Wife.
My body trembled with rage as I stood in the center of the room, surrounded by the men who had just used me as a pawn in their schemes. Their voices faded into white noise as my own thoughts consumed me, searching for a way out of this desperate situation. But there was none—my fate had been decided without any consideration for me as a person.
There was a minuscule part of my brain that was trying to rationalize that there may yet be some good to come of a treaty between our people, but I wasn’t ready to accept that my life had been the cost of achieving that.
There had to be another way.
As the room cleared, leaving only myself and the two kings, I abandoned all pretense of propriety or decorum. With fire in my eyes and trembling hands that were balled into fists, I unleashed a torrent of rage and defiance at the two figures who held my fate in their hands.
“I hope one day you both are brought to your knees and made to feel as powerless as I do now, and I pray the elementals allow me to have a hand in that moment.”
The weight of their power and control crushed down on me, but I refused to break beneath it.
My father opened his mouth to rebut, but the drackya king lifted his hand, those haunting eyes still trained on my face as he cut him off before he could get words out. “Not now, my wife is speaking.”
The burning rage within me was momentarily tempered by his words, not in appreciation, but confusion. The most insane part of this moment was that my father actually closed his mouth in response.
My anger came rushing back like the waves crashing against the northern bluffs, chipping away at the essence of the sediment. Much like it, I found pieces of myself deteriorating. The gentle and kind portions of my heart were nowhere to be found.
“I don’t need you to defend me,” I spat, hating the way I couldn’t even fume without intervention from a man. My fists clenched and unclenched, over and over again at my sides.
Was nothing my own anymore?
His chest rumbled with laughter before he turned for the door, dismissing me. He didn’t even bother to look back at me before answering. “I just wanted you to have your chance to get all that brewing hatred out before we journey to my home. Consider this your warning that I won’t put up with it when you inevitably direct it at me, so, this is in your best interest.”
My brow rose at his words.
Oh, he thought I was a timid woman who was going to just get over this and be a good little wife? The elementals were smiling upon me now, ensuring my betrothed had no clue the woman he’d tied his fate to.
Air puffed out of my nose as a deep chuckle worked itself through my chest. His feet stilled as I retorted in the most sarcastic tone I could muster, “I hate to break it to you,husband,but you just signed up for a lifetime of ‘putting up with it,’ so go ahead and prepare yourself now. My nonexistent marriage vows include making your life as miserable as I can.”
Abruptly, he spun on his heel and leveled a piercing gaze at me, filled with a coldness and malice that I had only heard of in the whispers surrounding the drackya king. It seemed that coldness had been inherited by his father. His eyes seemed to bore into my very soul, sending shivers down my spine as I stood frozen in his presence. The rumors about what I realized washiscruelty suddenly felt all too real at that moment.
“Well, it’s lucky enough for me that I can just lock you in a room and never have to deal with that, now isn’t it?” he retorted, raising a single dark eyebrow that contrasted the snowy white strands dangling over it, as if daring me to defy him. I almost rose to his bait, but it was becoming clear that he wanted to rile me, to bask in my utter despair of my situation he’d helped concoct. Upon seeing I wasn’t going to respond, he shrugged, “The marriage certificate was all I needed. Those flowery words for your council mean nothing to me. You will do as I say and behave yourself while in my castle, or you can remain imprisoned in a room for all I care.”
This was my future.
Hewas my future.
“That is not what we agreed upon!” my father roared, stepping in front of me, attempting to obscure me from view, but not doing too great of a job considering he was the same height as me and just about as slender.
My head reared back at his outburst. Did it suddenly matter now how I was treated? Interesting.
I wasn’t sure who I was more pissed at: my new husband, who was showing how little I mattered to him already, or the man who put me in this position to begin with. My lip curledin disgust. They could both burn in the eternal pits of the fire elemental’s domain for all I cared.
My betrothed pulled a scroll from the inner pocket of his dark coat and made a dramatic show of opening the cream-colored parchment and narrowing his eyes on the words as he scanned it.
I couldn’t help but wonder if his vision was sound or not, having a dragon eye and human eye warring with each other, not to mention the scar running down the right side. Everything we knew about dragons as a species spoke of their superior genetics. Sound, sight, strength, agility. I tucked that thought away, knowing I needed to find a weak spot—if ever the chance was presented to me to make use of it.
After a few beats, he surmised, “Yeah, I’m not seeing in here where it says how I have to treat her once she’s in my possession. If that actually mattered to you, you would have ensured it was a part of our contractual agreement.”
As he rolled it up and put the scroll of doom back where he’d retrieved it, my father spluttered. I stepped from behind him, finding his face blotted with red stains, as he spoke, “Well, I…I shouldn’t have to specify basic decency in a contract of wedlock! Have you no honor?”
His words were rich with irony, and for the first time, it was clear my husband and I agreed on something, our laughs echoing through the air in unison. It was slightly unnerving and I settled myself instantly, glowering at the beast.
My father spun to look at me, bewilderment clear in his wide-eyed expression. “Siyana, I swear to you,” he pleaded, reaching for my hands, “I had many talks with King Takkar about what this arranged marriage would look like for you, as well as his feelings about it. I never would have agreed to this if I knew of his true nature.”
A pang echoed through my heart and I pulled my hands back just before he could enclose his around them. Everything in me wanted to believe him. It was easier to stomach than thinking that he was throwing me to the beast to be slaughtered without thought. But as we gazed into each other’s eyes, I spoke the truth of the matter.
