I twisted my lips and looked back at myself in the mirror. I guess I did look pretty. Not that it mattered. My coily hair was slicked back in a low puffy ponytail. A bejeweled headband sat on top of my head. The gown I wore was pretty amazing. A sparkling gold gown with a sweetheart neckline and laced bustier popped against my deep skin tone. A row of jewels framed the hem of my gown, adding a slight weight to the silken fabric.
I turned back to Pilar, motioning for her to sit on the couch behind me. “This wasn’t supposed to be a whole affair. I wanted a private wedding, maybe at the bar.”
She sat down, raising a brow. “Whelp, you knew that wouldn’t happen when the court had its radar on this farce of a marriage. If you were going to break off an arranged marriage, they were going to have eyes on it. It was nice of them to book the room. It’s the smallest space in this building so it’s still going to be a modest crowd.”
I leaned against the vanity. “I don’t even have any friends here besides you.”
“The folks from the pub are here and a lot of soldiers. Ivan’s a popular guy. Good for him.”
I looked at her through the mirror. She didn’t sound annoyed. She hadn’t expressed any disappointment since I told her about calling off my wedding to Jacob. She knew the plan, it was she who had introduced me to the dissenting group, after all. Pilar didn’t particularly have any anger towards Nodoorians. However, she didn’t like the forced treaty actions. It seemed archaic to her, and I agreed. However, when some subsets of our dissenting group started doing harmful things like killing off some of those in the marriages to make a gruesome point about the cruelty of the forced togetherness, Pilar backed away. I wanted to do the same, but I had the stupid marriage hanging over my head, so unlinking myself from the group wasn’t as easy. Not that Pilar walked away without problems.
We had eyes on our every move, making sure we didn’t give away the limited knowledge we already had. The leaders of the resistance were rightfully paranoid, and I suspected they knew they were fighting a losing battle. Still, Pilar never went anywhere alone. Fortunately, she had a brother she lived with who I suspected wasn’t far away.
Pilar sighed. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this whole thing.”
I raised a hand to stop her, turning to face the couch. “I think I’d have been stuck in this situation regardless. I’m an omega, and the court knows the family I’m from. Now, with Nodooriancouncil members assigned here, there’s no more hiding. They know me. Even here I’ve become a pawn. Jullian tried to make sure no word got back to my family, but that’s all over now that I broke the engagement to Jacob.”
“So why didn’t you run? I mean, I would hate for you to leave, but I would understand.”
I stood up, the time to walk the aisle coming near. “I didn’t want the threat of Jullianandthe court hanging over my head. One can only live with so many threats, and I already had my family to worry about. And I didn’t want anything happening to others I cared about because of what I did. You or the rest of the folks at the pub.”
“I don’t think our court would do that.”
I gave her doubtful eyes. The court was sensible up to a point, and they had no problems enforcing far reaching punishments to prevent disobedience from happening again. However, I had other reasons for sticking around. “I also stayed because I hate that I had to run in the first place. I like it here. I’ve made it my home. I had plans to eventually leave the bar and work in the joint counsel to change things. That was part of the initial plan. I just didn’t want to have to be married to do it.”
Pilar got up as well, staring at me with pity. She’d given up on change as a possibility, but I wouldn’t. “You really think you can change things from the way they are?”
I nodded. “Yes. No one on that counsel cares about alphas and omegas. Or how dragons are treated. If there’s no representation in power, then how will our interests be served? After the killings and the battle with Nodoor, that included a human mage fighting on the side of Prinath, I think the court is open to seeing things differently.”
“They haven’t with your marriage, otherwise why force you to marry Ivan?”
I sucked my teeth, slipping my feet in my matching heels. I was definitely not a heels kind of person, but I would play princess for the day. “Because they think we’re lying, and they don’t like being played, especially if it means it’ll set some kind of precedent for others to get out of the marriages.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. So, how do you feel about marrying him? Now that things are cleared up about what happened when you broke up, is there room for love again?” She wiggled her shoulders when she said the last part, clearly excited. Pilar was a romantic, so there would be no end to her badgering me about Ivan.
I plastered on a smile and looked down at her. She was several inches shorter than me, barely clearing 5 foot tall. “I’m nervous but excited. And that’s it. There will be no renewal. This is just an arrangement of safety.”
That was the truth. Ivan and I had seen each other a couple of times since the dinner to get our stories the same when people outside of our close circle asked about us. The story was simple: He’d seen me at the bar a few weeks ago and we started connecting again, realizing how much of a mistake it was to break up. It wasn’t that hard of an untruth. I’d been fighting doubts since we talked. It was clear he wanted us to reunite. He was being kind, flirty even, behaving as if no time had passed at all. While it was disconcerting how easily he was able to jump right back into our old habits, I did find it secretly sweet that he hadn’t given up all this time.
“Does he know about you being a part of some of the dissenters?” Pilar asked, clasping her hands in front of her.
I looked at her sharply. “No. For his own safety.” And because I didn’t want him to know that I was involved in any resistance group. Despite my conflicted feelings about him, I was ashamed of being even remotely connected to a group that could hurt other people. That had hurt a friend of his, I’d come to learn.Ivan was a soldier, but he still felt innocent to me. I always had a desire to protect him. He was sweet in a way I’d not encountered in anyone before. I didn’t want to be the one that hurt him. At least not anymore.
Another knock at the door rattled my thoughts. Who else could it be? I didn’t have any other friends who’d care to see me, especially before the wedding. Pilar walked past me to answer it.
When she opened the door, I gasped to see the stoney faces of my mother and father standing there.
Suddenly, I wished I had run away.
Chapter Six
Jalisa
Pilar looked at me with questioning eyes, and I gave her a curt nod that it was okay. “Pilar, these are my parents Ronan and Tela Evenbright.”
She gave an awkward wave to them, and they greeted her with head nods. My parents were dressed in their finest attire, appearing to take this wedding seriously. My mother, who I was almost a duplicate of except for her violet eyes and graying hair, walked forward. “Very nice to meet you, Pilar. Do you mind if we have a word with our daughter alone before the…wedding.” She said the last word as if it were painful.
Pilar nodded and whispered good luck to me before leaving. She knew all about my story, and I didn’t want her to leave, but I was an adult, and I could face them on my own.
