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“Do you understand the predicament we’re in now?” I snap, my patience officially paper-thin. “If you think this is a game, you’re wrong. The only thing keeping our families from slaughtering one another is this marriage. Without it, our families will go to war.”
Alina’s shoulders tremble, her face stark white. “How many would…”
“How many would die? Hundreds. Possibly thousands—onbothsides. Not to mention the innocents who would get caught in the crossfire. You and I are the only ones standing in the way of the bloodshed.”
She looks like she might topple over at any given moment. Alina wanders aimlessly into the living room area and plops down on the couch, the weight of the world crushing her.
“I didn’t know,” she whispers.
“Now you do.”
“This is sounfair. Why didn’t Mother…” Alina wipes at her eyes with a frustrated groan. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“I doubt it would have made a difference,” I confess. “Whether you knew or not, it wouldn’t have mattered. We would have been married for the sake of peace, either way.”
Alina is silent, likely at a loss for words. I get it. I really do. Because I’m right there with her. Thisisn’tfair. We’ve been dragged into an agreement that neither of us wants to be a part of, but at the end of the day, our arms are twisted behind our backs.
“How did you even know to find me?” she asks, so soft and quiet I miss the first half of what she says.
Tired, I enter the living room and take a seat next to her. I’m surprised when she doesn’t react, doesn’t try to push me away. A respectful few inches remain between us, but Alina looks too worn out and crushed to put up a fight.
“Your phone,” I explain. “It has a tracking app.”
She groans, rolling her eyes at herself. “I should have known.”
I shrug a shoulder. “I knew you’d try to run away again; it was just a matter of when and how.”
Alina reaches into her pocket and pulls out some money. “I should probably give this back to you, then. Though it’s a little less than I took.”
I’ll confess I’m not even angry. She’s resourceful, I’ll give her that much. Fast on her feet. If our situation weren’t so dire, I’d probably be impressed. Besides, five thousand dollars is peanuts to me.
“Is there anything else I should know?” she grumbles.
“That’s pretty much it. If this marriage doesn’t work, our families will be at each other’s throats.”
A soft sob bubbles past her lips. Alina tries to stifle the sound in her palms, but it’s too late. She begins to cry in earnest, her anguish ripping at her throat as her body tremors with the effort.
My heart twists. I can’t stand to see her like this. I’m not mad at her for trying to run away again. I understand completely. We’re in the same boat, she and I. Our wings have been clipped against our will.
Cautiously, I reach out, an action based purely on instinct. I want to comfort her, but I think against it, drawing my hand back. I don’t want to make an already uncomfortable situation more unbearable. I’m genuinely worried that if I touch her, she might break.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her as gently as I can. “Truly. Were it up to me, I’d let you go.”
Alina wipes her nose with the back of her sweater sleeve and tilts her head back, closing her eyes as her lips part just so. “I’m sorry, too.”
“For what?”
“For being such a pain in the ass. I swear I’m not usually like this.”
“Would you blame a caged animal for lashing out?”
She snorts. “Are you comparing me to an animal?”
“The allegory works, doesn’t it?”
She laughs bitterly. “Yeah, I guess.”
I stare at her for a moment, settling on her worried lips. “Are you going to try and run away again?”
