"Marry me?"

I heard a voice whisper in my ears as I drifted in and out of consciousness. Was I hallucinating? Did I want to hear those words from James so much that my brain was having him propose to me in my sleep? I opened my eyes, the first sight that greeted me was the tired and drawn face of Duke Harrington. He held me closely in his arms, and for the first time in a long time I felt safe. Before he could notice I had woken up, I closed my eyes again, my mind racing.

Had I heard correctly? If I had, what would I say?

I fell back asleep shortly, stress and exhaustion taking over my body.

When I woke up, my body felt refreshed but my mental state was confused and overwhelmed. I quickly got dressed and headed out, trying to sort out my thoughts.

"Miss Katrina!" A voice called out to me. It was Captain Alexander, he strode up to me, a nervous smile on his face.

"Captain."

"I'm so glad you're okay! When I heard what happened..." He paused, his face red from shame. "I'm sorry I...we didn't protect you." He bowed his head.

"It's not your fault, I made my own decisions." I wasn't sure how else to comfort him.

"It is my fault, you should have never been in danger." His intense stare made me a little uncomfortable. I remembered his attitude towards me the past few years, the blushes and meaningful glances. I was grateful for his help with learning to fight, but never had encouraged a relationship beyond what I shared with the other guardsmen.

In the past I had always comforted myself that he was going to find his true love soon, but now...

I had been wrong about so many things. About the kidnapping, about Savalle...

About James.

My predictions were worthless, who knew if the two would ever meet, or even if they did if they would fall in love like they did in the book? I felt lost and confused and could only look at him helplessly.

I can't promise him a future with a woman he may never even meet.

Seeing my sad gaze, he seemed to misinterpret something and his face grew serious.

"I've heard... I heart that Duke Harrington was able to rescue you?"

I nodded in reply.

"Good." He seemed satisfied. "At least if I am to lose to someone, it's someone who is worthy of you.

"..." I felt like I should deny it, but in the end, I stayed silent.

He smiled, and if it was a little bit of a sad smile, neither of us mentioned it.

I left the capital, borrowing a horse from one of the guards. I needed to get away from everyone, think about things carefully. Since I arrived here as Katrina, I had only focused on changing the ending of the story. Autumn's kidnapping, James's death, I had spent every waking moment trying to prevent these from happening.

I had been so focused, I had never thought about what would come after that.

Marry me.

Those two words he whispered in my ear made me realize: even after four years I had never considered myself as truly living in this world. I had taken on the role of an active spectator, watching from the sidelines and only interfering enough to change the ending. I had never thought through spending the rest of my life with the people here. The story was done, the book was over, but life kept going.

I stared around at the scenery, this far out away from the capital the surrounding areas gradually changed to farmland. Here and there men, women and animals could be seen, tending the fields. This world was massive, far beyond the limits of my poor little imagination.

Could I really say with confidence that I had written this world?

"Miss! Can you help us?!" Several young girls ran in front of my horse, shouting with fear, their faces pale. I jumped down immediately, concerned.

"What's wrong?"

They brought me to a nearby well, a little girl, not much older than 3 or four years old, had fallen in chasing after a dog. The dog had leapt the opening, sitting safely on the side, but the girl has splashed into the water below. Thankfully, she had grasped onto the bucket and ropeand was able to hold on and not sink. Her face was wet with well water and tears, her lips blue.

"Hold onto the bucket!" I called out. Together with the other girls, we pulled the rope up, grabbing the girl as she reached the edge. They cried with relief thanking me. I wrapped her up in my shawl, bringing them all back to their parents. Grabbing my hands tightly, they shook their heads and whispered over and over their gratitude. It took some fast talking and accepting two loaves of bread to finally extricate myself from them.

It was starting to get late, I slowly turned my horse towards the capital, towards home.

Home?

I felt like I had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

Was this place my home?

I thought about those girls and their parents; they were never characters in my book. Where did they come from? I thought about how different people were from my one-dimensional descriptions of them on paper. Of how they had little details I never knew about: Autumn's peanut allergy, James' dislike of salty foods. Silly things, important things, millions of little details that I never wrote in.

I had always assumed this world came from the story I wrote.

But what if the story I wrote came from this already existing world?

I felt myself relax a bit, a previously existing weight sliding off my shoulders. my role was never to be the arbiter of fate or a deity, I was living in this world just like everyone else, just with the knowledge of one possible future in my head, and that future hadn't even come about.

I urged my horse to go faster, my heartbeat picking up. It was time I gave this world a real chance. Which meant I had someone I need to find.

I had a Duke I needed to confess my love to before he changed his mind.

I sent a communication spell as soon as I got back.

immediately he sent back a reply, and we met in the garden.

The sun was setting, but between the light left in the sky and the scattered magical lamps in the garden I could see him clearly. He was staring at me, his expression serious.

"Is everything ok? Have you recovered?"

Faced with the full weight of his concern I couldn't help but smile. "I'm fine, I promise."

James looked stunned for a few moments, then smiled back, the expression lighting up his entire face. "You seem... different. What happened?"

Stepping closer, I closed the small gap between us into negligible distance.

"I guess you could say I've realized some important things. My goals have moved passed simply getting by, at least. I'm here to stay."

Our eyes met and held, he reached out and gently touched my face with one hand.

"Thank goodness." He said, sighing with relief, "You're finally looking at me." The last sentence was mumbled, barely audible.

I couldn't hold back anymore. "By the way, my answer is 'yes.'"

"Yes? To what?"

Coughing uncomfortably, I desperately hoped he hadn't forgotten. "Umm... your question, yesterday?"

His lips formed the words "my question" even as his face held a confused expression. I waited patiently.

Finally, his face lit up and he blushed "You heard that?" His eyes widened in shock, "Wait if you heard it... and your answer is yes..."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Unless you don't want to marry me anymore?"

"That's..." he reached forward, pulling me into his arms. I felt the soft pressure of his lips against mine before he whispered: "Katrina, I love you. Will you really marry me?"

"Don't believe me?"

"Please say it again!"

I sighed, but the irritation was faked. "Yes, I will marry you, James ." I hesitated for a moment, feeling a small amount of heat building in my face as I mumbled, "I love you too."

I was spun around, several more kisses given in the excitement. Once he came up for air, I felt myself lifted off the ground into his arms. "Ahh where are we going?."

The look he shot me clearly stated "don't be an idiot."

"We're going to get married."

And he was looking at me like I was crazy?! I hit his arm.

"Put me down! It's nighttime, no one will marry us until daylight. Even that's a little over the top."

He paused, looking genuinely upset. "I feel like I should tie the knot now, before you have a chance to get into any more trouble without me."

I kissed him lightly. "I promise to bring you with me. Now put me down."

"Fine. But let's still get married as soon as possible, just to be safe."

This was the man I had once described as cold, and guarded with his feelings? I took his hand in my own, we smiled foolishly at one another. I couldn't be happier.

It wasn't quite a "happily ever after." After all, that was for stories and this was a real world, but now I was no longer dreading a single day, but looking forward to a lifetime next to the one I loved. And that for me was the perfect ending: the beginning to the rest of my life.