“Hi,” I ground out.
All the guards looked like they wanted to kill me, as if I was an embarrassment to them. A second later, I realized why. I hadn’t used any sort of respectful term to address him. Too fucking bad.
But Sebastian didn’t look angry. If anything, he seemed almost amused.
“It’s a start,” he said. “Rourke, how would you like to leave this place?”
I couldn’t help the pang in my heart. I wanted to leave. Badly. But not like this. Not withhim.
When I didn’t reply, the beta guard who had spoken up earlier blurted out, “Answer His Highness, alpha!”
Sebastian didn’t turn to face him. His eyes were on me, glittering and focused, but everyone in the room knew his words were directed at the beta.
“If you speak out of turn one more time,” Sebastian said calmly, “I’ll have your head on a stick outside the palace by sunset. Have I made myself clear?”
The room turned cold. Everyone avoided the face of the beta who had brought the prince’s ire upon himself, like they were trying to avoid the same fate. The guard in question trembled, silent, and nodded.
Sebastian didn’t look back to see if his orders had been followed. He didn’t need to. He already knew there would be no more people disobeying him today.
Except he hadn’t counted on me.
“Tell me the price of his contract,” Sebastian ordered.
Someone replied in a hurry. “Three million kanis, Your Highness.”
It was three times what the alpha market had paid to Amos in exchange for my freedom—it funded his tuition, housing, and meals, and since my brother was frugal, I didn’t doubt he even had leftovers for savings. One million kanis was a ridiculous amount of money. Three million kanis was mindboggling. Unimaginable. It was probably more than every citizen of the outskirts, lower quarter, and middle quarter made in their lifetimescombined.
But that wasn’t the price of my contract. I knew that for a fact. My contract was only two million. The market was upcharging him. Hell, they were ripping him off. I didn’t know whether to be entertained or worried for their safety.
Sebastian didn’t even blink. He pulled out a leather wallet, took out a handful of paper notes and handed them over. The entire time he did this, he never once took his eyes off me. The beta bowed, took the bills aside to count them privately—he looked a little shocked that his plan of tacking on an extra million had worked—then nodded to the guards.
“Your Highness,” one guard said. “We provide restraint for alphas with temperament problems. We can equip him free of charge before we release him to you.”
Even before they could finish preparing the simple collar and leash, Sebastian interrupted. “That won’t be necessary. I’ve brought my own equipment.”
They paused. I paused, too. My heart stumbled over itself with unease.
Sebastian pulled something out of his pocket. There was a black leather leash and matching collar. But this wasn’t the simple collar provided by the market.
It was studded with diamonds.
My eyes widened in horror.
“Open the gate,” Sebastian ordered.
The guards obeyed. The bars came away until there was nothing standing between me and Sebastian except air.
“I am going to put this on you,” Sebastian explained. “Kneel.”
Adrenaline roared in my blood. Every cell in my body screamed in defiance. No. I wouldn’t. There was no fucking way I was going to do that.
But I couldn’t run, and I couldn’t fight my way out of this. I’d be dead in an instant, and that wouldn’t be fair to Amos, or Shep, or anyone else who wanted me to live.
My chest rose and fell heavily. I stared Sebastian in the eye. He stared right back. It was a stalemate. Neither of us were going to back down. I felt like a cornered wolf staring down a viper coiled to strike.
In a fair fight, I could beat him easily. He was smaller than me, weaker. One good blow to the head was all it would take. But this wasn’t a fair fight. All the odds were stacked in his favor.Everythingabout this world was in his favor. If I fought against the collar, what would that get me in return? A retaliating bite full of venom. To act defiantly would cause my own doom.
My last strand of pride wouldn’t let me kneel. To kneel meant submitting to a man I hated. It meant throwing away everything I believed in.
