"Marry me"

The silence is thick and Attia can't stand looking into those eyes. Picking up the nearest book and burying her nose in it, she mutters, "F*** you too,"

"Are you listening to me?" he said, irritated. It would be just like Attia to ignore him at his most tense moments- and to assume that he was throwing obscenities at her. He usually was, but still. Did she Have to assume the worst in him

"Of course I'm listening," Attia said, gripping the book's cover with whitening knuckles, "you think that marriage would be like getting eternally screwed over, right?"

"That's damn right." Keiro said, it felt like knee-jerk reaction. Romance was for the stupid, institutions were for the weak. Institutionalized love? Are you kidding me?

Attia nodded, like she had the same reasoning rolling through her head, "Yeah, so f*** you too."

"Oh," Keiro said, a chuckle building in his throat didn't quite make it out,"that's a yes, right?

Attia's toes curled but she tried to brush it off, squirming into her bed she muttered, "F*** you, Kiero I'm trying to read."

"F*** you too."

He smiled and she returned the smile with an eyebrow sliding upward.

"perfect... alright tomorrow were going to town, you pick out a dress and I'll get the cake. Which chapel do you want?

Attia's mind flashed with the locations of dress shops near the palace but she laughed the thoughts out of her head- it was all too absurd, "What are you-"

"You know what? Forget the dress, it's just us anyway. And I suppose Finn, but he won't care what your wearing."

"Do we have to do this right now?" Attia said, gritting her teeth. This was a joke, one of Keiro's stupid jokes and it had gone on long enough.

"Yes, now."

"Oh really?" Attia tried to roll her eyes at him but suddenly he was standing tall, arms open to her, his voice clear as a bell, "I need you to marry me, Attia. Now."

This Brat, Attia thought. but her mind flashed with romantic gestures of novels and fantasized about the intent in his eyes. Her sense bit and chased those thoughts away, fangs gnashing. Are you glitching, woman? This kind of stuff doesn't happen to you- you're dog-slave. and he's Keiro! he's obnoxious, self-serving... And how does this serve him?

Keiro was fantasizing that he'd stuned her into silence and therefore compliance but he could tell the gears were still turning in her head and he knew it wasn't true. When she opened her mouth, he was expecting her to guess at the truth.

"... this has something to do with the meeting yesterday, doesn't it?"

But, damn, he hadn't thought she'd get it right. "W- Did Claudia tell you?"

Attia shrugged, feeling herself come into the light, "She just said that they didn't like you. Not that I can blame them."

Keiro snorted. "Whatever. It's so irritating- their just power hungry little dogs. And I didn't even do anything wrong!"

Attia couldn't help herself, "I'm so sure."

"Shut up. It's me we're talking about." He said with a swat to her head. he climbed onto the bed next to her and started ranting. Of course he exaggerated his innocence and kept calling the new aristocrats 'the droolinig dogs'. And attia listened- rolling her eyes and chuckling with each twist. it felt easy. It felt normal. Until when he was done ranting... when the room quieted and Attia didn't volunteer a quote from her latest author or compare his problems to that of 'before' when they were Inside.

She pretended to read, but the pages stopped turning and in a voice that was trying too hard not to be nervous,"And so now... you want to marry me?"

He swallowed, averting his eyes for just a moment before his cocky slouch returned, "I Am marrying you, you said yes."