Chapter 9
Edge climbed the steps of the tower with a boyish excitement that he hadn't felt in ages. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He would still consider himself a boy, really, even if he was a king. And he'd been excited just last week when Scottford, in his Ninja class, had finally mastered the spin- kick-slice-thrust move that he'd made up himself ten years ago, which nobody had been able to quite pick up since. But this was a different kind of excitement, and this definitely made him feel younger than ever.
And it had been so simple, he mused. Just a note in Rydia's gorgeous handwriting, "Meet me on the roof." Enough to make his heart jump, maybe skip a beat.
He started skipping steps.
"Hey," Rydia said, turning with a smile when she heard him at the top of the staircase. He strode forward, picked her up by the waist, and lifted her toward the stars, ignoring her squeals and helpless laughter.
"Hey," he replied finally, setting her down and kissing her on the forehead. "What's up?"
"It's just so beautiful up here," Rydia answered, leading him towards the edge of the tower. "I wanted to spend time here, with you."
It was indeed gorgeous out, a crystal night, clear so that the stars shone with glittering intensity. But Edge didn't bother looking at the stars. "Much of our relationship, you know," he murmured into her ear, "seems to have revolved around roofs."
Ducking teasingly away from his mouth, Rydia replied, "I guess because the height is so romantic."
"And I'm such a romantic guy," Edge boasted, and caught her for a kiss that time.
"The height is also useful for throwing people off of," Rydia said thoughtfully when he let her go.
Edge laughed and held her close. Seven magnificent days had passed, seven days with Rydia as his girlfriend. They'd walked the village together, talking to townspeople, holding hands. There had been raised eyebrows, and plenty of them. Although Edge had dated plenty of women in his time, he'd never appeared in public with them. And Lady Rydia -- wasn't she in love with monsters, or something? Didn't she have some awful power? What if she used that power on the king?
But nothing had happened, and after daily talks with the townspeople, Edge thought they were getting quite used to Rydia. After all, Rydia's name was known throughout the world for her part in, well, saving it. Which was no small thing. Beyond that, Therese and many of the other women who'd sewed with Rydia were loyally defensive of her. Even the boys in the Ninja class had helped scour away any ugly rumors, respecting her progress in class as much as Edge did himself. And Edge liked to think that perhaps there was something noticeably different about Rydia, and the way they were together. Perhaps other people, like him, could tell this was going to be the real thing.
Because he could, indeed, tell that. From the way they played together in the castle like children, even resorting to games like hide-and-seek. From the way Rydia had insisted, one night, on kicking Linberg out of the kitchen and concocting three of the meals described in _Cooking for Lovers: Aphrodisiacs for Your Mate_, which she'd found a copy of under his bed. "Just like old times," she'd said, "except with less weird moon glow and weird moon monster meat." She'd thrown flour on him, and he'd looked ridiculous, especially when it stuck to the gel that was woefully in his hair that day. And somehow, he'd enjoyed all this.
It was because of her, of course. She struck at his heart that way. She could make a rainstorm seem fun, an ice age seem like an adventure. Life was brighter with her around.
"Rydia," he whispered in her ear, holding her from behind.
"Mm," she replied.
"Rydia, I love you."
She whipped around in his arms to look at him with some measure of shock. "Edge -- "
Edge thought he'd better go ahead and take the plunge. After all, he reasoned, the first one hadn't been so bad. "Rydia," he said, "I love you, and -- " He sunk to one knee and pulled out his ace in the hole, a gorgeous crystal ring set in white gold that his mother had given him. "Will you marry me?"
Rydia's mouth was open, and she was staring at him with alarm, not exactly the reception he'd hoped for. "Edge -- this is -- very soon," she managed to get out.
Edge hoped he wouldn't start to cry as he felt his heart absolutely splinter in two. He stayed where he was, looking up at her.
"We've only been dating for seven days!" she exclaimed, pulling him to his feet.
Edge thought he would throw himself off that height pretty soon, if she didn't do it for him. Although it would be difficult with her hand gripping his so tightly. "Well," he said, and was shocked at his own voice. It sounded so woefully small. He cleared his throat and went on. "Did you think we were going somewhere else? Not marriage, then?"
"Well, no," Rydia said, her voice as tiny as his. "I was just upset because -- " She took a deep breath. "Because *I* was going to propose tonight," she said, trying not to whine.
Edge looked at her steadily, not quite able to believe his ears. "What?"
"Well, I was just thinking," Rydia said somewhat petulantly, "about how men have it so tough, and how they always have to make the first move, and things like that. And I thought it would just make things easier for you if I proposed to you, instead, and I was so ready to, and now there's really no point!"
Edge scratched his lip, not quite sure what to make of this turn of events. "This is why you didn't just say yes?" he said unbelievingly. He didn't move, still wonderfully close to her. She was holding his hands with a desperate strength.
"I know it's stupid," Rydia said, and now she was whining a little bit, she just couldn't help it. "I was just trying to help."
Edge furrowed his brow and could tell he should tread carefully here. It was stupid, there was no two ways about it. If she wanted to marry him she should've just said yes the second he asked. Geez. But still, it was a nice gesture, and she was delightfully childish about some things like this. Maybe ...
"Well, you didn't say yes, right?" Edge said helpfully. "So we're not engaged or anything. You could ask me to marry you now, and it would accomplish something."
Rydia looked up and brightened. "I guess you're right," she said, and looked him in the eye with a smile. "Edward Geraldine, will you marry me?"
He groaned. "Yes, as long as you *never* call me Edward again," he said, and kissed her.
It was the deepest kiss they'd shared yet, and Rydia found it almost difficult to breathe. Not because he was overpowering, but because the emotion that they were passing back and forth to each other was so suffusive and strong that she thought it could hurt them. This was love, Edge's love, served up with passion; Edge would never love her with anything less than this force, she realized then. She closed her eyes finally and gave herself up to the moment.
Edge took from her lips the guarantee he'd wanted, that they would have love as deep as he'd always promised himself to find. Images of their future together flashed in his mind, unable to stop thinking. Then he felt the moment she gave in to the depth of the kiss, and with a trace of a sigh, he gave into the moment himself as well. Thought fled.
At length, they pulled apart. It was some time before either of them spoke.
"Man," Edge said then, thinking about the events of the evening, "we can't even get *engaged* seriously."
"We're engaged," Rydia said with wonder, her voice a little throaty from the kiss.
"I know what we should do now," Edge said with a wicked smile, and pulled her by the hand over to the stairs.
Rydia instantly felt her nerves jump to attention. After a kiss like that, she knew what would inevitably follow. They hadn't moved beyond kissing yet, and while she was curious about ... other things, she didn't know if she was ready for them. Edge, she was fairly sure, was quite experienced, and she wasn't, and they were in love and getting married, but that didn't make up for her inexperience and apprehension. But this *was* their engagement night, and ...
Her tumbling thoughts paused when Edge reached into the stairwell and pulled out two long blades, practice ones, she recognized from class. "Let's fight," he announced cheerfully, handing her one.
She eyed the sword as if it were a foreign object. "Let me get this straight," she said. "You want to *fight*? On the night we got *engaged*?"
Edge just looked back at her. "Don't you?" he asked.
Rydia considered the question and took the blade. "Yes, I do," she replied, and lunged, sword forward, with a grin.
Edge climbed the steps of the tower with a boyish excitement that he hadn't felt in ages. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He would still consider himself a boy, really, even if he was a king. And he'd been excited just last week when Scottford, in his Ninja class, had finally mastered the spin- kick-slice-thrust move that he'd made up himself ten years ago, which nobody had been able to quite pick up since. But this was a different kind of excitement, and this definitely made him feel younger than ever.
And it had been so simple, he mused. Just a note in Rydia's gorgeous handwriting, "Meet me on the roof." Enough to make his heart jump, maybe skip a beat.
He started skipping steps.
"Hey," Rydia said, turning with a smile when she heard him at the top of the staircase. He strode forward, picked her up by the waist, and lifted her toward the stars, ignoring her squeals and helpless laughter.
"Hey," he replied finally, setting her down and kissing her on the forehead. "What's up?"
"It's just so beautiful up here," Rydia answered, leading him towards the edge of the tower. "I wanted to spend time here, with you."
It was indeed gorgeous out, a crystal night, clear so that the stars shone with glittering intensity. But Edge didn't bother looking at the stars. "Much of our relationship, you know," he murmured into her ear, "seems to have revolved around roofs."
Ducking teasingly away from his mouth, Rydia replied, "I guess because the height is so romantic."
"And I'm such a romantic guy," Edge boasted, and caught her for a kiss that time.
"The height is also useful for throwing people off of," Rydia said thoughtfully when he let her go.
Edge laughed and held her close. Seven magnificent days had passed, seven days with Rydia as his girlfriend. They'd walked the village together, talking to townspeople, holding hands. There had been raised eyebrows, and plenty of them. Although Edge had dated plenty of women in his time, he'd never appeared in public with them. And Lady Rydia -- wasn't she in love with monsters, or something? Didn't she have some awful power? What if she used that power on the king?
But nothing had happened, and after daily talks with the townspeople, Edge thought they were getting quite used to Rydia. After all, Rydia's name was known throughout the world for her part in, well, saving it. Which was no small thing. Beyond that, Therese and many of the other women who'd sewed with Rydia were loyally defensive of her. Even the boys in the Ninja class had helped scour away any ugly rumors, respecting her progress in class as much as Edge did himself. And Edge liked to think that perhaps there was something noticeably different about Rydia, and the way they were together. Perhaps other people, like him, could tell this was going to be the real thing.
Because he could, indeed, tell that. From the way they played together in the castle like children, even resorting to games like hide-and-seek. From the way Rydia had insisted, one night, on kicking Linberg out of the kitchen and concocting three of the meals described in _Cooking for Lovers: Aphrodisiacs for Your Mate_, which she'd found a copy of under his bed. "Just like old times," she'd said, "except with less weird moon glow and weird moon monster meat." She'd thrown flour on him, and he'd looked ridiculous, especially when it stuck to the gel that was woefully in his hair that day. And somehow, he'd enjoyed all this.
It was because of her, of course. She struck at his heart that way. She could make a rainstorm seem fun, an ice age seem like an adventure. Life was brighter with her around.
"Rydia," he whispered in her ear, holding her from behind.
"Mm," she replied.
"Rydia, I love you."
She whipped around in his arms to look at him with some measure of shock. "Edge -- "
Edge thought he'd better go ahead and take the plunge. After all, he reasoned, the first one hadn't been so bad. "Rydia," he said, "I love you, and -- " He sunk to one knee and pulled out his ace in the hole, a gorgeous crystal ring set in white gold that his mother had given him. "Will you marry me?"
Rydia's mouth was open, and she was staring at him with alarm, not exactly the reception he'd hoped for. "Edge -- this is -- very soon," she managed to get out.
Edge hoped he wouldn't start to cry as he felt his heart absolutely splinter in two. He stayed where he was, looking up at her.
"We've only been dating for seven days!" she exclaimed, pulling him to his feet.
Edge thought he would throw himself off that height pretty soon, if she didn't do it for him. Although it would be difficult with her hand gripping his so tightly. "Well," he said, and was shocked at his own voice. It sounded so woefully small. He cleared his throat and went on. "Did you think we were going somewhere else? Not marriage, then?"
"Well, no," Rydia said, her voice as tiny as his. "I was just upset because -- " She took a deep breath. "Because *I* was going to propose tonight," she said, trying not to whine.
Edge looked at her steadily, not quite able to believe his ears. "What?"
"Well, I was just thinking," Rydia said somewhat petulantly, "about how men have it so tough, and how they always have to make the first move, and things like that. And I thought it would just make things easier for you if I proposed to you, instead, and I was so ready to, and now there's really no point!"
Edge scratched his lip, not quite sure what to make of this turn of events. "This is why you didn't just say yes?" he said unbelievingly. He didn't move, still wonderfully close to her. She was holding his hands with a desperate strength.
"I know it's stupid," Rydia said, and now she was whining a little bit, she just couldn't help it. "I was just trying to help."
Edge furrowed his brow and could tell he should tread carefully here. It was stupid, there was no two ways about it. If she wanted to marry him she should've just said yes the second he asked. Geez. But still, it was a nice gesture, and she was delightfully childish about some things like this. Maybe ...
"Well, you didn't say yes, right?" Edge said helpfully. "So we're not engaged or anything. You could ask me to marry you now, and it would accomplish something."
Rydia looked up and brightened. "I guess you're right," she said, and looked him in the eye with a smile. "Edward Geraldine, will you marry me?"
He groaned. "Yes, as long as you *never* call me Edward again," he said, and kissed her.
It was the deepest kiss they'd shared yet, and Rydia found it almost difficult to breathe. Not because he was overpowering, but because the emotion that they were passing back and forth to each other was so suffusive and strong that she thought it could hurt them. This was love, Edge's love, served up with passion; Edge would never love her with anything less than this force, she realized then. She closed her eyes finally and gave herself up to the moment.
Edge took from her lips the guarantee he'd wanted, that they would have love as deep as he'd always promised himself to find. Images of their future together flashed in his mind, unable to stop thinking. Then he felt the moment she gave in to the depth of the kiss, and with a trace of a sigh, he gave into the moment himself as well. Thought fled.
At length, they pulled apart. It was some time before either of them spoke.
"Man," Edge said then, thinking about the events of the evening, "we can't even get *engaged* seriously."
"We're engaged," Rydia said with wonder, her voice a little throaty from the kiss.
"I know what we should do now," Edge said with a wicked smile, and pulled her by the hand over to the stairs.
Rydia instantly felt her nerves jump to attention. After a kiss like that, she knew what would inevitably follow. They hadn't moved beyond kissing yet, and while she was curious about ... other things, she didn't know if she was ready for them. Edge, she was fairly sure, was quite experienced, and she wasn't, and they were in love and getting married, but that didn't make up for her inexperience and apprehension. But this *was* their engagement night, and ...
Her tumbling thoughts paused when Edge reached into the stairwell and pulled out two long blades, practice ones, she recognized from class. "Let's fight," he announced cheerfully, handing her one.
She eyed the sword as if it were a foreign object. "Let me get this straight," she said. "You want to *fight*? On the night we got *engaged*?"
Edge just looked back at her. "Don't you?" he asked.
Rydia considered the question and took the blade. "Yes, I do," she replied, and lunged, sword forward, with a grin.