silverchain.
chapter eighteen: the onset of ever-strengthening feelings
She couldn't remember why she was there, nor how she had arrived. In fact, she realized with heightening alarm, even her own name was suddenly out of grasp. Concerned turquoise beams—no, they were eyes, Karis, eyes! That was her name, Karis, and she was here, somewhat bedraggled, sandaled feet planted firmly but somehow dizzily on rich red carpet, face to face with the rest of the body of the gorgeous turquoise eyes. Amiti, her love, who was presumably speaking to her.
Karis felt her lips part and tried to fight the instinct, attempting to remind her senses that she had no idea what she was going to say, but a jumble of words fell out of her mouth despite her tries. "Are you going to marry me or not?"
Her eyes widened and she tried to take back what she had said, but her previously eager tongue now refused to let a single word drop. For the first time since she had entered the chamber, she was aware of the gaggle of friends outside the door, probably pressing their ears to the wall. Amiti (had she really almost forgotten him, too?) was observing her with an indecipherable expression, and she was reminded irresistibly of Alex. His father. Strange, that the concept at once seemed foreign and yet quite natural. How had she not previously seen the resemblance? It was in the king's every movement, the careful way he pronounced every word, the calculated look that sometimes occupied his features, causing his eyes to glint with a chilling coldness. Amiti was not cold like Alex, though; he was too vibrant, too passionate, too real, whereas Alex always seemed removed from his environment.
His voice sent an unrepentant shiver down her spine, and Karis snapped back to attention. "Does this mean that you accept the proposal I offered in Kalay?" he asked, in a cool but somehow urgent tone.
"Offered?" she found herself saying, quite out of sync with the bubbly, joyful feeling that was currently possessing her heart. Her voice was somewhat sharp, and suddenly her head seemed to clear. "You didn't offer. You told me you were going to propose, but...but I'm not the waiting kind, Amiti." She paused, rather expecting for him to interject, but he merely regarded her with those calm turquoise eyes that boiled her blood in a few different ways.
"I'm not the waiting kind," she repeated. "If there's a problem here, in Ayuthay...I want to help. I want to be there for you, no matter what's going on. I don't want to wait back in Kalay for you to come back and fetch me when everything's okay. I want to be right here by your side, even if all I can do is rub your shoulders and tell you it'll get better."
His intense gaze made her falter. "You are the most amazing woman I have ever met, Karis. Please believe me when I say that I did not intend for you to feel left behind. I merely wished for everything to be perfect when I...when we..."
"You'll be waiting forever," Karis said quietly. "I'm never going to be perfect, Amiti."
He smiled. "I beg to differ. If you insist, however, I can propose to you now," he offered.
"I'd like that," she replied huskily, green eyes sparkling.
Amiti retrieved a small box. "Here in Ayuthay, we typically use engagement necklaces to symbolize a commitment, but I understand that in Kalay it is more common to use interlocked rings." A red flush complimented his words nicely. Karis was unsure of how to respond, but she nodded.
"Karis," the Adept said seriously, "I realized feelings for you over the course of our travels together, and spending time with you in Kalay only increased those feelings. I am now fully aware that I would like to spend the rest of my life with you, helping you, protecting you, and taking care of you in all the ways that I can."
If she had wished for a portrait of that moment, it would easily have been glorious. The palace was in much better shape than it had been the first time she had visited, especially because they were now able to occupy the aboveground levels. Rich red carpet added majesty, and the king's deep expression would be almost startling. Her expression, a cross between joy and disbelief, could be the focus, and the burning tension between their eyes, while not painted, could be evident. Portraits of kings long gone adorned the walls, and it almost seemed as though the deceased royals were smiling at their unconventional, illegitimate descendant.
He inclined his head, to indicate that she should respond, and discomfort soon replaced her sense of awe. She was not a royal, she did not have a way with words the way that Amiti did; she was just herself. Hoping and praying that would be enough, she replied in her most regal tone, "I would also like to spend the rest of my life with you, Amiti, h-helping you and...and supporting you as best I can."
Gingerly, he lifted the ring from the box. It was a lovely piece, obviously striving to be traditionally Kalayan but with a sense of strangeness to it as well—a true melding of cultures. His expectant eyes met hers, and, reddening, she held out her hand as daintily as she found possible. Fear gripped her. What if the rest of life with Amiti was like this? She loved him, but the formalities made her uncomfortable. She was not deserving of such rituals, and she did not know how to respond to him, but he was the king; he had to set an example for the people. Would she become more queenly over time, or would the Ayuthays always covertly disapprove of his choice in wife?
As the ring fully slipped onto her finger, however, her fear disappeared as quickly as it had come. Standing there, with Amiti's soft but strong hands gently holding hers, she truly felt as though a child's fairy tale had come true in her. His hands dropped her now bejeweled hand, and Karis almost felt as though her heart dropped with it.
Then those same hands were suddenly on her back, and they were embracing. Tears peeked out from the corners of her eyes, and for once she let them fall, knowing that Amiti would not see them as a sign of weakness. He would always understand.
"I assume you would prefer to be married sooner rather than later?" her husband-to-be (how wonderful it was even to simply think the words!) said, with a hint of amusement, from over her shoulder. Her eyes drifted to him, wishing that she could see his face but far from desiring the embrace to end.
"I didn't come all this way to be engaged for a year, you're right," she replied, finding herself slip back into a normal speech pattern. The fairy tale moment, it seemed, was over, but her love story was only beginning. She smiled absent-absentmindedly at her awkward thoughts. She had never been one to obsess over romance, always playing the adventurous tomboy, but Amiti had turned all of that upside down.
The embrace ended, and Karis felt her arms chill, but it was worth it to be able to look at Amiti's face, bursting with joy as much as her own. A bang at the door interrupted her mental soliloquy, however.
"Hey! We need to get a chaperone? It's been long enough!" Eoleo shouted roughly, and Amiti raised his eyebrows at her.
"Did everybody come along?" he asked.
"Not quite everybody, but..." She smiled.
"I suppose we should end their waiting," he chuckled, and offered her his arm. She took it, grinning at him with an obscene amount of happiness, and the pair exited the quiet chamber.