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“I said, find another way. Because I’m not getting married,” she blurted, fleeing from the room before any of the men noticed she’d lost control of her emotions. However, her escape wasn’t as clean as she thought, and it wasn’t long before a comforting voice reached her ears.
“Underneath all that brattiness, you know your father doesn’t mean any harm. He only wants what’s best for you.”
Wiping her face free of tears, Aella turned to face him. “Yeah, well, he has a funny way of showing it. Selling me to the highest bidder doesn’t feel like what’s best for me.”
Chuckling, Eric pulled her into a warm hug. “You know damn well that’s not what this is. Your father loves you too much not to vet the man he chose to set you up with.”
“I don’t want to be set up with anyone.”
“This is the life you were born into, Firefly. You’ve always known that.”
“Knowing it and liking it are two different things,” Aella sniffed, pulling herself out of his embrace.
“Just keep an open mind. Things may turn out better than you think.”
“I won’t hold my damn breath,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Please talk to him and get me out of this mess as you always do.”
“I’ll try. Can’t make any promises, though.”
“Thank you. You’re the best uncle a girl could have when you aren’t conspiring against me behind my back.”
Eric’s laughter followed Aella as she fumbled down the hall to her sister’s bedroom door. Turning the knob, she pushed open the door, swiftly closing it behind her.
“Hey, girly,” Ilaria sang, poking her head out of her closet. “You’re just who I needed to see. I—” she broke off, noticing Aella’s distress. Dropping the clothing in her hand, she rushed over to her sister, wrapping her in her arms. “What’s wrong?”
“Your father has lost his fucking mind.”
“What happened?” Ilaria urged.
As the two made themselves comfortable on the bed, Aella relayed all the details of the disastrous meeting to her sister, including the reason for it.
“Holy shit,” Ilaria pushed a hand through her thick hair. “That’s…a lot.”
Sniffling, Aella wiped her face. “And he expects me to do what? Bow down and go along with this stupid-ass agreement like an obedient puppy? Tie myself to some random man and throw away my life plans because he said so?”
“As much as I hate playing devil’s advocate…”
“Don’t, Ria.”
“Elle, I understand you’re upset. But we can’t pretend that we didn’t know this could be an eventuality. Especially for you. Daddy couldn’t have made a boy if you paid him, and you, my love, are the oldest of the bunch.”
Aella laughed, thinking about their estranged half-sister, who shared a different mother.
“I don’t have to be happy about it just because we knew it might happen. What if I meet a man and fall in love?”
Ilaria crisscrossed her legs. “Who’s to say that if this marriage happens, you won’t fall in love with your husband?”
That pulled a hearty laugh from Aella’s gut. “Yeah, right. I don’t even know him.”
“Well, if you marry him, you’ll have a lot of time to get to know him. You might like him more than you expect.”
“That’s not happening, Ria. Even talking about it out loud sounds crazy. This isn’t what I want.”
“Is he at least cute?”
“He’s a’ight,” Aella downplayed Cassius’ looks. “I’ve seen better.”
Reading her sister like a book, Ilaria chuckled. “Right. You’re in distress right now, so I won’t call you out on your shit, but we’ll revisit this at a later date.”
