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“He was married to a sick and frail woman. She was already halfway to the grave. I just had to keep you hidden away until she died.” She was despicable in a way I'd never been able to imagine. Maybe I should have. It had been staring me straight in the face—like a hand-shaped bruise on my shoulder.
“Does Aric know?” The thought that my brother might have known and not warned me was like a punch to the gut. But he’d encouraged my flirtations with Reece; he couldn’t possibly have known.
"Aric will survive and flourish. You’ll make sure of it, won’t you? Go wash yourself clean. I want no trace of that man left on you. Then, pack your things. We're leaving Oshal. Tonight," she ordered. The man finally stepped away from my door, signaling that I could enter the room now that my mother was finished with me.
I didn't remember making my way into the bathroom and stripping off my dress. I had no recollection of getting into the shower and turning the water all the way to hot: very nearly boiling. Only the searing heat of the scalding water on my skin snapped me out of it.
Drowning.
I was drowning. Like I couldn't breathe under the weight of the only choice I could make. Of the only life I could have. I had to walk away from Reece without a word. I'd never see him again, and I couldn’t even say goodbye.
He'd never knowwhy.He’d only think that it was a choice I made freely.
It was that thought that killed me most of all.
Tears mixed with the water, washing down the drain in a torrent of crushing grief. I'd been so close to being free. So close to knowing love.
When I finally pulled myself from the shower, Mother had already taken to packing my things. She laid out one of my more casual dresses, intended for travel, eyeing me as I slipped it on and towel-dried my hair quickly. "You'll have to do. Corbin is waiting for us." She glared at me, condemnation in her gaze.
I found I didn't care. Corbin could make me marry him to save my home country, but he couldn't make me be beautiful for him. He couldn't make me care or come alive under his touch. With every shattering crack inside my heart, I felt myself harden to the man who would be my husband.
I'd wished him no ill will before. Now I'd make sure he was as miserable as he made me. It would be my life’s goal.
More strange men had filled the living room during my shower, and my mother strode out the door behind the four who carried our bags. The one who'd guarded my door before stood behind me, nodding his head that I should follow.
My legs didn't work. Frozen. Rooted to the spot.
I knew every step I took would be one step further from Reece and the future I'd only just allowed myself to believe we could have. I still wanted it more than anything, and my mind raced with all the possibilities. Searching for a way out of the contract I'd never even seen.
"It's time to go, Princess Alina," the guard said, stepping up beside me. He grabbed me by the elbow, tugging me into motion.
We hurried through the halls of Reece's palace. Swift and silent, like thieves in the night. I looked around, panting for breath and hoping Reece would see.
That he'd stop us from leaving so that I could at least tell him the truth. Even if he couldn't help, just knowing he understood would ease the pain clutching my chest. I didn't want to hurt him.
Never him.
But nobody emerged from the countless doors we passed or interceded on my behalf. Nobody even saw us as we slipped quietly out a side door and into a waiting town car. Mother climbed in first, and then I was shoved into the back seat, the door slamming shut behind me.
On impulse my hands went to the door, struggling with the handle despite the fact that it was obviously locked.
"Alina, my dear," Corbin said, making me snap my head to where he sat next to me in the back seat. His hand came down on my knee, gripping his fingers into either side hard enough to bruise. "Do stop struggling. It's most unbecoming for a woman of your stature."
"Then marry someone more becoming, you arrogant—"
"Alina!" Mother hissed, turning to glare at me from the front seat as the line of cars in front of us pulled off and started down the driveway. "What on Earth did he do to my sweet, obedient daughter?"
"He set me free," I snapped. "He showed me there's more to life than contracts and bargains and money and power."
"That must have been some great sex," Corbin laughed, tightening his fingers as his chuckle deepened. "I'll do my best not to disappoint for your second time around the block."
Bile rushed up my throat. The feeling of his hand on my leg was vile enough, but to have him touch the parts of me only Reece could claim?
I'd never allow it, not willingly.
"I'll make you regret this," I snapped. I looked out the tinted window of the car as it pulled away, before turning back to the man who would dare to be my husband and hissed, "I'll make you wish you'd married my widowed mother instead of me. After all, she's more used to sleeping with old men she doesn't love for gain."
My mother gasped. Reaching back, her palm cracked against my cheek. Heat bloomed to the surface immediately. Pressing a hand to it, I thought only of what Reece would have done to her if he’d seen the abuse. Corbin did nothing.
"You will not speak to me like that. Where are the manners I drilled into your brain?" My mother's hair was beginning to fall from its perfectly coiffed state as her breathing heaved in and out in anger. I smiled, mirthless and full of malice. I wanted to inflict as much pain on her as she did to me.
It would never be enough.
Corbin held up a hand and threw me an amused glance, his hand settling higher up my knee to fondle my thigh. "I think I’ll enjoy taming this rebellion out of her."
I huffed out a breath and said nothing, letting a wall of ice build itself around me. I turned around and mumbled to myself as softly as I could as I watched the palace that could have been my home shrink in the distance. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, even knowing he couldn’t hear me.
I didn't even feel the first tear fall as it streaked against my reddened cheek. Didn't feel it as it splashed onto my bunched up fist.
I was numb.
