Conquest: Rise of the Fifth Horseman (The Fifth Horseman Series Book 1) (2 page)

Chapter Two: Ten Hours Earlier…

And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep and fought back the darkness
of the Leviathan. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And
God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the
darkness…

– Methuselah 3:2 –

Allan
Young had been carefully planning this moment for months. He picked up the
customized ring from the jeweler hours ago. The restaurant wasn’t too crowded.
The table was donned with a setting of tulips, Lily’s favorite flower. Everything
was perfect. That is, aside from the fact that the restaurant had run out of
her favorite wine. He already gave the apologetic waiter an earful.

When
he first explained his intentions to his sister, she was absolutely giddy that
he had asked her to help plan the big event. Having described her dream
proposal, her incessant texts were starting to get annoying.

Allan
glanced up from his phone and jumped out of his seat when he saw that Lily was
almost to the table. He tucked his phone away discreetly, and stared in awe.
Her sleek green dress stood out in contrast to her curly locks of red hair.

“You
look gorgeous!”

“Thanks
sweetie.” she blushed, “This place is beautiful!”

“I
know.” he placed a careful kiss so as not to smudge her lipstick or rouge, “It
was nearly impossible to get a reservation.”

“I
love it.” she sat as he held her chair out, “How long ago did you book it?”

“A
few weeks.”

“Wow.”
she commented as he sat across from her, “What’s the special occasion?”

“Well,
I…” he stammered, “I just… I thought you deserved a nice dinner.”

Her
eyes narrowed slightly, but then she got distracted.

“Tulips!”
she crooned, “My favorite!”

Allan
smiled, “I know.”

A
frantic waiter arrived with a bottle of Zinfandel and bowed, “Our finest wine
by Ménage à Trois, on the house. Complements of the host.”