Chapter 65: Chapter 65 - Confessions Surrounded By Battle
Daniel and I used basically the same method to take down our other two wolves.
"Now then," Daniel said. "Let’s let them have their fun too."
I could only smile at him thinking that they would have fun fighting high-level beasts, but still I dropped the flame wall surrounding us.
As soon as the flames were down, the humans and the wolves charged at each other.
"I think maybe Julia and I are rubbing off on you more than you think," I smiled up at him.
"How’s that?" He asked, turning to look down at me again.
All around us battle ensued, Julia took on a wolf by herself, and the mercenaries had divided up into two groups to take on the other two.
"The fact that you think the men would have fun in this fight is all the proof you would need." I smiled up at him.
Off to the side, Julia was disappearing into the shadows, and then reappearing, each time a new would appear on the wolf she was facing.
Clearly she had been toying with the poor beast.
It was almost like she was buying time for something.
"They won’t have fun?"
I couldn’t help the slight laughter that escaped me at the confused look he gave me right then.
"Maybe some of them would." I answered in between slight fits of giggles.
"I’m so happy that I get to see this side of you too," Daniel said, turning to face me completely.
The battles all around us became nothing more than background noise at that time.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"For a while, you would only show this side of you to Julia, and I could only look in from outside." He answered, gently taking my hands in his. "But now... now I get to feel what it’s like when this side is shared with me."
"I..."
I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to those words of his.
All I could do was stand there looking at him like some kind of fool.
The way he looked at me with those sincere eyes of his, the way he was gently holding my hands, it had me dumbstruck.
"You don’t need to say anything," He said, stepping closer to me.
I felt like his mere presence close to me had me frozen to the spot.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like killing the man who had dared to touch me.
Who had dared to come this close to me.
My heart started to race even more than it had the moment he took my hands.
"You know," Daniel whispered. "Julia actually told me to just grab you and kiss you, like she did with me."
"But I don’t want to force anything," he continued. "I don’t want to do something that would make you uncomfortable."
"Or something that would lead to you blasting me with a fireball at close range," He smiled, coming to a stop so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face.
I don’t know where his sudden confidence had come from.
But it had definitely worked on me.
"So I’m going to ask you," He said. "Do you want me?"
"Do you want to be my wife?"
"Because for me, it would be a massive honor to have you as my wife."
It felt like lightning was racing through my veins the moment he said those words.
I couldn’t stop my heart from almost leaping out of my chest with joy.
And yet...
I was conflicted.
The man I wanted more than anything.
The first man I had ever not hated.
Was the girl I viewed as my only family, the girl I saw as my own little sister’s husband.
And yet... I loved him.
"I..."
"I want that... but I can’t do that to Julia." I finally got out.
"Who’s idea do you think this was?" Daniel whispered down to me with a smile. "If she hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have even known about your feelings."
"I’m a bit... oblivious when it comes to stuff like this."
"She’s the one who told me to make you happy... to make you my wife."
Again I was shocked speechless.
Julia had cornered me about my feelings for Daniel.
Of course I had denied it.
But I had never expected that she would actually go to Daniel, and tell him to take me as his wife.
That’s also when another fear showed itself to me.
One that made me take my hands back, and retreat a few steps away from Daniel.
"Are you only doing this because Julia told you to?" I asked. "I don’t want a husband who does not love me, or even truly want to be with me."
Actually I had never even wanted a husband at all, but if I found a man who I could stand, and wanted to marry, I at least wanted him to marry me because he wanted to, not because he was forced.
For only a moment a confusion spread over Daniel’s face, followed quickly by a look of realisation.
"Of course not," he said with a smile. "I only got the guts to do this because Julia told me how you felt, and said that she would be okay with it."
He stepped closer to me again, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.
"But I did it, because I wanted to do it anyway, not because I was told to."
The man’s words might not have made complete sense, but at least I understood what he was trying to say.
And it made me beyond happy.
I couldn’t stop the massive grin from spreading across my lips, or the mistyness from my eyes.
"In that case," I whispered, leaning into his embrace. "I would love to be your wife."
I was so close to Daniel at that moment that I could almost physically feel the relief flood through him.
"Thank god," he whispered, tipping my chin up.
He was looking so deeply into my eyes that it felt like he was looking all the way to my soul, before leaning down to kiss me.
The moment our lips met, it felt like lava was running through my veins.
It was pure bliss.
We were completely lost in the moment, not hearing any outside noise, not caring about anything that happened around us, until...
"It took you long enough," Julia said from right behind me. "Do you know how long I had to play with that wolf just to buy you some time?"
Daniel and I stepped back from each other, but he never let go of my hand.
"Some people believe in making their moves a bit more romantically than you did, my love," Daniel said with a smile, extending his other hand to her.
