The room gasped. Aria made a sound that was half laugh, half sob. I gripped Xavier's arm, my heart pounding like it was my own proposal.
Which was ridiculous. We'd been together for two weeks. Real together, not a fake arrangement together. Nobody proposed after two weeks.
Nobody sane, anyway.
"Aria Kealoha." Sebastian opened the box, revealing a ring that caught the chandelier's light and scattered it into a thousand tiny rainbows. "Will you make me the luckiest man alive and spend the rest of your life with me?"
Silence. The whole room held its breath.
Then Aria was nodding, laughing, and crying all at once. "Yes! Yes, of course, yes!"
Sebastian slid the ring onto her finger—a stunning oval-cut diamond, at least three carats, the stone so clear it seemed to hold its own light.
A halo of smaller diamonds encircled it like a crown, and the platinum band was delicate, almost vintage in its design, with tiny pavé diamonds trailing down the sides. It was elegant and romantic and somehow perfectly Aria—and then he was on his feet, pulling her into his arms.
The room erupted.
Applause, cheers, champagne corks popping. Helena was crying. Eleanor was smiling that satisfied smile of hers, like she'd orchestrated the whole thing.
I found myself blinking back tears of my own as I watched Aria bury her face in Sebastian's chest, her shoulders shaking with happy sobs.
I pushed through the crowd to congratulate her. Aria grabbed my hands the moment I reached her, her face glowing.
"Kim! Look!" She thrust her hand out, the diamond catching the light. "Can you believe it?"
"It's gorgeous." I pulled her into a hug. "Congratulations. You deserve all the happiness in the world."
"I can't stop shaking." She laughed, wiping at her tears. "I had no idea. He's been so calm all week, I thought—I don't know what I thought. Not this."
Xavier appeared beside us, clapping Sebastian on the shoulder. "Congratulations, brother. Didn't know you had it in you."
"Thanks." Sebastian actually smiled—a real smile, not his usual controlled version. "I've been carrying that ring around for three weeks. Nearly gave myself an ulcer."
I watched them embrace, these two brothers who were so different and yet so clearly loved each other. Xavier's warmth and Sebastian's steadiness. Chaos and calm. They balanced each other.
Then Xavier turned to look at me.
Something in his expression made my breath catch. His eyes were dark, pupils blown wide, fixed on me with an intensity that made the rest of the room blur at the edges.
His body had gone still—completely still—the way a man goes still when something important is happening inside him. His jaw was tight, his shoulders squared, and there was a rawness in his face I'd never seen before. Like a mask had slipped.
Like he was seeing me for the first time, and the sight had undone him.
He crossed to me in three strides and took my hands. His palms were warm, slightly damp. Trembling, I realized. Xavier Dubois, who charmed his way through every situation, whose hands never shook, was trembling.
"I love you."
The words hung between us. Three words, simple and devastating. We'd never said them before. Not whispered in the dark, not murmured against skin. This was the first time, and he was saying it here, now, in the middle of a crowded room with his whole family watching.
His thumbs traced circles on my wrists, right over my pulse points, like he was counting my heartbeats.
"I love you too," I said, and my voice cracked on the last word.
Xavier's grip tightened on my hands. His eyes never left mine.
“Marry me.”
The world stopped.