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“Oh! Why did you do that?” she spun and slapped him reflexively.
Someone gasped.
Cenrik growled and grabbed her wrist, squeezing it hard until she thought he was going to break her bones.
He pulled her forward and smacked her across the face with his free hand.
“You raise your hand to me again and I’ll cut it off,” he seethed, shoving her away. She tottered on her narrow heels and fell, the dress cushioning the descent to the cobblestone.
She cupped her hot cheek as tears burned in her eyes and her face flushed with embarrassment. They had a crowd watching them now, including her parents.
“You didn’t need to hurt the bird,” she said.
“I’ll do what I want. Now get up. We have a dance to lead.”
“No.”
This was it. She’d finally had enough. Finally hit the point where she couldn’t tolerate a single instance more of his barbaric behavior. If he treated her this badly now, before they were mated, how much worse would it be when they were truly joined together.
“What did you say?” he asked, his voice going low in a way that made her want to shrink in fear.
But she didn’t shrink. Not this time.
“I’m not going to dance with you. I’m not going to mate you. You’re the most horrible male I’ve ever met in my life. No wonder the king had to force my father to allow this mating. No female in her right mind would willingly mate you, only the threat of prison kept me on this track. But no longer! I won’t mate you and I could care less if I spend time in jail. You’re not worth it. You’re not worth anything.”
He roared in anger, his wings flapping with his rage. He took a menacing step toward her, but before he could lay a hand on her again, the king’s voice cut through the noisy crowd.
“What’s the meaning of this? Cenrik, what are you doing?”
“She hit me,” he said. “Unprovoked. I was simply reprimanding my mate, as is my right.’
Alanah wanted to explain her actions to the king, but he was one of those males who also didn’t think the power over animals was one worth having. Not like his own power of healing, or Cenrik’s over the air.
She also recognized that no one would think her slapping a high-ranked military male in public was appropriate, no matter that he’d struck an innocent bird. So she kept her mouth shut while Cenrik called her every name in the book, none of them good.
King Orpheus put his hand up and Cenrik stopped his tirade.
“Alanah did you state you would not mate Cenrik, even though it’s a mating I personally arranged, and you agreed to?”
She looked around the garden at the crowd, finding her parents among their friends. Her father was frowning severely, looking like he wanted to intervene. Her mother was wiping at tears, her gaze pleading with Alanah to fix the situation.
I’m sorry, she mouthed at her parents.
Staring up in defiance at the king, she spared the tiniest of glances at Cenrik.
No, she did not choose him.
“I will not be mating Cenrik.”
Cenrik made an angry noise, and the crowd murmured.
The king raised his hand, and it went utterly quiet.
“I see. Then you’ve broken your word, despite knowing the consequences. Guards, take Alanah and her parents into custody and place them in the royal prison, pending a trial.”
Her parents begged for mercy from the king, but Alanah didn’t.
She knew he wouldn’t grant it anyway.
