The patriarch of House Viper had taken to throwing celebrations in our honor, to introduce members of the First Ring to the promising new candidates and to bid us luck in our training, but Dante and I both knew that the true purpose of the parties was to put us on display, to remind the other families of the power of House Viper and to secure the best possible matches for the descendants that would come after us.
I didn’t mind so much. It was yet another distraction from thinking about the rift between myself and my family, and a welcome one at that. Milo often came to the parties, and Bria was always around. Both of whom had become dear friends and were always capable of offering delightful conversation. I had to endure the presence of Olympia though. Her hatred for me had become nearly palpable, sharpened on the edge of her own failure in the Trials, and now she simply glared at me for the duration of those elaborate events from whatever corner of the room she stationed herself in. Dante advised me to ignore it, and I did, despite the burning on the back of my neck everywhere I went. I knew it didn’t help that his hands were always on me now. They found the small of my back as we walked, brushed through my hair as we spoke, or gripped my hands as we sat. I wasn’t foolish enough to hope Olympia hadn’t noticed.
Finally, after a month, Cosmo’s patience ran out, and Dante and I were summoned to his office. We didn’t sit. We never did in this room, as if we both understood that we needed to be able to run out at a moment’s notice. I wondered if it ever bothered Dante to regard his own grandfather in such a way.
“Cora of House Avus is pregnant,” Cosmo said as his greeting as he shut the door to his office. He settled in behind his desk, keen eyes cast over us, narrowed with purpose. I considered the name. It sounded familiar.
Milo! Cora was supposed to have been Milo’s original partner before the Trials paired him up with someone else.
“She only passed one Trial, and the child’s father did even less than that. No one is expecting great things from that child. But that hasn’t kept Nascha from bragging about it at every turn.
“She’s made me an offer, Dante. And I thought that Adrian, as your partner, should know about it. Particularly because of the arrangement we made to assist her brother in subverting the will of the tribunal.”
My fists clenched at my sides. I wasn’t going to like whatever Cosmo was about to say.
“Nascha has offered Olympia as your bride.”
My gaze whipped to Dante, whose eyes shuttered even though not a single muscle in his body slackened and not an ounce of his expression shifted. He maintained that carefully indifferent expression even in the face of such monumental news. But I’d stared into his gaze enough times by now to understand when the emotional door had slammed shut.
“She understands that we may have…other arrangements,” Cosmo spoke, glancing my way. “But apparently the girl herself requested she make the offer.”
My jaw tensed. I’d been right about the matriarch of House Avus. Scheming bitch.
Dante wasn’t mine. He wasn’t a scrap of meat for Olympia and I to brawl over like two rabid dogs in the street. And yet, her overreach, the audacity of the attempt she was making to claim him for herself, knowing that the Geist had paired us together, made me see red.
“Is this how the First Ring remains in power?” I asked. Cosmo’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t look my way, keeping his eyes firmly on his grandson. “The sale of your very own family in an exchange of flesh?”
“Shut up, foolish girl.” Cosmo quipped before turning back to his grandson. “It seems you have two options. One that is willing, and one that is…dare I say, better. At least, for breeding purposes.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes and crossing my arms.
“You have a month to decide.”
Cosmo delivered that final blow as if it were nothing to him, as though he were asking Dante to choose between two strips of cloth with which to set the table. He waved a hand in dismissal, and Dante turned on his heel and stalked out the door.
I stared after him in shock.
Dante.
I tried reaching out across our mental bond but didn’t get a reply.
Dante.
I followed him out of his grandfather’s office and halfway down the hall, but he ignored me.
“Dante,” I said aloud.
Finally, he whirled around.
“I would never ask it of you,” he growled.
I halted directly in front of him, having nearly run right into him when he stopped, my face only inches from his. His green eyes blazed and his jaw ticked with barely restrained rage, his chest heaving against mine.
“I know,” I breathed.
He blinked, eyes flashing once before he stepped away.
“I’ve known this was coming.” Dante turned away from me and began to pace. He ran a hand through his hair. “Since I was a child, I’ve known that all of this would be arranged for mesomeday. I even expected it to be Olympia, but now that it’s here, now that it’s time, I don’t—I can’t—”
