Bleeding Heart 138 Deal

tAfter staring at him in shock for a few moments, she grinned at him, "That would be fine with me."

tHis eyes lit up and then she was being gently kissed. It was fairly brief and she felt more than a little regretful that he pulled back so quickly.

tHe grinned a bit bashfully, then managed somehow to actually ask her, "On a scale of one to ten how terrible was that?"

t"How terrible?" She sat back, her fingers absentmindedly stroking the cat, "Not how good? What if it wasn't terrible at all? Well, it was a bit brief…"

t"I see…" A grin came to his face, "You want more? I can give you a longer kiss, on one condition…"

tWow, she would not have expected this from Kur. If he wasn't blus.h.i.+ng so much she would have been worried that he had been replaced, or at the very least cast some sort of spell on himself. "Oh? What's the condition?"

t"Marry me. If you do, I'll kiss you whenever you want and however long you want." After he said this, his cheeks blazed as if suddenly realizing what he had actually just said. "I mean, that is…" The poor guy started to just stammer as if trying to figure out a way to take back what he had just said.

t"Deal." Tira grinned, and shook her head. He had actually just entirely skipped courting her, but they were fairly familiar with each other so she was not going to complain. Taking pity on his state, she tried to ease his embarra.s.sment with a joke. "Being able to see Quorpas on a regular basis doesn't seem too bad."

tHe gave an embarra.s.sed laugh, but smiled at her. His cheeks were still faintly pink, but he looked happy. "You're serious right? About marrying me?"

t"Kur… of course I'm serious. I think you'd make a good husband." Tira looked him straight in the eyes. "More than just a good husband. The best one for me."

tHer wizard looked startled but after a moment he leaned into her and kissed her again. This time was more satisfying. When he did pull away he whispered sweetly, "I love you. So I'm really glad you think so highly of me."

tTira smiled at him, but did not bother with words. Instead, she kissed his lips trying to show her own feelings rather than tell. She'd tell him later of course, but this seemed more effective a way anyway. And more fun.

tHer wizard was smiling happily now. Still looked faintly embarra.s.sed but the way his eyes were just filled with satisfaction as well made it utterly clear that to him this embarra.s.sment was worth it.

t"Well, uh," Kur looked briefly away from her, fiddling with his fingers. Tira reached out and took his hands into hers, trying to soothe out his nerves. "That is, since you agreed to marry me, should we think about a date for our wedding?" The last bit was a bit rushed.

t"Sure. But you might need to mention it to the queen first. But I'm good with any date." She paused and then, knowing how difficult he would find asking her hand in marriage, a.s.sured him, "I'll talk to my father so you won't have to explain much, just enough to officialize it."

t"Oh. Uh, thanks. I've heard your dad can be a bit…"

t"He'll come around. Especially if I go through mother first. Besides he would have no complaints about you. Knowing my father, he'll even be glad you utterly skipped the courts.h.i.+p phase."

tKur coughed when she mentioned that and muttered a sorry under his breath. She just laughed.

tHer father did accept it fairly easily. Actually told her not to bully her soon to be husband. As if she would ever bully Kur. Her heart wouldn't be able to handle it, she even had difficulty teasing him all that much. Even as his shyness made her want to tease him.

tQueen Serendiah was really happy when she found out that her beloved Ward had gotten engaged. Actually found Tira and embraced her, and muttered in her ear, "Thank you so much. Now I don't have to worry at all about producing an heir, I can just thrust it on you two."

tTira was flabbergasted. She was not sure how she felt about that. The very idea of Kur ever being considered as actually being in charge of a country, or raising the next leader, was just… laughable. As much as she loved her wizard he just was not cut out for leaders.h.i.+p.

tShe did not tell that to their queen though. Just hoped that some man would sweep her heart away so she would actually get married.