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He laughed mockingly. “Is living at the top of the food chain so cutthroat?”
“People love it when others fail, regardless of social class.” I sighed. “But especially if it’s a higher class than them.”
There was a heartbeat of silence.
“My mother died a few years ago,” I said. “The aristocrats helped us then. The lower class only laughed at our loss, as if my father’s bank account somehow erased the pain of losing my mother. But then, Father started losing his business and is now losing everything else. That’s why…that’s why I agreed to marry.”
Adrian seemed to process this information for a moment, dropping his head. “You’re not in love with him then?”
I shook my head, laughing even though it was incredibly painful. “It seems you and I are both after stones for money.”
I held up my left hand and wiggled the ring finger to show what I meant. He watched, shutting his eyes for a brief moment and exhaling.
“Is it so easy then?” he asked. “Marrying someone you don’t love for money?”
I chewed my lip. “It’s a horrible feeling.”
“Then don’t do it.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. “Your answer to saving your family is by kidnapping and stealing, yet you want to tell me not to marry unless it’s for love? What a ridiculous irony.”
“The difference is Ienjoykidnapping and stealing. You’re miserable. Who’s the one making the bad decisions?”
“Then maybe when this is all said and done, I’ll just steal the Eros from you and sell it myself,” I teased.
He sat up, leaning in to meet my eyes. I froze.
“I have nothing to lose, princess,” he said softly. “I’ll gladly accept that challenge, but I don’t have faith that you’ll beat me.”
He held my gaze, challenging me. I huffed, sliding off the bed.
“You’re so bloody condescending!” I snapped at him.
He smiled. “It’s part of my charm.”
“One day you’ll be very sorry that you underestimated me.”
“I look forward to it,” he said with a laugh.
His eyes were playful, showing that, once again, he didn’t think seriously of me at all. It was humiliating to even speak of my arrangement and marriage, and to have him tease me in such a way was unbearable.
“I don’t think you’re in any position to lecture me on moral decisions, Captain,” I hissed.
He shrugged. “Then make your own poor decisions and suffer for it. It’s not my business is it?”
He lay on his back and then turned over, not facing me. I huffed again, clenching my jaw.
I couldn’t believe it. Was he making fun of me? What right did he have?Hewas the one doing things illegally, breaking laws and risking the imbalance of the spiritual and physical realms with his pursuits. At least my arrangement was honest.
I gripped my clothes, trying to get my hands to stop shaking.
I wasn’t immoral. I wasn’t.
I would marry a good, stable man of high reputation. He would take care of me and my family. We wouldn’t suffer at the hands of others like we had before, and my husband would do what he could to keep our family together.
Wouldn’t he?
Or was I fooling myself into thinking that my arranged marriage would bring me any happiness at all? What if it was all a lie?
