Chapter 161

Getting back to America was not fun, especially with Fletcher still an utter mess due to his heartbreak, but they got there safely. They would be in a little town for the first week on a stakeout mission. They had a small house Saracen had found them in town and at least three of them would be in an old, busy office block building in order to stare across the street at another building the American's believed a drug gang was dealing out of.

Valkyrie, Saracen and Anton were taking the first shift in the office. They went in quickly, dressed casually to avoid detection, and set themselves up in the office. Dexter, Tanith and Nadia would be going to a gym in the town over to train – that being, Dexter had been made the personal trainers of the girls.

Erskine, Fletcher, Ghastly and Laila were staying in the house they rented for the week.

And that was it. They rotated for the week, taking a few pictures of each person that came and went from that building, getting all their clients identified. Some of them were mortals, some of them were mages. Some of them were working there, some were suppliers of ingredients. They even spotted a group of other people come in and tracked that group as they left town and arrested them.

The American Sanctuary had been pleased, to say the least. It was a long and boring job but the week was filled with training, laughing, making a few arrests and stopping two pretty large drug rings in the area. They were able to get it all done in five days, giving them the weekend before Nadia and Valkyrie were set to go away for Nadia's birthday.

"What's your plans, then?" Dexter asked, a smirk firmly planted on his face.

"Sightseeing," Valkyrie told him nonchalantly. Erskine, Saracen and Ghastly were with them in the upstairs, boring beige bedroom. "Going out to meals, I want to go ice skating."

"Where are you going?" Ghastly asked more seriously.

"We're going to New York."

"Bit clique," Erskine commented, wrinkling his nose.

"Yeah, but Nadia really wants to go to the Natural History Museum there. It's her dream. And, you know, after the last few weeks, the last year, there's something I really want to do," she hinted at.

"Get laid," Dexter announced immediately.

"What?" She asked, having to hold in a smile after seeing the look of disgust Ghastly sent Dexter's way. "No. I mean, that is on the list, but that's not what I was saying."

"But you are going to get laid?"

"I assume so, yes," Valkyrie nodded, trying very hard not to laugh at Ghastly. He looked crushed.

"But what were you thinking of?" Saracen asked, eyes wide. He knew then. Valkyrie winked at him. "Valkyrie, I can't keep this a secret! Tell them!"

"I am, okay. I'm telling all of you. But you have to keep it a secret from Nadia, alright?" She said, and they all leaned in close. "Please don't get all, you know, worried about it."

"Worried about what?" Dexter asked, his massive grin giving away his excitement.

"Well. I think I might ask Nadia to marry me?" She asked.

The reaction was amazing. "Oh my god!" Erskine almost shouted and then clamped his hands over his mouth.

"Fuck!" Dexter laughed quietly.

"Be quiet guys! I don't want anyone to hear us! I mean, she might not say yes, she might want to wait a bit longer. And there would never be a wedding until her family and Skulduggery were back and stuff, and probably not until after this Spider business. I mean, I wasn't even going to ask until then."

"Why change your mind?" Saracen asked. All the men were grinning and leaning in close still. Even Ghastly, so he must really be excited for her.

Her heart swelled with love for them. She was very young, only seventeen, to be asking someone to marry her. Especially in the magical community, it was practically unheard of. "I don't know. When we were about to move out of the house and come here I mentioned the idea to Fletcher. Because he's my age and I thought you'd be pretty against the idea considering I'm so young. And I said then that I wanted to wait until all this drama was over with. But now I'm thinking that I really want to continue my relationship with Nadia and I'm trying really hard to do that. We've already moved in together. We're building a house together. We're planning on going through what might turn into a war together. I think those things are way more important to a relationship than a ring, even though marriage sounds pretty concrete. Plus, I think it might help her parents a bit. Not at first but when they get used to the idea, they might understand that we actually are taking this seriously."

"My mother," Ghastly said after considering her words, "told me she didn't agree to marry my father until after they had been together for well over fifty years. She told me that waiting was the best thing she could do for herself, and back then it was a big thing to choose to live together as a couple but not marry. But despite what she did, she told me that it wasn't about the marriage. It was about being together and enjoying their relationship. When they got married after fifty years it was more of a gathering of friends that loved them rather than a ceremony to begin their lives together. If you think this is right for you now and that you are absolutely certain you want this relationship regardless of if there's rings involved then go for it. But not everyone will be approving. Most people will tell you to just wait if you're so sure it's just about the relationship."

"I know," she said quickly. "I know it's not just about rings and a party. I want to stay with Nadia my whole life."

"Then go for it. Just be prepared for someone, probably Pa, to tell you that if you mostly want the relationship then you shouldn't get married until later because it 'surely doesn't matter in that case'."

She smiled. "Yeah, I know that. I mean, I might not even do it if the moment isn't right."

"You'll know when it's time," Dexter smiled, kissing her cheek. "Oh, I'm so excited though!"

"Imagine Nadia's father's face when he finds out you're engaged to his daughter!" Erskine laughed, and Valkyrie laughed too although she didn't fancy having that conversation with him any time soon.

"Okay, I'm going to tell Anton," Valkyrie said quietly. "Just, don't get too over excited, okay? She might not say yes, I might not do it yet, I don't have anything planned. Alright? Just be chill about it. You also need to keep Nadia off my back because I'm going into town to get the ring now."

They claimed they would be 'chill' and she left to find Anton, who was downstairs alone. She pulled him aside into the tiny utility room. "I have to tell you something."

"Are you pregnant?" He asked immediately.

She glared at him. "No, why would you ask that? How do you think I even got pregnant Anton?"

"I wouldn't like to assume."

She sighed and then continued. "Fine. Well, you have to keep it a secret. I just told Ghastly and The Idiots. I think I might ask Nadia to marry me next week."

His eyebrows went up high. "That's a big step. Congratulations."

"I hope it will be," she whispered nervously. "I hope she says yes."

He pulled her in for a hug. "You're a good girl, Valkyrie. So is Nadia. You will do what is best for you both."

He let her go and they exited the utility. She smiled as Anton got back to his daily life without missing a beat.

Next, she gathered Solomon, Tanith and eight and a half week old Laila together and got them into the car. She made small talk with them until they were out of town and in the larger town over. When she had pulled into the small parking lot, she took her seat belt off, turned around and looked at both Solomon and Tanith.

"Alright. I'm going to tell you something and you can't freak out," she told them slowly. "We're in town to get Nadia a gift. I really need your help."

The two of them nodded, picking up on how nervous Valkyrie was. "What type of gift?" Tanith asked suspiciously.

"A ring," she said and watched as the clogs turned in both of their heads. "I want hoping to ask Nadia to marry me soon."

"Oh my god!" Tanith blurted out. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I really want to," Valkyrie grinned.

"Are you sure?" Solomon asked, but Valkyrie couldn't reply because Tanith jumped between the seats and held Valkyrie tightly.

"Oh my god this is so exciting!" She squealed. Laila woke up and began to fuss. "And we get to help pick out the ring too!"

"I know! I thought you'd be better at it than me. I have no idea what to get," Valkyrie said pushing Tanith back a bit. "What do you think Solomon?"

"It's a serious thing to do," he said, taking a deep breath. "You're still very young."

"I know," she said softly, reaching out and holding his hand. "But me and Nadia have been together for a while, we've already moved in together, things are going really well. I think it might be the right step forward."

"Her family won't approve," he said after a moment.

"They won't at first but it might actually help them to accept that me and Nadia are serious about our relationship. A lot of people won't approve, at least until we've proven we're doing the right thing by staying together for the next god knows how long. We won't be getting married for a long time anyway, this is just the engagement. I need her family and Skulduggery back on board before we start even thinking of planning anything."

This seemed to satisfy him a bit more. "Alright. I assume you know the way."

Valkyrie didn't but she led them towards the centre of the town until she found a high-end ring shop. It was nicer looking than anything in Ireland she'd ever seen so hopefully it would have something nice.

"Good afternoon," the shopping assistant greeted as soon as they were in the room. "Do you have an appointment with us today?"

"No," Valkyrie said, taking the lead. "I was hoping to have a look around. I've never looked at rings."

"Well, we don't usually let the public in to peruse," he said in a mock sad voice. "I can give you a catalogue though–"

"We're looking to buy, thank you," Tanith said before the man got to the little books. "We'd just like to have a look for ourselves to see what catches our eyes."

"Ah, okay," he said, looking over at one of the other girls in the shop. No one else was in there. She gave him a little shrug. "Well, I think that should be fine. Is there a price range you're looking at?" He asked, looking more at Solomon now.

"Not at the moment," Solomon said and the three of them were let loose on the store.

They started on the right side and got about five seconds alone before the man began to pitch to them.

"So, this area is our white gold rings, all with white diamonds. It's about midrange in price, and many of them are slim and dainty in design, they're beginning to come into style right now," he said. Valkyrie ignored him, which was easy because he was pitching to Solomon and not her. He was right though, many of them in behind the window stand were small, silver and had small stones. There were a few really pretty ones, but would that be what Nadia wanted? She had no idea; Nadia didn't wear rings.

Working anti-clockwise, Valkyrie turned ninety degrees and had a look at the ones on the right wall. These were many of the same rings but showcased different coloured bands and sized stones, and a few differently cut stones with different light refractions. It was just to show the options she could have, and seemed like a useful thing to look at, so she did.

"Do you think she'd rather have a gold ring?" Valkyrie asked, not really aware of who was listening.

The assistant paused in whatever he was telling Solomon to answer. "It depends on who the person in question is. Most people are buying white gold or platinum rings at the moment," he said, and then turned to Solomon again. Valkyrie didn't listen to whatever he said.

She moved up the shelves and looked over the different rings, most of them yellow gold on this side. There were a few that had just one stone and a few with multiple but none of them caught her eye. While Solomon was pretending to talk with the sale person down at the front, Valkyrie and Tanith spoke in low tones about what they liked. Nadia liked both big, flashy and loud, and she liked more subtle things, it just depended on her mood. There were a handful of rose gold metal ones that were pretty but Valkyrie had never seen her wear rose gold so she and Tanith decided it was too much of a risk, plus they didn't dare get her a metal that might not end up being a timeless colour despite its current popularity. It was better to get something timeless, something she wouldn't need to replace. She remembered both of Nadia's parents had gold rings. The back wall, when they got to it, had almost exclusively white ones with white diamonds.

There was one, a silver band with a few stones in the band and then a large one in the centre in the shape of a heart she liked the looks of. "What do you think about that," she asked Tanith.

"It's nice but Nadia will probably want something without a heart," Tanith suggested and Valkyrie conceded she was right.

"She would want something round then," she nodded.

"Or a square or oval. Oh, or a flower. These are really nice," Tanith noticed. Around the centre of the room was a large circle counter with lots of glass cases that acted as both a table and display case. In the case behind them was a handful of sparkly, differently shaped rings. Some of them oval, a small number of rounds, clusters of three, and of course a good selection of flower and star type rings. They had a large round stone in the middle and then a few smaller stones all around the large one that made it seem like either a flower or a star depending on if the ends were in points or rounded. Something made Valkyrie think Nadia would like something along those lines and went over.

The other assistant, a lady, was in the centre of the round display cases, and came over to see to her.

"Is there anything in particular you like?" She asked her and Tanith.

"I'm not sure," Valkyrie said, holding her hair back and having a closer look. "I like the flower ones, but I don't know if I see the one I want."

"I can get a few out if you like," the woman asked, and a velvet, dark purple tray came out of nowhere. "You like the flower shaped ones?" She began getting a few of the different rings out and placing them on the tray, and then locked up the counter and allowed her to look at the rings and hold them.

They were pretty, and she, Tanith and Solomon agreed that this was more of Nadia's style. It was different but still large and shiny, and there was more of a reason – or excuse – for all the diamonds because it was a flower as opposed to a large stone alone which Nadia probably wouldn't like. It was hypocritical because there were just as many diamonds, but the design just justified it for some reason and it just appealed more.

"Who is it that's looking to purchase the ring, may I ask?" The lady asked.

Valkyrie smiled, thinking it was funny that the man hadn't bothered asking yet. "I am."

"What's the occasion?" She asked as she led her over to a few others on the other side of the circle.

"I'm asking my girlfriend to marry me soon," she explained. "This is my sister and father; they're helping me today."

"Oh, that's lovely," she smiled, leaving her colleague on the other side of the circle to sulk. "Do you have a specific price point in mind?"

"Not really, but I am not allowed to go too wild," she said. "We're redecorating the house over Christmas so it can't be too extreme. I quite like that one there."

"The rose and white mix?" The woman asked getting it out. It had a round stone in the centre, five teardrops on the outside as petals and then the band was a woven mix of white with rose gold leaves. It was quite a lot at once but also gorgeous. "This piece is seven thousand, two-hundred and ninety-nine dollars."

"I'm not sure if Nadia would like it though," Valkyrie said. "I think it's the leaves, it's really pretty but maybe not for every day."

"What sort of jewellery does your partner usually wear?" The woman asked.

"Well, she has her ears and belly pierced and she has a bunch of jewellery for those. She has a lot of studs, a few pearls. But she also has some really big and flashy bits that she loves, they usually come out at balls and parties," she explained, noticing the woman's ears perk up a little at the word 'balls'. The woman no longer cared about her price range then, so Valkyrie better watch out for prices herself. "Her mother is from Ireland and her father is from India so she has a blend of style."

"Ah, okay," the assistant said. Valkyrie hoped that meant she'd show her the perfect ring. "It sounds as if you have a lot of options then, which is good. Do any of these catch your eyes?"

Valkyrie had a proper look but they didn't. She was led around the shop and even had the lady pull some out from the back that they didn't keep on display because they were "special". Which meant they were deadly expensive. Even then, none of them clicked like Valkyrie hoped they would. They left the shop and carried on down the street and found a chain seller and had a small look before leaving because nothing was quite what they wanted and then stopped to eat. After that was another shop and Valkyrie began to lose her confidence that she could pull it off that day.

They were on their way to the car to travel to another place when Valkyrie caught something out the corner of her eye. It was a vintage shop, not a charity but all old bits and pieces. They decided to go in for a change of scene although they weren't sure if Nadia would want a vintage ring to begin with, or if they sold any rings. It was just fun to look.

They went into the dark, narrow building and wandered about. Laila was awake and looking around happily in Valkyrie's arms, drooling and sticking her tongue out a lot. Tanith and Solomon looked over some old records together while Valkyrie took Laila to look at the jewellery.

Most of it was faded, rusty or didn't look very good. Most of it was boring. She didn't much like any of it except for a necklace that she rather fancied for herself. The elderly man came over from the counter, pulling his glasses further up his nose, opened up the case, let her try on the necklace and then closed it up, patted Laila on the head, and took her to the counter.

The counter was scratched, old and grey, and was actually a display case again although it held mostly old figurines. Of course, this was where she found Nadia's ring.

"Oh my goodness," she whispered, looking down at it. A bit of Laila's dribble fell onto the counter and Valkyrie wiped it with her sleeve. "Could I please see that ring?"

He pulled it out, telling her about the history. A woman brought it in not long ago saying it was her Great-Aunts but didn't know when said aunt had acquired it. It had been left to the woman in a will. Not liking the item particularly, the woman left it with the man in exchange for a golden brooch. The man had checked it and found it to be genuine diamonds, enough that the brooch he had exchanged it for had been expensive.

The band itself was white gold. The flower was a medium, perfectly round stone and around it was a bronze coloured metal in the shape of petals and three small diamond studs were set inside each petal. It was simple, it was unique, it was a bit grimy. But it was the one Valkyrie was absolutely certain Nadia would love.

Tanith came up behind her after she had paid for it. "Look," Valkyrie said.

Tanith gasped softly. "Oh, that's really pretty."

"It just needs a good clean," Valkyrie said.

Of course, Solomon was sure he could get it looking amazing and he promised to have it back to her by tomorrow evening. He'd go over to the nearest mage town and have it done there by an expert and Valkyrie had no issues with that.

Back at home, Nadia greeted Valkyrie with a hug. "You were gone all day."

"I know, I was shopping," Valkyrie said, and then kissed her.

"Get anything nice?" She asked, her big brown eyes looking up at her.

"Just a necklace. Sorry, I didn't see anything you'd like."

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I think that link is working! I hope so.

Lord Duck the Second: Did you squeal?