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There were only a few stray rays of sun slowly creeping into their room when Sloane opened her eyes. Dawn just started to bleed into the night.
In the distance, a few birds were chirping.
It always seemed unfair to her how nature didn't care about the war she lived in. The sun, the moon, the seas, and the skies? It was just business as usual for her. What would she give for just a single day without death looming over her and everyone else?
Looking away from the mocking sun, she tried to shake off those thoughts and think about more pleasant things. Like the man sleeping right next to her.
In the months since Draithus, she and Dain have never spent even a single night in different rooms. Even when he was on patrol, he snuck into her room for a few hours of sleep.
It helped that Violet pulled her “Duchess of Tyrrendor” card when it came to where Dain was stationed after his graduation.
His father wanted to send him to the direct frontline, probably hoping that the venin would get him before the year ends.
And Violet simply “recruited” him for Tyrrendor, and now he goes wherever she goes. It worked for them.
Sloane smiled to herself. Sometimes, she was still wondering how she ended up here. With Dain of all people. The very last man she thought she'd end up with, given the start of their relationship, but the only man she ever wanted.
She took in his sleeping form. How relaxed he looked. There wasn't a single muscle in his body that was on guard, not a frown on his beautiful face. It took him a few weeks to be this relaxed around her, but it was proof of how much he trusted her. Even before he told her, she knew that he never let his guard down. That even as a child, with Violet, he wasn't completely himself. The burden and pressure his father put on him, even when he was so young, was enough to let him become the perfect soldier.
Gods, she hates this man.
But now, with her, he didn't feel the need anymore to shield parts of him. He was still asleep, but his left arm was over his head, always giving her a silent, subconscious invitation to snuggle against him. And who was she to decline such a generous offer?
So she slid over and closed the little gap between them. Her head pressed into his chest, one arm thrown over his waist and one leg on top of his.
His heartbeat, a steady rhythm under her ear, came to be her most favorite sound in the world. And Sloane knew that if she closed her eyes now, she would fall asleep in record time.
So she let her eyes wander around their room—well, technically Dain's room, but they relocated her to his after his graduation; it was just bigger than hers.
Her mind started to drift to how their lives could look after the war ends. Because she refused to believe that they wouldn't make it to the end.
She was lost in her thoughts when she noticed Dain's arm shifted, and he started to trace the pattern of her relic on her arm with his fingers.
And once more, she couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips. She was sure that she never smiled so much before.
His voice was still rough from sleep and only just above a whisper.
“What did you think about this early in the morning?”
She pressed a kiss just over his heart. “Just what I want to do with you once the war is over.”
Dain pressed a kiss to the top of her head in return. “Care to share?”
“It's nothing fancy. But I think we've earned a full week of leave, even if the war would end before I graduate. And the first two days, I just want to lie in bed with you. With breakfast, lunch, and dinner brought to our door. I want to watch you read. I want to read myself, just the domestic boring stuff that we can't have right now. And the other five days? I want to show you my old home. You can't meet my parents or get the “older brother talk” from Liam, but I want you to see my roots. And I want to do the same with your home. Before you moved from outpost to outpost.”
Dain's hand moved from her arm, down her body to her relic she got from Thoirt. “That sounds surprisingly boring, especially coming from you. But I would love to do just that. And for the record, I would love to get the older brother talk from Liam. I would do anything to make myself worthy of you in his eyes.”
Sloane chuckled. “You know that there is a very real possibility that Xaden will be the one you have this talk with once we get him back? He and Garrick have been my stand-in big brothers since I was a child.”
“By talking to Xaden you mean he will threaten me in every possible way and try to hand me my ass on the sparring mat?” She could almost hear the wince he made.
“Exactly that. And maybe, for good measure, he will drag me to the healer and get me checked for the biggest concussion of the continent for falling in love with you.”
“I can honestly not wait for the day, if it means I can keep you forever, because it means the war is over.” Dain's arm just tightened around her.
As domestic as this felt, just the way Sloane desperately wants to, she knows that she has maybe ten minutes before she needs to get up for class. But she refuses to let the moment end. “What about you? What do you want to do once the war ends, besides facing Xaden?”
Dain didn't even waste a second to answer her question. “Easy. The very second the war is over, I want to marry you.”
Sloane sat upright in the bed before the sounds of his words left the room, smacking his arm.
“You can't say something like this. I was silly with my week of leave, and you should be silly too.”
Dain sat up with her, but leaning towards his nightstand before he turned towards her again, a small blue box in his hand.
“I can say something like this because I mean it. And others would say that it's silly.” He opened the box, and Sloane was sure her heart stopped beating. In it was a small silver ring. Nothing fancy, like Violet's emerald ring, just seven tiny stones in the middle of the ring. "It's perfect.” The words left her lips unbidden.
“It's yours, if you want to.” His voice never sounded so soft. “I thought I would wait for the perfect moment, but when you said what you want—for me to know your past and that you want the same for me, I realized that it was silly to wait. Especially in the world we are living in. So, yeah. I want to marry you, Sloane. Today, tomorrow, in three years, whenever you want.”
Sloane was never someone to be stunned easily or to be speechless. It was a defensive mechanism to counter everything someone said, but for the first time in her life, she was completely speechless, silent tears running down her face. She never saw herself marrying someone, especially with Malek's tendencies to take away her loved ones, but Dain and Thoirt helped her overcome this fear. So she did the best she could do and nodded frantically.
Dain slowly brought her hand up, wiping her tears with the other. “Is this a yes?”
Laughter bubbled up her throat, and she found her voice again. “Yes, this is a yes.”
Dain didn't wait another second before he slid the ring onto her finger. It didn't only look perfect, it also fit perfectly onto her hand. And when she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, it was with everything she had to give. Every drop of love, trust, and happiness pressed against his lips. It was a maddening feeling. The metal of the ring was cool against her skin, a steady reminder of his love; it was the best feeling ever.
“This wasn't how I thought our morning would go….” Dain was smiling so much, Sloane was sure it had to hurt, but her smile was just as bright. “...but I'm not mad in the slightest. And before you even think about it, Sloane, know that I will absolutely take on your name. You are a Mairi and will always be one; I'm not attached to my name the way you are.”
Sloane's breath hitched again. “Are you sure?” Dain nodded. “Of course. I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't mean it. And besides,” he outright winked at her, “this way maybe your squad will stop saying that we are a copy of Violet and Xaden; she took his name after all.”
It was a running gag in the darkness of everything they lost after Draithus. Her squad, her friends, and basically family at this point, never let a chance go by to compare them to Violet and Xaden. Being a first year and in love with her wingleader, and all the other tiny things they apparently had in common. “Dain, we both know they will never let us down on this.” But at this moment, she didn't care. She just wanted to be near Dain. So she pulled him towards her for another soul-shattering kiss.
The kiss deepened as Dain rolled Sloane onto her back, looming over her. And when they broke apart, Sloane's grin was spelling trouble.
“Do I even want to know why you look so smug?” There was nothing but humor in Dain's voice.
“Oh, I just thought that my fiancé will need to explain to my wingleader why I didn't make it to battle brief today. Because there is no way I'm going to pass on engagement sex.
Sloane's breath hitched when she saw Dain's eyes darken, his look wild. “Say that again.”
“What? Engagement sex?”
“You know what I mean.”
She definitely knew what he meant, and she thought for a second about playing with him, but this wasn't the time for their back-and-forth. He gave her something she didn't even know she wanted so she could do the same. So she leaned in, her lips right against his ear, when she whispered, "my fiancé"
She wouldn't be late for only battle brief but for her rune class as well. She would miss breakfast and probably lunch.
But she didn't care about that. Today was the first glimpse of a future she could have, and she wouldn't let anyone take this from her and Dain.