KOTLC After Stellarlune-A Sokeefe Story

The Answer

Sophie thought her heart might actually bust out of her chest, it was beating so hard.

Keefe Sencen...was proposing to her.

A huge smile broke out on her face as happy tears filled her eyes.

"Keefe," she gasped. "Yes!!" A thousand times yes.

Keefe's grin was unbelievably sweet and flooded with happiness as he stood back up and swiftly grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her. Not gentle and slow this time, but not angry or urgent either.

Just insanely joyful.

Sophie was the one to pull away after a moment so she could take a closer look at the ring. She swapped her promise ring to her right hand and watched as Keefe slid the engagement ring onto her finger.

They both just stood there for a moment and looked at the ring on her hand. Then Keefe cleared his throat and said, "Grady and Edaline gave me this ring. It was Jolie's."

Sophie's eyes widened as she looked up at him. "Oh wow, really?...wait, they knew?!"

He smiled at her. "Yes, really. They said they've hoped all along they'd give you Jolie's ring one day.  And it seemed the right thing to ask for Grady's blessing. You are old enough, but we are still on the young side, and I don't know, it just seemed right."

Sophie grinned and held out her hand, admiring her ring. She heard Keefe laugh quietly and looked up at him again. "What?"

"It's nothing," Keefe said with a smirk. "It's just—I think we've finally found some sparkle and glitter in the Lost Cities that you actually like and will wear willingly."

Sophie laughed. "I don't ever want to take it off." She leaned in for another kiss. "Keefe, this is...I hardly know what to say. How long have you been planning this?"

Keefe looked thoughtful. "Well...I've been dreaming of it pretty much since the moment we met. It's been more seriously on my mind the last few weeks. I just told Fitz a few days ago and your parents and Magnate Leto just a couple of days ago."

Sophie's eyebrows shot up. "I guess I get you telling Fitz, he's your best friend. But...Magnate Leto?!"

"Well, about that. We can talk more about it later, we don't have to decide right now, but I wanted us to have options. We can just stay engaged the next two years and get married after you finish your Elite levels if you'd rather. But if you want, Magnate Leto is giving us permission to live off-campus if we wanted to get married before then. Usually it's a requirement to live in the towers while studying there, but they do make exceptions sometimes."

Sophie's heart felt so full it could burst. "You really thought this through."

"Of course I did. I always think things through," Keefe said with a hint of a smirk on his face. Sophie raised one eyebrow at him quizzically. "Okay, no I don't," he laughed, "but this time I did."

Sophie smiled sweetly at him. "So...you didn't necessarily have a time in mind? But we could get married before we finish our education?"

"Whenever you want. We could wait until next year when I'm done and you only have one year left, or wait until you finish, or whatever you want."

"I guess we should probably go join the party and figure out all the details later," Sophie said with a slight pout. "But if it's all the same to you, two years sounds like way too long. I'd rather get married much sooner than that."

Keefe's relieved smile reminded her of the night, in this very clearing, when they had their first kiss. "I was hoping you'd say that," he whispered. He kissed her one more time, clearly as reluctant as she was to leave this particular moment behind.