“Emily?”Miranda called, voice edged with annoyance.“Where are you going?I haven’t told you about the seating arrangements for the ceremony yet.And we need to discuss your hair.That frizz is simply?—”
Emily ignored her, Raaevik at her back as the door slid shut behind them.
Then she started walking.She didn’t know where she was going.Just away… anywhere away from the woman who’d birthed her and then sold her.
Heavy footsteps echoed behind her.
Raaevik.
She hadn’t looked at him during the argument.She hadn’t wanted him to see her like that—stripped raw, reduced to a line item in her mother’s accounts—but he’d been there anyway.Close enough to hear every word.
She turned a corner toward the observation deck, staring straight ahead as her vision blurred.She wouldn’t cry.No way, no how.Raaevik matched her pace without trying to stop her.
Stopping in the middle of a long corridor lined with viewports, she didn’t turn around.She couldn’t face him yet.
“She sold me,” she whispered.
“She is a fool,” Raaevik said.
There was no pity in his voice, which she was grateful for.Instead, the low growl was filled with anger.
“She sees a price tag,” he said.“She does not see the value.”
She closed her eyes.A tear slipped out, hot and fast, then another.
But still she didn’t turn around.She didn’t need to.He was there, a massive shadow at her back, keeping the dark from her shoulders.
And for the first time since she’d walked into that suite, she didn’t feel entirely alone.
