Chapter 189

Charles crossed the small room and gripped my hands. “This is not the way I wanted to announce our engagement. I wanted to do it when the focus could be on you and our upcoming nuptials. I don’t want our union to be a sideshow to everything else that you’ve been accomplishing.”

“That’s sweet,” I soothed. “But I’m okay with this. Anyway, you look at it, the public will be celebrating what’s going on in my…our lives. Besides, the sudden announcement might not be a bad thing on a personal level either.”

I turned to David and Theo. “Do you think it would help my case with the king if I were engaged to one of the alpha’s? Would it give me any additional power or make him think twice?”

Theo shot me a look like I was stupid. “He was willing to poison the Queen,” he said. “Do you think being engaged to an alpha’s going to slow him down?”

“I guess not,” I said, disappointment settling in my stomach like rocks.

“That’s not entirely true,” David threw in. “It might not slow the king down if he plans to retaliate against you. But it will certainly make the public hate him more if he does. So, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, it’s not a completely wasted maneuver.”

“Well, I’ve never been out to secure only my safety,” I said. “So, all right, I told Charles. Let’s do this.”

“Do you still have the ring?” he asked.

“Tucked away for safekeeping,” I replied.

“Good. Don’t use that one. I’ll take you out this evening, and we’ll get another one.”

“Why? I like that one.”

He made a face. “That one’s a family heirloom. Knowing that the king has already impounded that poor alpha’s estates, the ones that the queen was hiding out in, the last thing I want to do is give him the opportunity to run off with something from my family. As soon as we know that you’re, you’re not facing trouble with the king. We’ll switch out whatever we get you for the real one. I want you to have my family heirloom. Not the king.”

“I’d like to say that the king wouldn’t be petty enough to steal an engagement ring from a young woman, but at this point, I can’t even be sure that that would be the truth. Don’t spend a bunch of money tonight. If I’m just switching to your family heirloom, there’s no point in having two engagement rings.”

“I have an idea,” he said, his expression brightening. “How about I treat you to something beautiful? But rather than a traditional diamond, we’ll get it in your birthstone. That way, when you’re safe, and you’re wearing the Rafe family heirloom, you can put your birthstone ring on your other hand.”

“I love that idea,” I said. “But I think I want a moonstone.”

My stomach let out a monumental growth. “Before we do that, I think we should stop some place for dinner. I waited for you, and now I’m really hungry.”

He turned and looked at David and Leo. “What do you say, guys? A celebration dinner? My treat.”

“Well, if it’s your treat,” David said with a laugh.

Theo shot me one moment of a disappointed look before pasting a smile on his face. “I’m always up for dinner if someone else is buying.”

David clapped Charles on the back, and then gripped my shoulders and gave me a quick kiss on first one cheek and then the other. “Congratulations to both of you. This is fantastic news.”

Charles glanced at me. “You got sick when we got here. Are you feeling better?”

I nodded my head. “Much. Thank you. Dinner sounds fantastic.”

I thought about it for a moment. “You know what? I’d really like Italian food. I could just die for some nice, melted cheese on tomato sauce.”

“I believe Italian had some dishes that can meet that requirement,” he said with a chuckle. “I guess that answers where we’re going for dinner. Now, we just have to find a good Italian place.”

Crescentshire might not have been big enough to host a full-sized moon goddess temple. But they did have tons of restaurants, cafes, and little boutiques. So, it didn’t take us long to track down an Italian eatery.

And according to the map on Charles’ phone, it wasn’t very far from there to a nice jewelry shop. I liked that idea. If we were going to be buying secondary jewelry for me, it seemed like a nice gesture to support a small local business.

I lounged on the ride home, feeling very satisfied with my stomach full of the most amazing-tasting lasagna I had ever eaten. A lovely moonstone ring winked on my left hand. I kept glancing down at it, the urge to wiggle all over with excitement nearly driving me mad.

It was official.

Charles and I were finally engaged.

When we got back to the hotel, David insisted on taking our engagement picture that night.

“I want to capture this freshly-engaged glow,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s wearing off anytime soon,” I laughed. “But I’m ready when you are.”

He had us sit down and pose against a blank, white wall in the hotel room, and then he took the picture. Then he called us over to his laptop, where he pulled the picture up and started playing with various backgrounds.

We ended up choosing one that made us look like we had taken the picture in the center of a moon garden. After that, he started playing with our clothing, putting me in a beautiful strapless dress with a string of pearls around my neck. And he dressed Charles in a handsome, dark gray suit.

When David was done, you could hardly tell that the picture had been photoshopped at all. He did one last check, calling Theo over to make sure he hadn’t left anything weird in the photo like any of our arms had been cut off bizarrely or something. Those mistakes clue people in that photos are actually fakes. And we didn’t want anyone speculating that our engagement was a sham.

After Theo gave the photo his approval, David emailed it to Gwen, who had promised Charles she would take care of the rest. In just a couple of days, this picture would be all over, with an official press release from Rafe Media announcing our engagement.

Thanks to all the excitement surrounding our decision and a very lusty Charles in the bedroom that night, it wasn’t until Charles, and I were at breakfast the next morning that I got a chance to tell him about my visit with the moon goddess and her personalized messages for me.

The four of us all sat inside our larger hotel suite, eating a breakfast that Theo and David had brought up from the hotel’s continental breakfast. We only had about an hour until we had to leave for the airport, so they had checked out of their room and brought all of their stuff into our room to wait.

Charles listened patiently while I explained what had happened at the temple. The entire time, his expression grew more and more incredulous.

“So, the more I think about this,” I said, “the more I think I must have misunderstood the moon goddess. I mean, it’s overwhelming being in the presence of a goddess and all. She had to mean that I’m just the right person for the job, not some special one that she singled out.”

The thought that I was the “chosen one” shoved a laugh from deep within me. “I’m sure there’s a dozen other people who could do whatever the goddess is trying to accomplish. If for some reason I failed, she probably has a whole bunch of people that she’s supposedly ‘singled out.’” I used air quotes with my fingers here.

I laughed again, this time in relief. “It does take some of the pressure off, knowing that there are a bunch of others out there that she’s chosen. If, for some reason, I fail or the king finds a way to be rid of me before I’ve had a chance to spread the truth, then somebody else can pick up where I left off.”