*Natalia*

“Will you marry me?”

All around me was an emptying silence. I knew of course that I was sitting in the middle of a restaurant, the apple cake that the waiters had just delivered to our table sitting innocently in front of me, coerced in the powdered sugar and sweetness that a single bite could make my teeth hurt.

Wide-eyed and unblinking, I stared at the glittering ring inside of the velvet box that Tallon had presented to me, one ...