A Clash of Honor by Morgan Rice Page B

you,” Reece said, smiling.
    Thor had completely forgotten. With all the excitement, he had forgotten to meet her at the back door.
    Thor hurried across the hall, whistling for Krohn, who raced to catch up. He saw Gwen smile wide, then duck out the back door, and Thor’s heart raced as he realized that finally, after everything, they could have time to be together.

 
    CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 
 
    Thor held Gwen’s hand with anticipation, as she led him through the moonlit night, down winding paths that turned through the gently rolling hills outside of King’s Court. Krohn walked at their side, and as they nearly crested a hilltop, Gwen came around behind Thor and smiling, placed her hands over his eyes and made him stop.
    “Don’t look,” she said, leading him forward, one step at a time.
    Thor smiled, holding his hands out in front of him.
    “Where are we going?” he asked.
    “I want you to see something,” she said. “But wait until we reach the top of the hill. Just a few more steps. Don’t open your eyes until I tell you. Promise?”
    Thor smiled wide. He loved Gwen’s playfulness; he always had.
    “I promise,” he said.
    Slowly, Gwen removed her hands. Thor waited, until finally she said: “Okay.”
    Thor opened his eyes and was breathless at the site: stretched before him as far as the eye could see were rolling meadows, filled with the most beautiful and exotic night flowers he had ever seen. He had never even known that flowers like these existed. Under the moonlight, these flowers were alive, blooming, and even more so, they were actually glowing, lighting up the night. There were entire fields of glowing yellows and violets and whites, swaying in the nighttime breeze, making the fields look alive, as if they were holding thousands of swaying candles. It was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen.
    “Glow flowers,” she said, coming up beside. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
    She took his hand, as they looked out at the fields and he learned in and kissed her.
    They held the kiss for a long time, and finally they clasped hands, and continued on the trail, through the glowing field of flowers, side by side, Krohn leaping into the flowers beside them.
    They had been walking for what felt like forever when Thor asked, with a smile: “Where are we going?”
    She smiled back.
    “Some place very special to me,” she replied. “It is a place I hold dear to my heart, a place that few people know about.”
    They walked for a while in silence, with no sound but the whistling of the wind, and the occasional night bird’s song, along with Krohn’s breathing beside them as they went. Every now and again Krohn would bound into the flowers, pouncing on some animal they could not see, then come victoriously back to the trail, trotting along beside them.
    “I prayed for you,” Gwen said, softly. “I thank god that you were delivered back safe to me. The thought of you being gone was too much for me to bear.”
    “I’m sorry to have left you,” Thor said. “I wish I did not have to.”
    “It’s funny,” Gwen said, “but ever since I met you, I’m finding it hard to think of anything else. You have a way of getting into my veins. It’s hard to concentrate when you’re gone. But it’s hard to concentrate when you’re near me.”
    Thor’s squeezed her hand harder, overcome with love for her, amazed to hear that she felt the same way about him as he did her. He was burning with a desire to ask her to marry him. He was starting to wonder if now was the right time and place. He was about to, and cleared his throat, but then felt himself getting nervous, afraid she might say no.
    He steeled himself. He opened his mouth to speak, and was about to ask her.
    But suddenly they rounded a bend, and they stopped as there came into view a small but magnificent structure, built in the shape of a miniature castle, intimate and quaint. It was nestled in the hills, high up, with a commanding view of the