Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 28 I Accept Defeat.

“Where are we going?” Lenna questioned. “And when did you even have time to set this up?”

“When we split up for errands a few days ago.” Isaac replied.

“Wait. Isn’t this the dessert parlor that we always go to?” Lenna questioned.

“Yes.” He said and got the door for her. The pair of them were in casual clothes as Isaac had thought it best to not force her into a dress for what was about to happen.

They approached the front door when Lenna noticed a sign on it. “It’s closed, Isaac.” She told him.

“I know.” He assured her and got the door for her. The inside was well lit and a few employees were inside who appeared to be waiting for them.

“Welcome back.” The son of the owner told them. He looked to be about Isaac’s age or a little older.

“Thank you.” Isaac replied. “I assume anywhere is fine?” He asked.

“It is.” The man said. “But the second floor has a better view.” He added with a sly smile.

“You’ll bring it up to us?” Isaac asked and the man nodded. Isaac tugged on Lenna’s hand. “Let’s go.” He told her and the pair went up to the second floor. Most of the wall of the building was magically reinforced glass so the entire street could be seen from a height just over the tops of any street lights.

“What is going on?” Lenna asked. “What is today? I feel like I am missing something.”

“You’ll see.” Isaac told her. “What do you think of the view?”

“It looks less dirty from up here.” She commented. Safeharbor was not a very clean city if for no other reason than the constant accumulation of red stone dust from the ceiling of the cavern it was built inside.

“The lights are less harsh too.” Isaac added.

Lenna hummed in agreement. “Isaac,” Lenna began. “You’ve only ever taken me here when there was something… important going on.”

Isaac nodded and then gave the waiter a smile as the man set a small chocolate cake on the table in front of them. It was a circular shape with a large hole in the middle. Inside the hole was a creamy custard. The custard was almost frozen but was quickly melting from the heat of the plate it was on and the freshly baked cake it was inside. Isaac handed Lenna the knife to cut it for them as the waiter set a pair of plates with slightly larger spoons on them in front of the pair. “Today is one such occasion but just enjoy it for now.” Isaac told Lenna.

Lenna sighed before she shook her head in resignation. She grabbed the knife and started to cut a singular piece out of the side of the cake closest to her. She noticed Isaac’s eyebrow raise slightly as if he was anticipating something and was surprised that nothing had happened. Lenna’s eyes narrowed on him and then on the cake. She carefully cut the other side of the piece and lifted it onto her plate. “Do you want to cut it?” Lenna questioned.

“Huh? No. I gave the knife to you.” Isaac replied.

“Because it sure looks like you want to cut it.” Lenna pressed.

“No. No, you go ahead.” Isaac instructed her.

Lenna carefully cut another piece and set in on Isaac’s plate. She hadn’t cut into the custard at all when she had cut each piece and after the third cut she thought she caught a flash of disappointment on Isaac’s face. When she realized that it had something to do with the custard she got curious. “What is with the custard?” Lenna asked. “You had this prepared ahead of time.” She looked up at him. “What did you have them do to the cake?”

Isaac sighed and looked like he was about to just tell her but then he shook his head. “Nope.” He said. “You will have to find out for yourself.”

“I’m not in a custard mood today.” Lenna teased with a fake aloof expression on her face.

“The cake is meant to be eaten with some.” Isaac explained. “Just take your spoon and grab a scoop off the top.”

“Would you do it for me?” Lenna continued her teasing. Isaac was silent for a long while as he tried to come up with something to say. “Especially because I cut the cake for both of us.”

Isaac sighed and resigned. “I accept defeat.” He told her. He used his spoon and took a big chunk of the custard off the top and set it on top of Lenna’s piece of cake. When he did so his spoon scraped across the top of something hard a bit under the surface. Isaac set his spoon down and held his hand over the top of the cake. Shadows poured from his hand and forced their way into the cake until they clamped down on whatever was inside. Isaac pulled up and a small wooden box was removed from the mostly frozen custard with a slight pop.

“What is it?” Lenna asked curiously. Isaac’s shadows opened the box and pulled something out of it. Isaac got up from his seat and walked around to her side. The box vanished into his inventory but something was obviously now held inside of Isaac’s closed hand. Lenna looked at him with some confusion. Even more so when he went down on one knee next to her, much like how she had when she swore to defend him until the day he died of old age. “Isaac?” She asked. Isaac reached out for her hand with his palm up and she unconsciously placed her hand in his. Isaac held his closed hand between them and then turned it over while he pulled a ring up to be held between his thumb and forefinger. The ring was simple silver with words engraved on the inside that were filled in with black crystal so they would be easy for either of them to see in total darkness. Lenna caught one word easily enough: ‘Forever’.

“Lenna V’Nova,” Isaac began. “I have been mesmerized by you since the first time I had ever laid eyes on you, I have been in love with you since I first heard your voice, I have loved you for longer than we have lived in Safeharbor.” He continued. “All of this is to say that with great thought and love, I come to you with a question:” Lenna was stunned into total silence as Isaac continued. Her mind was racing as she tried to figure out what day it was that Isaac had decided to do it at that moment. Then she realized. It had been exactly three months since their first time. Since the day that they had become irrevocably connected. “Will you marry me? I know we have been a mated pair for a little while and that this is overkill bu-”

Isaac was silenced by Lenna grabbing both sides of his face. She pulled him into a deep kiss for a long few seconds that seemed to be over much too soon. When she finally let him breathe she locked eyes with him. “Of course I will. It never should have been a question.” She told him and then pulled him in for another.

—

Isaac was beaming and Lenna couldn’t keep herself from smiling as they left, not just from what had just happened but also from Isaac’s dumb face. “Oh.” She said. “Now I understand why you said Sera would be angry.” Isaac hummed and nodded along. “Yes, she will be quite upset that she missed this.”

“She’s coming back tomorrow.” Isaac reminded her. “We can tell her first if you want to wait until tomorrow to tell anyone?”

Lenna thought about it for a long moment. “I feel like it would be impolite to not tell Celeste at least.” She said while she played with the ring on her finger. She smiled down at it before she frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Isaac asked.

“I didn’t see what it said before I let you put it on me.” She replied. “But I don’t want to take it off to see.”

Isaac’s smile was warm enough to melt ice and Lenna felt her collar start to heat up from it. “It says: ‘This ring might be temporary but my love will last forever.’” He told her. “Once the engagement and wedding rings are finished it will be replaced by a magical one but I didn’t want to wait that long.”

Lenna smiled. “You are so impatient.”

Isaac chuckled. “Yeah, I know.” It was at that moment that Isaac realized that he had been letting Lenna guide where they were going and he realized that they were just down the street from the Celestial Dawn. “You want to tell Celeste right away huh?”

“Hmm?” Lenna replied. “Oh, no, that isn’t why we are heading back here.” She told him.

Isaac’s brows furrowed in thought and question. “Then why?”

“You’ll see.” Lenna said with a very suggestive look in her eyes as she quickly took him in from head to toe.