“That is a ring.”
“It’s a promise,” he said. “You can wear it on your right hand. I read up on rings in your world. In ours, we don’t give them for engagements. They’re simply tokens of affection.”
“What are we promising, Bastien?”
“I’m promising to wait for you until you are ready to join me in the Mystik world. I promise to be there whenever you need me. I promise to watch those horrible black and white movies with you and Nana. I promise no one will ever love you or cherish you as much as I do. I promise to love you until my last breath.”
Tears gathered in my eyes. “And I promise to not annoy you.”
“I don’t think you should make promises you can’t keep.”
He gathered me into his arms, and I lifted my face to meet his kiss. A warmth rushed over me, and I no longer felt cold. I would make a million promises for Bastien. And it didn’t matter what world we ended up living in. Because I knew when things got bad, Bastien would jump into a trap with me, and I’d do the same for him.
“This is just the beginning,” he said, his lips hovering over mine.
It was the beginning, all right: the beginning of my new life in the human world and the beginning of a beautiful relationship that never would have happened if I hadn’t been sucked into that damn book. I pulled back to look into his beautiful blue eyes—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.