“What did you just say?” Her words were barely a breath, but they echoed in the suddenly silent bathroom.

I cleared my throat, loosening my hold on her and taking a step back, glancing down, flustered and unable to look her in the eyes. I groaned. “Oh … for badness’ sake! This isn’t how I was meant to … in a bathroom, with my cock swinging free …”

I hurriedly tucked myself back into my breeches, fumbling with the ties. My hands shook too much to manage them.

Small, warm fingers stilled mine. I sucked in a shuddering breath.

“Did you … did you just ask me to marry you, SJ?”

The rawness in her voice forced me to meet her eyes. Her beautiful makeup was smudged around them. She looked sultry, and sex-mussed, and so beautiful that my throat threatened to close over.

“I …” I extricated my hand from under hers, reaching into my pocket. The Soul Token was pulsing faintly … was she nervous? Was she going to reject me?

Well, you’ve already blurted it out now. No going back, old fellow.

“I made you something.” I tugged the Token out of my pocket. Except it was no longer a Token, but a silver, faintly glowing ring. Her eyes fell to it, her lips parting on a soft intake of breath.

“It’s … I found a way to return that last part of your soul to you,” I explained. “I managed to reverse the process I used to create it, so when you put this on … if you put this on … your soul should just … reconnect with the rest.”

“And … it’s an … engagement ring?” she asked, reaching out but not quite touching it.

“Ah … only if you want it to be.”

She was silent for what felt like an interminable eternity, just gazing at the ring while my insides tried to squeeze their way out through my skin. The pressure of holding in the … other use for the ring—or more to the point, the other use for the sliver of her soul waiting to be released from the ring …

I was going to blurt it out if she didn’t speak soon! And I’d promised myself I would let her have the chance to decide about her soul without muddying the waters with … with immortality.

Except I’d blurted out the world’s most unromantic proposal, and I’d muddied the waters with that instead.

Solid work, SJ, you nincompoop!

I blew out one anxious gust of breath. “Please, Mouse. One way or another, put me out of my misery!”

She tore her eyes from the ring, meeting my pleading gaze. Fresh tears glistened in hers. “I … I don’t want it.”

My heart stopped.

“You …” My vision blurred, and I had to take a step back until the bench behind me propped me and my weak knees up. She didn’t want her soul back? Or she didn’t want marriage with me?