“I didn’t really have a choice, Simmy.” I twisted my fingers in the hem of my sweater as heat crept up my neck.
They told me why they’d agreed to an arranged marriage with a stranger,I reminded myself.It’s only fair that I do the same.
“Yeah, because ‘no’ wasn’t in Arabesque’s vocabulary, right?” Zane leaned back and threw his arm across the back of the couch just above my shoulders. “Bet she handed you that contract like it was a grocery list.”
“It must’ve taken a lot of courage to agree to something like that,” Koa murmured. “I can’t imagine how scared you were on the way here.”
My bottom lip quivered.
Scared didn’t even begin to cover it. The memory of that journey, the dread curling in my stomach like a snake.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” I admitted. “I just kept telling myself I’d survive somehow. No matter what.”
“So, what exactly happened when you got here?” Zane’s smirk was still there, but his eyes were sharp. “How’d you end up looking like you went ten rounds with a Kodiak?”
I hesitated, the words sticking in my throat like glue. A heavy, invisible hand clamped down on my tongue, but I told them what I could around the silence shackle.
“Amabel and Eluned wanted me to know I didn’t belong here.”
“Which one kicked you?” Koa’s eyes told me he was already planning how to dissect them organ by organ and, to be honest, I wasn’t all that opposed.
“Eluned. She hurt Brummy, too, when he tried to protect me.” I reached down and rubbed inside his ears, earning a canine groan of happiness. “My poor baby.”
“What about this?” Casimir ghosted his fingers across the goosebump on my temple.
“Amabel prefers her fists if she has to get physical.” Apparently the whisperbind didn’t cover physical abuse.
“And this?” He skimmed the mark on my jaw.
“Eluned’s shoe. I can’t remember much, though. I wasn’t really conscious for long after Amabel kicked my infected arm and Eluned stomped on my sore ankle.”
“Thosebitches!” Koa’s fists clenched, his knuckles white. “They’ll answer for what they’ve done, beloved! I swear it!”
“And they’re not the only ones who’ve got it coming.” Zane’s smirk turned sharp and dangerous. “Arabesque’s been playing games long enough. Time someone flipped the board.”
“She drained you before sending you off.” Casimir’s jaw cracked. “She wanted you to be unable to defend yourself. They planned it before you ever left your house.”
I looked at each of them. They were so different from anyone I’d ever known, yet I felt like I’d known them all my life.
And I trusted them. Not just because of the bond, but because of how they’d treated me so far. Even if they were monsters to everyone else, they didn’t act monstrous toward me.
“I didn’t agree to the marriage for myself.” I traced the edge of the couch cushion with my finger, my gaze fixed on the intricatepattern of the rug beneath our feet. “There was Brumous, of course, and someone else I needed to protect.”
“Someone needed you more than you needed saving?” Koa’s eyes locked on mine.
“Arabesque had a child.” The confession slipped out raw-edged. “My father’s daughter.”
“Another hostage.” Casimir’s knuckle whitened where he ground it between his eyes.
“You bargained her safety for your compliance.” Koa’s hands were denting the chair arms.
Next to me, Zane’s leg bounced a frantic rhythm.
“You told psycho-stepmom you’d marry Dracula Junior to save a kid that’s halfher?”
“HalfPapa.” My correction came sharper than intended. “I agreed to marry whoever King Lucian chose if Arabesque would surrender the baby and Brumous to me.”
Brumous, lying at my feet, let out a softwhuffas if to remind everyone he was part of the package deal.
