"I'm trying to ask you to marry me, Sera," Eric said quietly, the humour gone now. "But you cannot give me an answer immediately. You have to take your time and think everything through."
"I don't understand." Minutes ago, she'd been a virgin in his bed, nervous and curious and overwhelmed. Now he was talking about forever, about vows and futures she hadn't dared imagine, not with a man like him, not with the weight his name carried in this world.
Eric sighed and pulled her closer, tucking her against his chest. "Remember the curse I told you about?" he asked.
Curse? He wasn't a curse. Not to her. She had spent the night with Ravok, even if she couldn't tell him yet, and the wolf had been fierce, attentive. Nothing about him felt wrong or monstrous. But she swallowed the protest before it could escape. Mrs Blackwood's voice echoed faintly in her memory. Not yet.
"You mean the shadow wolf," Sera said instead, choosing her words with care.
