"Dorian, I know perfectly well how deeply you love me," Isla began, her voice trembling with raw, overwhelming emotion. "I know you are fully prepared to fight the entire world—even me—just for my sake. But you must also know this one absolute truth. I love you far, far more than you could ever possibly imagine."
She took a shaky breath, gently squeezing his hands. "Never, ever think for a single second that I would leave you because of some pathetic, meaningless difference in our royal social status. I do not care about class."
She paused, her brilliant blue eyes welling up with a fresh wave of agonizing tears. "I had to go through with this horrifying marriage. I did it for you. I did it for your beloved parents, for my parents, and for the absolute survival of this entire kingdom."
"What?" Dorian asked, his dark eyebrows knitting together in profound, utter confusion. "I do not understand a single thing you are saying right now. What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Please, do not interrupt me, Dorian," she pleaded softly, a single tear slipping down her pale cheek.
Moving with an agonizing, heavy slowness, Isla gently let go of his hands and pushed herself up from the cold marble floor. Seeing her move, Dorian slowly stood up as well. They stood perfectly still in the dim, flickering candlelight. They stared deeply into each other's souls, completely vulnerable, both of their faces heavily stained with streams of heartbroken tears.
Then, the heavy silence completely shattered.
Isla tightly closed her eyes. When she snapped them open a mere second later, everything had violently changed.
Her brilliant blue irises had entirely vanished, replaced by a piercing, glowing, and unnatural gold. Her flawless, pale skin began to ripple violently, shifting and hardening into something terrifyingly different. Dorian's breath completely caught in his throat. His dark eyes widened in absolute, paralyzing horror. Right before his eyes, Isla's delicate human form violently twisted and expanded, transforming completely into a massive, breathtakingly terrifying snake.
Dorian stumbled backward, pure panic violently seizing his chest.
But the magnificent transformation was not entirely finished. The massive creature shifted gracefully once again. Isla seamlessly transformed into a breathtaking, terrifying hybrid—a true serpent, half-human on top and a massive, coiled snake below.
Overcoming his initial, blinding shock, Dorian cautiously took a slow, trembling step closer to her magnificent, otherworldly form. "Isla... you..."
"Yes, I am a serpent, Dorian," she confessed softly, her voice now carrying an ancient, mesmerizing resonance. "I am absolutely not a normal human girl."
She looked down at her glowing, scaled form before meeting his terrified gaze. "I am the most powerful serpent in the entire world. The heavens themselves chose me for a highly sacred, terrifying reason. And that is exactly why I had to marry that disgusting monster, Lucier... because you are not of pure royal blood."
"What...?" Dorian breathed out, his mind completely refusing to process the overwhelming reality.
"Yes, Dorian," she continued, her golden eyes filled with a profound, crushing sorrow. "My father finally revealed the ancient prophecy to me. If I married a pure royal in a sacred, formal union, my dormant, locked powers would violently awaken and multiply. Right now, in my natural state, I am far too weak to face the impending, catastrophic disaster that is rapidly approaching."
'I wish I could have chosen you,' she thought fiercely in the darkest corners of her mind, 'but my heart had to be sacrificed for my people.'
"I have absolutely no idea what that dark disaster is," Isla whispered, wrapping her arms protectively around her own trembling shoulders. "But I know one terrifying, undeniable truth. Whatever is coming... it is going to bring absolute, horrifying destruction to this entire kingdom."
In a mesmerizing flash of golden light, Isla seamlessly shifted back from her magnificent serpent form, her body returning to the delicate, familiar curves of a human girl.
"Dorian, I have absolutely no idea what you are thinking about me right now," she whispered, her voice trembling violently with raw, overwhelming emotion. "But let me make one terrifying, absolute truth perfectly clear to you: the very day you look at me with hatred in your eyes will be the final, tragic day of my life. My physical body might continue to breathe, but my shattered heart will only ever beat for you. Even if I am forced to spend a thousand nights—or my entire, agonizing life—with Lucier, a single, fleeting second spent in your arms will always completely eclipse his entire existence."
A profound, breathtaking silence instantly descended upon the dim washroom. The heavy, suffocating quiet was broken only by the ragged sound of their uneven breathing and Isla's soft, heartbreaking sobs echoing off the cold marble walls.
Moving with an agonizing, tender slowness, Dorian took two deliberate steps forward, gently placing his large, warm hands upon her trembling shoulders. He delicately lifted her chin with his index finger, forcing her tear-drenched eyes to meet his piercing gaze, before raising both hands to softly wipe away her endless tears.
"Isla, I absolutely do not care what you are, what you were, or what terrifying creature you might become; the only thing that matters to my soul is that you are *my* Isla," he murmured fiercely, his voice a deep, vibrating anchor in her chaotic storm. "Dorian's Isla."
He gently stroked her pale cheeks, his eyes blazing with an unbreakable devotion. "How could you possibly even entertain the thought that I would ever turn my back on you after learning your sacred truth? Did you truly believe my love for you was that incredibly selfish and fragile? My sweet Princess, I would have died on that exact, terrifying day the venomous snake bit me in the forest if it had not been for you. My mother always told me that I was saved by a divine miracle, and today, I finally realize exactly what that breathtaking miracle was. Perhaps the heavens spared my life simply because my entire journey of life and death was destined to be walked exclusively with you."
Isla's breath hitched, her wildly beating heart skyrocketing in her chest as his profound, tear-filled eyes locked completely with hers.
"Isla, there is something incredibly important I need to ask you today," he whispered softly.
"I love you, Isla."
The beautiful, heavy words hung in the air, wrapping them in an eternal, sacred serenity. Without ever breaking eye contact, Dorian gracefully lowered his heavy, muscular frame onto one knee upon the freezing floor. He gently extended his hand toward her, his expression a portrait of absolute, unadulterated love.
> "Princess Isla, will you be mine for all of eternity? Will you marry me?"
>
Completely overwhelmed by a suffocating, beautiful mixture of absolute joy and lingering sorrow, Isla frantically placed her trembling hand into his, sobbing out a breathless, beautiful, "Yes... yes!"
Dorian slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, velvet box, leaving Isla briefly confused before he flipped it open to reveal a simple, incredibly elegant ring.
"This is actually exactly what I came here to give you tonight," he confessed, a soft, devoted smile curving his lips. "It is not incredibly expensive, but if it graces your beautiful finger, its worth will instantly become utterly priceless."
Smiling radiantly through her heavy tears, she nodded her desperate acceptance. Dorian tenderly slipped the ring onto her delicate finger, pressing a fierce, devoted kiss to her knuckles before standing up to press a soft, deeply loving kiss directly against her forehead. Drawing her even closer, he leaned in and fiercely captured her lips. Both of them squeezed their eyes tightly shut, desperately clinging to the breathtaking, stolen moment as if they were entirely terrified to let it go.
*Thump. Thump.*