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"What?"
Bellara feels her voice strain and squeak, but she has no room in her to feel embarrassed while she's staring at Lucanis, who looks as bizarrely surprised as she feels considering they were his own words.
"Marry me," he repeats, accent lilting up uncertainly.
Her thoughts stop and start, skipping and colliding, and her mouth is entirely disconnected from her brain. "Huh. I guess I heard you right the first time then?"
"Really? Now's the time you decide to do that?"
"I was not speaking to you."
He breaks their gaze, turning to engage with Illario instead, and she notices abruptly that they're not alone, that more than Lucanis and Spite are there to - to rescue her probably. That's right, she was in Arlathan because a group of Veil Jumpers had disappeared. Fewer artifacts have been causing problems but they have not been entirely dormant, and the forest still holds many dangers. So Bellara went to investigate and stumbled across someone she thought was an unfortunate traveler, helping to heal his leg and accepting his offer to share food and water in thanks.
She needs to remember to write to her dad and thank him again for teaching her how to recognize poisons.
On the plus side, she's pretty sure that the pendant that she's been trying to figure out for weeks has some kind of antidote or healing properties. She did swallow the charcoal she had on hand for cleaning water if she needed it, but she doesn't think it was enough to account for how fast what she was given worked through her system. Judging by how shocked the Crows were to see her awake, she figures that they estimated she would be out for a while longer as well.
Or maybe it was the fact that they didn't know the bead bracelet they left on her was actually made of small bombs.
She's a little disappointed she didn't get to show them off to Spite before she had to use them all - the explosions were impressive. Bellara can feel the demon's presence buzzing along her nerve endings as he checks her over, even if she can't entirely understand his speech yet the way Emmrich can.
"Hey Spite," she greets and holds out a hand towards him.
"You hardly needed us here," Viago says and approaches her.
"As expected of you," Teia adds. She wipes her short blade clean before sheathing it. "Although I would have enjoyed it if you left some more to us. I could have used a few extra fools to stab."
"So many people came," Bellara says as she enjoys the feeling of curling her fingers through Spite's. She counts Jacobus and another older Crow - is that Chance? - working with a group of four younger Crows to make sure all the rooms are cleared out. "That's so nice."
"Of course! We were all worried when that message came to Lucanis."
"Message?" She had been wondering why everyone showed up; it's not unusual for her to return back to Treviso a day or two after she anticipates, although she's been trying to be better about that.
"Yes," the answer comes from Illario, despite being busy trying to put Lucanis in a headlock. "It was supposed to be a negotiation for your life, I suppose, but this idiota ran off before he even knew where to go. It's lucky we caught up to him."
Lucanis shoves Illario hard, sending his cousin stumbling to the side to end their scuffle. "It didn't matter where they wanted us to meet. I know every Crow hiding place from every house in the area and exactly how far they would be able to go in the time they had."
"Every house?" Teia responds archly.
"Of course. So we came directly to you." Lucanis approaches Bellara and looks her over, asking, "You're certain you're well? Maybe we should see a healer anyway."
"I'm okay, really," she reassures him. She does feel fine, so she decides not to mention the poison until he looks less on edge, and she reaches out to hold Lucanis's hand while her other is still linked with Spite's.
"Is nobody going to mention that she still hasn't answered his question?"
"Illario!" Teia scolds.
"What? It's not my fault that my cousin decided to propose while surrounded by dead Crows. Twice."
"I - that's - shut up," Lucanis hisses, cheeks ruddy. "Ignore him. You don't have to - you don't have to say anything."
He's normally so smooth that it's difficult for Bellara to read his emotions a lot of the time. It's fascinating to watch him stumble over his words, face colored and openly embarrassed, self-conscious because he -
"Oh shit," Bellara blurts out, and it feels like a fog clearing from her mind, her thoughts all reconnecting to her mouth at once. "You really did - I didn't imagine that? I didn't think - you want to - what?"
"I didn't mean to," he mumbles. "Not like this. I planned to - never mind. You can forget I said anything if you'd like."
"No, no! I don't want to forget it. I mean, unless you want to forget it?"
Without realizing, she's pulled away from Lucanis and Spite to gesture, and he captures her fluttering hands between his own again. He's warm; the feeling of his skin on her own slows the racing of her heart and calms the agitation of her mind.
"No, but my timing is terrible."
Bellara ignores Illario's muttered "I'll say" in favor of focusing on Lucanis. "Ask me again," she says with growing confidence.
"It's dangerous being in Treviso, being associated with the First Talon," he starts.
His words seems inadequate to encompass the conversations they've had, the worry Lucanis has shared about the dangers of the Crows and what happened to his family. She pictures with a jolt how afraid he must have been hearing she'd been kidnapped, and she throws her arms around him in a hug.
"I'm fine. I'm here," she tries, because she's not sure what else to say. She hopes Spite knows she's talking to him as well. "Thank you both for coming for me."
"We will always come for you," he says, and the fierceness she can hear from both of them sits snug behind her breastbone. "Although after all this? I imagine they will think better of it before trying to use you to get to me again. What I'm trying to say is perhaps it is selfish, but despite the danger, I want you by my side always."
He pauses, then adds, "Spite… says that he knew this already, and I am the last to know."
Bellara can feel her lips pull into a smile that she can't hold in anymore, and she leans back to stare into his eyes again. "That's what he said, huh?"
"More or less. In more colorful language," he allows. "So, then. Will you do us the honor of being our wife?"
She barely gets out her excited "yes!" before she kisses him, and the static warmth of Spite's wings engulf them while she presses their mouths firmly together.
"How wonderful love is! The heart truly stops for nothing," Chance (Bellara is at least seventy percent sure that's his name) interrupts, reminding her once more that they have company. "And it pains me to intrude upon your reunion but there appears to be some young Crows still alive behind you."
Bellara turns to see three heads peeking into the foyer from further into the house where she had told them to wait. "Oh hey! Did you guys find my gauntlet?"
Pietro - the oldest at twelve even though she was sure he couldn't be more than eight or nine - nods and slinks into the room slowly, holding the artifact out to her.
"Great thanks!"
Even if it was less focused without her gear, she did still have her magic, but she feels more secure once she has it on her arm. She's pleased to see it's still intact and functional, and while she's testing calling her bow, Lucanis clears his throat. Everyone is staring at her expectantly, weapons half drawn - right, in all the excitement, she forgot to explain what happened when she woke up. She points at each child in turn.
"Oh, this is Pietro, Eliana, and Marco. I told them they could join your house instead."
The silence that follows her announcement is deafening and confusing. Lucanis had told her once that not all Crow houses were related and that sometimes they poached members from each other, members crossing into other houses. It reminded her a bit of Dalish clans at the time; she hadn't given it any further thought until she woke up and realized that her kidnappers had left actual children to watch over her while she was supposed to be asleep and drugged.
Their stupidity was her gain, although she was at a loss for what to do with the kids. She wasn't going to kill them obviously, but it seemed wrong to leave them there while she was planning to make a loud and dramatic exit. She had no idea how to talk to them though, even if she liked them mostly, and somehow between asking about her gauntlet and finding out they were adopted by the Crow house as orphans with nowhere else to go, she ended up rambling about her work with the Veil Jumpers and traps in elven ruins. Then the door swung up open as an older Crow showed up to check on her at the same time she remembered that House Dellamorte didn't have any apprentices, and everything turned a little too chaotic to keep track of at that point.
The children had been suitably awed by the explosions and lightning, and when they expressed interest in learning how to make their own, it seemed reasonable to offer to take them in at the time, although Bellara is wondering if she missed something.
Finally Illario's groan echoes out in the hall. "You're actually going to do this because your girlfriend said to, aren't you?"
"Fiancee," Lucanis snaps, and Bellara wiggles a little in happiness. Fiancee - she likes the way that sounds. And then he can call her wife and she'll be able to call him husband -
"You're just going to adopt stray apprentices you find on jobs into your house now?" Viago's comment cuts through Bellara's wandering thoughts.
"Like you've never done that before," Teia says amusedly.
Viago throws his arms up, cursing, and turns abruptly on his heel to leave instead of responding. Teia follows him at a more sedate pace, and the rest of the Crows start filtering out of the building now that the action is decidedly over.
"Hey, where's Rook anyway?" Bellara asks.
"In Minrathous, of course," Lucanis answers and runs a hand over his face. "I am not sure if I should be more afraid of him or Neve when they find out what happened. I didn't have time to send anyone to tell them."
"Definitely Neve."
"You're probably right." He motions to the kids. "Well? You won't have a house anymore when I'm through with the rest of them, so you can leave the Crows now or come with us."
Even though Lucanis is the First Talon, the children are staring intently at Bellara. Eliana's voice is soft and clear as she pipes up, "You'll be there too right?"
"I told you it's Lucanis's and Illario's house. You can do… Crow things, I guess? They can teach you Crow stuff? I don't know what you learn as apprentices, sorry."
"But you'll be there and teach us too, right?" she presses.
"I can definitely do that."
The three look at each other and then up at Lucanis, shifting their attention to him. They greet him with a disorganized "Master Dellamorte," and he sighs heavily.
"We'll have to work on that before you meet Caterina."
"Wonderful," Illario cuts in. "Come on, brats. Follow me, while my cousin catches his fiancee up. This is a one time deal though. Don't expect me to be the one to watch your kids when you need a break."
Bellara nods encouragingly before the kids go running after Illario. The two cousins' relationship is so much different than hers and Cyrian's was that she worried they would never begin to mend things between them. She spent so many hours trying to smooth over what she mistook for arguments before she recognized their bickering as the camaraderie that it seems to be. So she feels happy that despite Illario's protests, he is immediately helping with their -
"Wait, what do you mean your kids? Our kids?"
Lucanis loops his arm through hers and tugs Bellara forward with him. "I'm going to let you be the one to explain this to Neve."
"What do you mean? Lucanis!"