VESPER'S POV
Elias put a ring on my finger and I didn’t run.
That should have been the end of the story. Ring. Yes. Home. But I’m Vesper Ashvale. I don’t do endings without a fight.
The day after he asked me to keep him, I woke up and the ring was still there. Black iron. Rough. Real. I stared at it for an hour. Waiting for it to burn my skin. It didn’t.
Elias didn’t say anything about it. He just came in, set tea down, and started repotting like nothing changed. Like I didn’t just agree to keep him for life.
That pissed me off.
“Are we getting married or not?” I asked.
He looked up. Soil on his cheek.
“Do you want to?”
“I asked first.”
He set the pot down. Wiped his hands.
“Yes,” he said. “If you want to. If you don’t, the ring stays. The promise stays. I stay.”
Th
