“…” He still didn’t say anything.

“There, I said it. Excuse me, I have to sneak back into my dorm room.”

As I turned to leave, he strode forward and caught me by the wrist.

“What do you mean by that?” he said.

“I mean, I don’t want to be caught breaking curfew.” Two could play that game. I repressed a smile.

“Why did you ask me to marry you?”

“I have to go. Please let go of me.”

“You don’t need to worry. I’ll escort you back.”

“Escort me? You don’t strike me as the type of person who’s good at sneaking around,” I said.

His white hair was almost luminous in the moonlight, and his coat didn’t have a hood like mine did.

“There’s a tunnel and a secret passageway we can use.”

“A tunnel? Wait, does the passageway lead to the ladies’ dormitory? Which one of your pervert ancestors had it made?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Okay, I’ll take it!” It was unlikely that I would get expelled if I got caught, but I wouldn’t want to get caught up in a scandal. Besides, there was no reason for me to refuse the Duke’s help since I was here to make him my ally.

“Just answer one question. Why did you ask me to marry you?”

“I will after you let go of me.”

He released my wrist and gestured behind him at the dragon statue. “Follow me.”

Duke Marius reached up and pressed a spot directly below the dragon’s chin. A section of the ground between the statue’s legs opened up to reveal a stone staircase lit by torches set on the wall. This must’ve been the way he used to get to the Dragon’s Den. I followed him down the narrow, winding stone steps to a long, underground tunnel whose walls were made of rough stone. There were occasional support beams holding up the ceiling that was so low we had to stoop to avoid hitting our heads. The floor was uneven, and we had stepped over rubble or small puddles of water now and then.

“Tell me why you asked me to marry you.” His words echoed strangely in the tunnel.

“I know that your mother, the greatest seer of the last generation, told you that you would have a destined encounter at midnight in the Dragon’s Den.”

He stopped in his tracks and turned to look back at me. “How do you know that?”

“I also know that she ordered you to wed the first girl who asked you to marry her.”

In Chaos Blood Summoner, he had met a commoner girl, Joan, there and had pursued her throughout the entire city of the series, only to get dumped in the end. A misunderstanding arose because he was waiting for her to propose to him, because of his mother’s prophecy, while she waited in vain for his proposal.

The day that Duke Marius received word that she was marrying a priest that she had fallen in love with, he sent Prince Aodhan a request for a duel. The fight between the Duke and the Prince was a disaster for the rebel forces since both the Prince and Duke died, and while the Royals had several leaders who could take over for the Prince, the rebels were left floundering since the Duke’s heir was a child.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Duke Marius was one of my least favorite characters in the books because he spent a lot of time moping after a girl who was in love with someone else. I personally didn’t like him that much, but I needed his power and influence to stop the war.

He grabbed me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. “Nobody knows about that except for me! How did you find out about it?”

“You know how.” I tried to pry his hand from my shoulders, but he was too strong.

[Do you want me to shock him a little bit?]

“Tempting, but no,” I said.

“What?”

“Take your hands off me. You’re upsetting my Lady.”

“My apologies.” He let go of me and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not myself. This has been a shock.”

“That’s kind of insulting. You should be happy that a lovely girl like me proposed to you.”

He looked a little cheesed off by my joke. “Can you please answer my question?”

“Okay, okay. But please continue walking.” I didn’t want to linger here because Elaine was probably waiting for me in my room. “I’ll explain.”

He turned back and started walking again. “Very well.”

“It’s really quite simple, and I’m sure you’ve already guessed it. I know certain things about the future and the past.”

“You’re a seer?” I couldn’t see his face because his back was turned to me, but his tone of voice was neutral

“Something like that.” Maybe someday I would reveal the whole truth about how I got my information, but right now I figured it wouldn’t be smart for me to say that I wasn’t the original Lynette.

“I’ll think about your proposal.”

“You will accept it.”

“Is that something you’ve foreseen?”

“I know that you promised your mother you would do as she advised. Surely the Pendragon wouldn’t break his word.”

He was silent for a moment. We walked for quite a while before he said, somewhat reluctantly, “Yes, you’re right. I accept your proposal.”

“Please try not to sound so unhappy about it.”

“I didn’t say I was unhappy.”

[I think you’re the best.]

“Well, you see, the Duke here is a romantic. He was probably expecting to fall in love at first sight when he met his destined person,” I said.

“You’re talking to your spirit?” he asked.

[I’m not sure he’s worthy of my little Lynette.]

“Uh-huh,” I said to both of them.

[Don’t actually marry him unless he falls madly in love with you.]

“He’s probably just surprised. Anyway, I think of our engagement as a political tool rather than a love affair,” I said.

“Political? I thought it was because you need money.”

“You’re not wrong, but I can get money on my own. I’ll explain the details later, okay?”

It was after midnight, and I was too tired to explain everything.

“I’ll send a dinner invitation to you tomorrow.”

“All right, but I think after that you should be the one who comes to meet me.”

“Ah. If you prefer, I can go to the Academy tomorrow instead.”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t enough privacy there. Please prepare a secure room for us to use tomorrow at your villa since we can’t keep meeting secretly at midnight like this.”

“That’s true.”

We were both silent for a few minutes, until we came to the end of the tunnel.

“Come.” The Duke led me up a stone staircase into a private courtyard at the back of the Academy chapel. We went inside and from there he opened a hidden door in the west wall that opened into a secret passageway. “This goes all the way to the corridor leading to the ladies' dormitory.”

“That’s no good. I’m sure to be caught if I try to use the hallway.”

“You could tell them that you had to use the facilities.”

“Wearing this?” I gestured at my black coat and boots. “No, I’ll have to climb up my window. My friend will lower the ladder down to me.”

“If you get caught, I’ll take responsibility. We're engaged, after all.”

“Let’s not get caught!” I personally didn’t care, but I was worried that Lynette’s mother would be scandalized. “Stay here. It will be easier for me to sneak inside alone.”

“Okay.”

“Good night,” I said politely. To my surprise, the Duke walked closer to me. I backed away and held my hands up to ward him off. “What?”

[I’ll shock him if he tries anything.]

He stopped where he was, within arm's reach of me, and looked uncertain. Then he finished something out of his coat pocket and got down on one knee. “Lady Aurelian, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

The Duke held up an item that I immediately recognized as a fabled Pendragon antique. It was a gold ring with a large, deep purple amethyst, and though it was too dark to see the details, I was pretty sure that the seal of the Pendragon family was engraved on the flat surface of the gem.

“Yes,” I said.

He got up and put it on my left ring finger. Then he kissed my hand and said, “Good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” I echoed.

I couldn’t quite read the expression on his face, but he didn’t look displeased.

[I’m still going to shock him if he tries anything.]

The rest of the night was uneventful. I managed to return to my room without incident and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

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