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hers. Melting into him, Ien felt the yes in Kiera’s touch as they lost themselves in the moment.
    Until she stiffened and pulled away, breaking the spell.   
     “You…” Kiera muttered.  “You have to leave. We can’t.”
    Ien stopped her voice with more kisses, more promises of a world filled with only them.
    Kiera stepped back. “Ien, listen. We can’t do this. I won’t let you.”
    Ien’s heart dropped as he saw his pain reflected in her eyes.
    “It’s not that I—”
    Ien again stopped her words, refusing to give in to anyone’s demands or stupid expectations.
    Kiera withdrew, breathless. Tears spilled from her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Her expression filled with a torment that reached deep into Ien’s soul and crushed his resolve. Tore at his heart.  
    “Mother is wrong about this, about us,” he said, desperate to quiet Kiera’s fears. “I won’t do what she wants. Not this time. It isn’t right.” He took Kiera’s hands in his, hoping to ease the pain and confusion still etched on her dainty features.  
    “Ien.” Kiera’s voice, more a thought than a sound, cracked. “We can’t.”
    “ You are the only thing I want in my life.” Ien released her hands and turned away, walking toward the window. He ran through the proposal once more in his mind. She had to say yes, she just had to. He would die without her. Squaring his shoulders and bolstering his nerve, he turned to face his fate. “Kiera, I promise myself to you and only you,” he said as he held out the ring. “One day, when we are both of legal age and Mother cannot interfere, we will be married. She cannot stop us.”
    “I think you underestimate her.”
    A twinge of anger stiffened Ien’s shoulders. “And I think you underestimate me.”
    Silence filled the hollow between them. “If you don’t love me, so be it,” he said as his eyes filled with tears. “But don’t hesitate because of Mother.”
    Ien pulled Kiera into him, drowning her in an ocean of kisses. With each one, her objections dissolved until a single word escaped her lips.
    “Yes.”
     

 
    3.
    “A horrid stillness first invades the ear,
    And in that silence we the tempest fear.”
    ~John Dryden (Astraea Redux)
    ~
    Yes. The word resonated through the air as their kisses exploded into a million promises. Lifetimes spent in each other’s embrace.
    “We must keep this a secret,” he whispered the minute their kisses ended. “At least for now.”
    Kiera nodded and reached around her neck, releasing the long chain that had been intertwined with the cameo’s ribbon choker. She took the ring and threaded it onto the chain.
    “I love you,” she said as she replaced the chain around her neck and tucked the ring close to her heart. “Forever.”
    Ien placed another kiss on her full lips and looked out of the window. A sliver of moon danced in the sky. “I have to go,” Ien said through one last kiss. “No matter what happens now, we will be together. I promise,” he whispered as he left. “Nothing will ever take you away from me.”  
    A wistful smile traveled from Kiera’s lips to her eyes. She closed the window, placing her palm flat against the glass. He placed his over hers, feeling her love through the thick window. “I love you,” he mouthed. “Forever.” His heart pounded as he blew her a kiss and ran into the darkness.
    The walk back to Chadwick Academy passed in a blur as Ien replayed her ‘yes’ over and over. People flooded the streets, walking and talking too fast. Ien moved through them, lost in his thoughts. Unwelcome scents and sounds bombarded his senses, interrupting his thoughts.
    Soot and smoke rising from never-ending construction projects.
    Loud music and laughter from the seedier spots of the growing town.
    Ien blocked them all, focusing on Kiera—her lips, her eyes, and her voice as she said yes.
    Yes
    He turned down streets and throughways, finally finding Main Street, the most direct route home. The