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She’d tried not to let that bother her, but it did. And since she was being given the choice, she didn’t want that now.
For once in her life, she wanted to be someone who was chosen and not for what she could bring or for what she represented, but for herself.
But Rafael hadn’t chosen her. He was only marrying her because her pregnancy had forced his hand. And she didn’t want that.
She didn’t want to be someone’s duty or their fix, or their reluctant consequence. And she especially didn’t want to be Rafael’s.
So, no, she wasn’t going to marry him, no matter how many reasons he gave her as to why she should.
Oh, they were good reasons, she understood that. But none of them necessitated actual marriage. Besides, she was tired of doing what everyone else wanted her to do. Why shouldn’t she get what she wanted for a change?
‘No,’ she said flatly and at last lifted her gaze to his. ‘That is not compelling in the slightest.’
It was hard to hold his intense stare, but she managed it. Giving him back as good as she got, the way she always had in the arguments they’d had with each other. Studying the harsh planes and angles of his face, so hard and uncompromising.
Her heart fluttered in her chest in the confusing way it always did whenever she was around him.
‘Then what,princesa?’ A muscle jumped in the side of his jaw. ‘Shall I get down on one knee? Is that what you want?’
‘No.’ She had nothing but the truth to give him. ‘I want to be chosen, Rafael. I want someone to marry me because they wantme.Not because they have no other choice or because our parents arranged it. I’m tired of being someone’s duty and I don’t want to be someone’s obligation.’
His intense gaze narrowed. ‘You’re not an obligation.’
‘Aren’t I? You’re only marrying me because I’m pregnant.’
‘So? This wouldn’t even be an option if you weren’t, because you’d be marrying Matias.’
‘Exactly. But I don’t have to do that now.’ She lifted her chin, held his hard stare. ‘Which means I can choose for myself for a change.’
His expression didn’t alter, but that muscle jumped in his jaw again, the sense of contained frustration gathering tighter in the room.
It was clear that he didnotlike this decision one bit.
‘And what about our child?’ His dark, harsh voice was gritty with temper. ‘It’s not just about you and your choices.’
Her own temper rose as it always did when matched with his, the inevitable excitement she felt whenever she was around him rising, too.
She’d told herself she was going to be calm and measured, but she’d got to her feet before she could stop herself. ‘Your whole life has been about what you want, Rafael. All the choices you’ve made have been for yourself. But mine haven’t. Right from the moment I could walk I’ve been told what my future is, what role I have to take. No one ever asked me what I wanted. Everything wasalwayschosen for me.’
Rafael’s features hardened. ‘Yes, and as I told you before,youcould have chosen differently. No one was forcing you into marrying Matias.’
He’s right and you know it.
Lia ignored the thought. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I had to marry him. You think I could just go and tell him I’d changed my mind? That I could tell my parents that all the work they’d put organising the betrothal and all the training I was given—’
‘All that work that no one asked them to do,’ he snapped. ‘It was whattheywanted, Lia. You said yourself that no one ever asked you what you wanted. They didn’t even think about you.’ His gaze glittered. ‘So why nail yourself to a cross you didn’t even build?’
Her stomach hollowed, a cold feeling winding through her.
You told yourself all this time that they were doing this for you. But was that really the case?
Even as a little girl, no one had asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. And no one asked because everyone knew exactly what Lia would be when she grew up.
Matias’s wife. The Queen.
But it had never been a choice, no matter what he said.
Except what if you had said no?
