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As I said. Fearful, breakable creatures.
It stood to reason, I would have never decided to apply for a human bride on my own. But when Ivo dared me, I did it, of course. To refuse a dare was to be a coward.
We drew the blood sample from my finger, sealed it, and Ivo made a point of following me to the portal to make sure I sent it. When I sobered up the next day and had just set out to withdraw my application, a messenger came from the temple, informing me I got a match.
Now, two days later, was the date of my wedding. My bride waited for me in the temple, and I was going there not to say my wedding vows, but to politely reject her.
Because I’d sooner freeze than marry a human.
Chapter 2
Scarlett
He was late. I paced from one end of the empty wedding chamber to the other, my stomping footsteps echoing louder and louder against the marble walls. It was so fucking typical of a man, I thought, clenching my jaw so hard, it hurt. Disrespecting his future wife right from the start.
Well, at least I knew what to expect of him. I could brace myself and take all the scorn and disrespect he would surely dish out, because I was used to it. My father had trained me well.
The heavy skirts of my woolen dress swished around me with every angry step, and I raked my fingers through my long, blond hair. Even though I had taken great care to brush it this morning, it was already frizzy, small curls forming where the snow had melted during my journey. The resulting look was likely hideous, and I gritted my teeth, refusing to let it bother me.
It did, though. I couldn’t help but think I should have worn a braid. I would have—if not for my mother.
“Leave it loose,” she said when I was getting ready in the morning. “That hair is your only womanly quality. You don’t want to scare him away with your boyish looks, do you?”
And even though that pill was so bitter, it burned my throat, I swallowed it with difficulty and did as she said. Because it was true. Ididn’twant my future monster husband, no matter how repulsive, disrespectful, and tardy he was, to reject me. I would do anything for him to take me away. I desperately wanted to be free of my mother’s harping, the village people who scoffed whenever they saw me, and the deadly burden of my father’s debts crushing me every night so hard, I couldn’t breathe.
My father was dead, but in the final years of his life, he managed to drink away every last penny Mother and I made. He amassed a mountain of debts from goblin usurers, and goblins were known for one thing—they always got their money back.
Already, me and Mother had been insulted and threatened with arson. Only a few days ago, the goblins came again, giving us one last chance to pay up before they set fire to the old, neglected shack where we lived.
Being the goblins’ debtors immediately upset Mother’s and my social standing, already wobbly because of my father’s drunkenness. We were pariahs and no one was willing to help us.
So when I finally got my match from the temple, over a year after sending in my application, I wept from joy, even though I didn’t usually cry. The money my monster husband would pay for me was enough to cover my father’s debts. It would free my mother from his shadow and let me leave her and our unfriendly village behind with a clear conscience.
Did I dread marrying a monster? Maybe, but the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages. Because one good thing about the matchmaking temples was the generous settlements they required from the monster grooms in return for matching them with human women.
Getting away from my home village, a place of many dashed hopes and scornful looks, was an added bonus. But for all that to happen, I actually had to marry the monster and then have sex with him. Only consummated marriages were valid.
I stopped in front of the gilded door leading into the corridor outside the chamber. My hands shook, and I balled them into fists, trying to control the outward signs of my nerves. Because I wasn’t just angry at my groom for being late. The fury was, frankly, a cover-up. Anger was my usual way of dealing with the sea of fear underneath.
I was truly terrified of meeting my new husband.
Even though the priestess who processed my match told me what he was—a male from the old lineage of Frosts from the mountains—I had no idea what he looked like. Did he have fangs and claws? Batlike wings? Spikes running down his back? Was he stupid and brutish or gentle and refined?
I had no idea. Before today, I had never heard of the Frosts, expecting to be matched to something more common, like a troll, a vampire, or some type of shifter.
Or no one at all, if I were completely honest with myself. My father had drilled into me that I was undesirable, a shrew and a bitch unfit for marriage. Sometimes, his words got so deep under my skin, I believed them. But I also knew, logically, he was wrong. I could be kind and friendly. Maybe. Sometimes. Mostly toward women and children.
He simply never gave me a chance, because he had such a foul temper, the only way to deal with him was with snarls and barbed insults.
I hugged myself, squeezing my arms tight with nervous fingers, and looked around helplessly. There was no clock in the wedding chamber. I had no idea how much time had passed since the priestess left me here, telling me she’d be back in ten minutes with my groom. All I knew was the promised ten minutes passed a long time ago.
Was he simply late? Or was he stuck dealing with the paperwork? Maybe he had applied on a lark and now couldn’t pay?
I huffed and threw the door open, stomping out into the corridor leading to the main area of the temple. I wasn’t good at sitting patiently in a corner, and I wouldn’t do so now. If he was in the temple already, I would meet him head on, no matter how scared the prospect made me.
I walked fast, fueling my rage with fighting thoughts.So he thinks he can disrespect me? He thinks I’ll just meekly wait for him because he’s a big, scary beast? Tough luck, monster boy. I’m coming for you, and I’ll drag you to that altar with bare hands if I have to.
When I reached the main area, I stopped, looking around the brightly lit hall. It was big, with a domed ceiling supported by impressive columns made of veined blue marble. Circular stations were evenly spaced out on the marble floor, each manned by a priestess. On the far side of the hall, a portal shimmered with blue and green light, a bored operator standing by the golden arch.
