That is something that was scary to me. Goslin men do not court, but Oreian women expect it, and courtship leads to one thing. To your metaphor. I want to marry you. I told you that I loved you. I mean the words I say. I am not perfect, but I would not be here if I were ready for this to end, either. I want many, many more chapters for us after this one here."

"I am so happy to hear you say that."

"But?"

"But..." I told myself to shut up.

"But you don't wish to be with me?" he asked. "Or you do not love me?"

"Neither. Those ideas are both so very far from the truth," I said. "I just need..."

"What do you need?" he asked.

"I need... I need proof. I need reality. I need action. I don't need promises or hopes or talks of what we'll name our children; I need an offer. I need... I want to say those words to you, Askar. I think I have felt them from the moment you first kissed me at that inn. The way you touched me, the way you pleasured me... It was shocking how different sex felt with you. I am sorry it's taken me some time to catch up when you've been so sure for so long. I'm sorry I am so very stubborn, and more, I am sorry that I cannot say I love you without an offer."

"I've made offers," he said.

"To my parents," I said. "But never to me."

He frowned. "That's what you want? Me to ask?"

"I know it sounds stupid," I said. "But–"

"Oh, love." He kissed me. Sudden and passion-filled, he breathed to add, "Oh, God, I am at peace to hear this."

"You're at peace because I will not say I love you?" I stared, confused.

"No, I am at peace because you've brought me up here to ask me to ask you to marry me. You want me to propose. And not... I thought this was the end for us."

"The end?" I asked. "Why would I end this? I'm waiting for you to propose."

"Proposals come at the last dance of the Season," he said. "You told me that."

"I–" I scoffed. "I vaguely remember saying this, but–"

"You're impatient." He laughed heartily, then pulled me onto his lap. I braced my hand on the window.

"Askar!" I cried.

"You cannot wait a week," he said. "You cannot bear to be less than my wife for any longer, and for it, I have such peace. If you wish me to propose, I shall utter the words to you now. Marry me."

"But I...?"

He kissed my neck, muttering it a second time. It wasn't a question. "Marry me," he said.

"Were you truly going to ask me?" I pried. "At the next dance?"

"I did not wish to hurry you," he said. "Or I would have asked the moment we reunited. If it is the question that you need, I care not when it occurs. Marry me."

"Do you promise?" I asked.

His hand raced up my leg. When he found his dagger, I could feel his smile widen against my lips. "I promise."

"You truly planned to ask?" I worried. "And I've gone and ruined it? Oh, God. I'm so stupid and so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, and don't be cruel to yourself. You're speaking of my bride, and she has made me happier than I have ever been."

He pushed my shift over my hips and then disappeared below my skirt. Askar's mouth pressed onto my core, and I moaned but managed to ask, "A-Are you ask—ar. Askar!"

"...Yes," he breathed. "I'm asking you."

I covered my mouth briefly, silencing my pleasure.

The Duke came up to press his lips onto mine, and we rolled off of the bench. I hit the floor first, winded, and he apologized, brushing the hair from my face.

"I am asking you," he said. "Marry me, Eliza. Be my wife. Be my Duchess. Bear my children. Love me." His hands cupped my rear, bringing me closer.

"Yes," I said. I grabbed his shirt and pulled. "I need to feel you."

"And when Ser Willoughby comes in here and Rusted Blades me?"

"Rusted Blades you?" I asked.

"Aye," he nodded. "A smarter man would return you to the party. He'll probably break my legs for this."

I bucked my hips against his. "Stop speaking nonsense and consummate this moment."

Kissing erupted; his fingers found the peak of my sex.

"You are the Moon, my rose," he said. "You are the stars. You are the night, the horizon that lulled me to sleep through restlessness. You may feel left in the Sun's shadow, but it is the Moon that illuminates the darkest hours while she must rest."

I stared at him. "Oh, my God."

His free hand felt my side. "I love you."

"Then make love to me," I begged. "You cannot call me the Moon and stars and then not make love to me!"

He caught my face in his hands. "Have you no fear of being caught? Or just no respect for my limbs?"

"Oh, hush," I said. "By now, Willough has determined that, yes, I disobeyed his order. He'll punish me for it, but he won't interrupt us. He'd have to find us first, and we're quite secluded."

He groaned. "And you don't think anyone can see us in this window-lined room?" He peered over his back.

"No," I said, trailing my lips to his neck. "Only if the light was lit, and it's not." I felt for him, slipping my hands into his pants. "I promise you; we're safe."

Finally, he gave in, spreading his hips for my arrival. I led him beneath my skirt and draped my arms around his back. He entered me, and when he did it, Ask looked into my eyes. He started to thrust.

"Fuck, I've missed you," I cried against his bicep. "Please never make me wait so long for this again."

"I love you," he whispered, nuzzling into my hair. "I'll never make you wait." His hand held the back of my neck as I met his eyes.

"Will you ask my father... and my mother, too?" I asked. "That would make me feel safer... It will make it more real if it's not some secret between us like everything else has been."

"I will ask them," he promised. "As soon as I can."

"Truly?" I begged. "Just like that?"

"Yes." He kissed me, breathing in around it to speak my name. "Eliza. Fuck, you feel so good."

My body started to shake beneath him; his arms moved across my back, and I couldn't help but pant.

"Askar," I whined.

"That's it, love," he said.

I could feel myself start to tighten. I got closer. "Ask, I'm...."

"Come for me, Princess," he whispered. "Come for me."

"I..."

He pressed his lips to my ear; I shut my eyes. "When you come for me," he said, "I'll leave this room and ask your parents for their blessing to marry you. I'll gather my bearings, and I'll be back next week to propose to you for the court. Then everyone will see that I am yours, and you are mine. I promise," he said. "And you can hold your words until then or for longer, but know that I love you. I love you, my beautiful rose."

I ruptured, my body bending to his. He anchored me to his lap, and when I opened my eyes, the world was upside down until the pressure in my head was too great, and I relaxed enough to lat flat again.

Askar stroked the edge of my jaw as he kept a steady rhythm. He finished himself, pulling out, and I felt... ease.

"Things feel different with me because they are different with me," he said. His lips skirted mine. "We're soulmates, Eliza."