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Jack shocked me again by falling to one knee with a grunt. His head was now finally below mine, though not by much, and I could look at his face from up close, noticing the thin red circles around his orange irises, the way his wide, flat nostrils flared, and a fang peeking out from under his upper lip as he gave me an uncertain smile.
Oh, God.He kneeled. A man kneeled for me in front of an audience, and I had never felt so… so… wanted. It was like he really cared.
“Will you marry me, Scarlett?” he asked in a low, intimate voice that made my body buzz with pleasure. He had such a good voice. Rough and masculine, with just a hint of a melodic accent.
“Yes. Thank you,” I said, and it made his smile widen until two tips of white fangs peeked out.
Another round of applause followed, and I didn’t even dare look around, my cheeks burning furiously hot. I felt loose and unmoored, all that tension inside me leaving, but not entirely gone. Because getting married was just step one. I had to get Jack to sleep with me tonight and somehow, it seemed like that might require another battle.
He had rejected me, after all, even though I got him to agree to this match in the end. He probably didn’t feel attracted to me, which was understandable. I didn’t have a womanly figure, I couldn’t smile sweetly, and my temper was foul most of the time. And even though I didn’t agree with many of my father’s opinions about me, these were facts.
So this fight wasn’t over.
I stood by Jack’s side as he dealt with all the paperwork the temple required. As he counted out the gleaming credits into a golden bowl, I thanked the stars each time a coin clinked against metal. I knew the temple took a percentage of the fee, but the rest would be sent to my mother. I cringed, imagining how happy she’d be when she got it. All her burdens, meaning her debt and her bossy shrew of a daughter, gone in one day.
And right before Christmas, too. My mother was a lucky woman. Whereas I…
“We have the Frost marriage rite on record,” the priestess said, drawing me out of my anxious thoughts. “We can use it if you’d like. The other option would be to go with our standard wedding vows. Which do you prefer, Mister Frost?”
I looked up at Jack, who scratched the fur behind his antler with an uncertain expression. When he looked down, his eyes meeting mine, I bit back a gasp. Now that I was out of the battle mode, with at least part of my future secured, I had no more panic and fear to distract me from how alien he looked.
Yet his eyes, even with their unsettling coloring, sparkled with intelligence and kindness.
“Our family rites are very poetic,” he said, and I realized with a jolt, he was speaking to me. “Though to be frank, a Frost wedding is mostly about the eating, drinking, and dancing that goes on for days after the ceremony… Which we can’t do without my family here. So… would you like to use our family vows?”
Our family.I knew he wasn’t including me in there, just speaking about the Frosts, and yet, those words sent a painful jab into my heart.Family.Of course, he had to have one. Really, the Frosts were more like a clan from what I understood. After my dysfunctional family of just me and my parents, becoming a part of a clan would be… different. The thought of it made a weird longing rise up in my chest, and I did my best to thwart it before it consumed me.
Also… he asked for my opinion. I knew brides had no say in these matters. They just waited demurely in the wedding chambers for their monster grooms to come and claim them, but I… I had already broken the protocol. I might as well get a say in how my wedding happened.
“Um, yes, of course,” I said. “I… It would be a pleasure.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, unsure whether that was the right thing to say. Maybe it would be better to keep the wedding as formal as possible? It was a transaction, after all, and I had no delusions that Jack would become a doting husband for his human stranger of a bride. But I was curious about those poetic vows, and I really wanted to hear them.
When Jack grinned, his fangs peeking out, I knew it was the right call. Because I wanted him to like me, at least until we fucked and the marriage was sealed. After that… I had no idea. It seemed impossible I could be a good wife for anyone, let alone a monster from a race I knew nothing about.
I’d do my best, though. Hopefully, he would, too, though I wouldn’t hold my breath.
When I glanced at the priestess, she gave me an encouraging smile and nodded at Jack. “Well, then. Everything is settled. Scarlett, could you guide Mister Frost to the wedding chamber? And I’ll fetch a copy of the vows.”
I gave her a sharp nod and set out, not looking back to see if Jack followed. I had exactly a minute to contain the shaking of my hands and stop my knuckles from bleeding, which seemed impossible. To stop the bleeding, I would have to stop clenching my fists… but that would make their trembling painfully obvious.
So I just walked, taking deep breaths, until a warm, heavy hand fell on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks.
“Wait.” Jack’s deep rumble made me stiffen with unease, because I couldn’t help but think he was about to change his mind.
But when I turned back, he looked at me with a kind expression, his eyes glowing in the gloom of the corridor as he spoke. “Give me your hand.”
Chapter 5
Jack
She hesitated, her eyes darting from side to side. Now that I had agreed to marry her—don’t think about it or you’ll go insane, just do it—her demeanor became much less combative and now verged on uncertainty.
Which was so strange. I had Scarlett pegged for a ridiculously self-confident or even arrogant person because of how she approached me, making her demands, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“I just want to tend to your wound,” I said, realizing maybe she needed more context. We didn’t know each other, after all, even though my body screamed with every heartbeat that it knew and craved her.
Now I understood why the priestess was so adamant I at least met Scarlett before rejecting her. She knew I wouldn’t be able to resist.
