She doesn’t open her eyes when she speaks again. “If I do this, know that I will never forgive you. I will despise you until the day I die.”
“I can live with that.”
“I will never love you, either.” Her eyes flash open. “And I will not tolerate any mistresses.”
“Nor will I tolerate any man who looks at you with anything less than respect,” I counter easily. That part, at least, is something that has always come naturally to me. I take care of my things.
She gives me a disbelieving look. “So you’re just fine with us condemning each other to celibacy?”
I take a moment to rake my eyes very purposefully over her body. The curve of her hip, the toned muscles of her arms, the expanse of her bare neck. The attraction comes naturally, too. “Not quite.”
A pretty little flush spreads across her cheeks. “Beyond what is necessary to get me pregnant,” she amends bitterly.
So, she is not completely adverse to the sight of me then. Interesting.
“I’ve made my decision, Miss Chiavari. As I’ve said, the choice is yours.”
Mia glances back at her father, who has now made it down the aisle to hover nervously at her elbow.
They share another long look that I pointedly stare away from. I notice, for the first time since Mia entered the room, the priest standing at my side, silently taking in the entire situation.
I dread to think what Teo must be paying him for this.
Mia suddenly clears her throat, drawing my attention back to her. Her chin is now stubbornly pointing in the air.
“I will marry you,” she declares solemnly, and my heart begins to race in my chest.
This is truly happening.
“I will fulfill my duty to the Guild and to my father, and that is all,” she continues before turning to look at Teo. “I assume this means I’m no longer considered a liability?”
There’s a bitterness in her tone that I don’t quite understand, but I watch as Teo nods. “Once you become a Natali, your allegiance will be to the Prince’s Hand.”
Mia chokes on a laugh. “So, I’m someone else's problem now, am I,Princeling?”
“Mia,” Cas says quietly.
“I’m so furious at all of you,” her friend snaps back.
Cassandra seems to accept this. “I know. I wish it was different. I wish we could have planned this together. You can hate me. That’s okay. All I can do is be here for you now.”
If I weren’t standing so close to her, I might not have picked up on the fact that Mia’s hands begin to shake.
She quickly balls them into fists and turns sharply to the priest. “Just get on with it.”
The last wedding I attended was my sister's. Isabella had flown me out to Vegas for what was supposed to be a week-long trip. I made it through the vows before turning right back around and heading straight home to New York.
This is somehow worse.
I couldn’t have stopped Isabella if I’d tried. She was in love, and to her, that was worth all the risk that came with it.
Whatever this sham of a marriage will turn out to be, there’s no way to sugarcoat it by blaming love. It’s a transaction, a soulless binding of souls in the presence of four entire witnesses.
Every word that comes out of the priest's mouth feels like a death sentence.
The only person in the room that might feel worse is the woman before me. Which is somehow oddly comforting.
“Leon Natali and Mia Chiavari, have you come here today to enter into this covenant of marriage freely and without reservation?” the priest asks.
