Supreme Magus novel Chapter 2359

"I don't feel like celebrating the end of the war, but our family can use a little happiness or at least an opportunity to take our minds off the grieving. Let's spend the rest of the day with our family. Everything else can wait until tomorrow." Orion said.

"Maybe even for a bit longer." Jirni nodded.

With Thrud dead, Jirni's rage was gone. Without her rage, she was empty, ready to be filled with more pain from Phloria's absence. Jirni still had lots of plans and schemes, but no will to enact a single step of any of them.

***

Ernas Mansion, Quylla's room, later that afternoon.

The lunch had been an utter failure. No one felt like rejoicing for the end of the war and no one was in the mood to chat. The long silence and brooding faces made the Dining Room look like a funeral vigil.

Lucky sat at Orion's feet the whole time, eating only the food coming from his hand.

"Thanks for dragging me away. I was about to burst into tears again." Quylla said to Morok who had gotten them out with an excuse.

"Yeah, the mood was really heavy. Any longer and it would have crushed me." The Tyrant sighed in relief, plunging onto one of the comfortable padded chairs of her living room.

Quylla followed suit and several minutes had to pass before either of them spoke again.

"This doesn't feel real. The War of the Griffon lasted for so long and now it's over. I lived with Phloria for years and now she's gone. Everything happened so suddenly that it all seems like a sick joke!" Quylla said.

"That's life." Morok shrugged. "Stuff just happens without any notice. We can only hope to receive a gift from a friend instead of a kick in the nuts."

"I could really use a gift right now." Quylla turned to look at the mausoleum through the window of her living quarters. "I'm tired of kicks in the nuts and I don't even have gonads."

"About that…" Morok produced a thud that snapped her out of it.

He was now kneeling in front of her, holding with two hands the deep violet robe of a Magus.

"Now that the war is over and Thrud is dead, you can make this decision without revenge clouding your judgment. I would love to wait until you have overcome your grief, but in my experience, pain doesn't come with an expiration date."

The robe was tied in the middle with a common string forming a complex knot that was impossible to unravel. The knot of betrothal gifts.

"Quylla Nimea Daphne Ernas, would you marry me?" Morok followed tradition to the letter, using her middle names in the proper order.

"Wait what?" She froze on her chair without knowing what to say.

"I said, Quylla Nimea Daphne Ernas, would you marry me?" Morok replied. "Also, I really want to have children so if you are not with me on this, you'd better tell me now and I'll get out of your hair."

"A marriage proposal with a side of blackmail?" She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Threatening to dump me right after my sister's funeral?"

"Well, yes but actually no. I mean to cheer you up and let you know how much you mean to me." Morok shook his head. "Yet even if you are stronger than me, smarter than me, and richer than me, I'm not going to be your doormat.