His hands tightened on her waist. “I’m sure Ozik has told you about my proposal. Wouldn’t all of this just be easier if I were the emperor? I’d take you to see your little friend as often as you like, and no one would know the truth of what you are.”
Vaasa’s breathing quickened. He couldn’t tell the world of her magic without facing the wrath of Ozik. In fact, it seemed Ozik was the only thing keeping Lord Vlacik at bay. This poor excuse for blackmail was simply that: a failure. But he was a man with far too much access, far too much information. Dominik had spent so much time worrying about Vaasa while a threat like this had been sitting right beneath his nose.
Their father would have had a man like Lord Vlacik killed.
She couldn’t help herself from hissing, “I will die before I marry you.”
He scoffed at her words, loud enough for people to hear, loud enough to draw attention. His breath coasted over her ear as he whispered, “I don’t need an Icrurian brute’s whore to get what I want.”
Something fisted in Vaasa’s stomach, insult or rage or some terrible combination of them both.
Loud enough for everyone around them to hear, Lord Vlacik said, “Whose son do you intend to squish beneath your feet, then?”
Vaasa slowed to a stop, and the music screeched to silence. Their conversation was no longer meant for only their ears. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb, Vaasalisa,” Lord Vlacik crooned.
Every pair of eyes and ears focused on them, stares like hot iron on her back. “Heiress,” she corrected. This level ofdisrespect was an inexcusable choice on his part, and no matter how unthreatening she needed to seem, she had been born to the continent’s most ruthless conqueror. It would only be expected that she correct him.
She tried to pull away.
Lord Vlacik sneered, still holding her hand and her waist firmly. He turned to the rest of the room and lifted his arm, displaying her for the crowd to perceive, practically crushing her hand within his. “It will take more than dinner and dancing to convince me of this woman’s intentions.”
Lord Karev pulled himself from the wall, and Ozik lifted his chin, watching the interaction closely. A guard at the edge of the room started forward, hand on his sword, eyes moving between where Lord Karev approached and where Lord Vlacik touched her.
Vaasa ripped her hand from Vlacik’s, stepping back from him as if she’d been burned.
“Ungrateful,” one of the other Old Asteryan lords hissed from his position on the side of the room. The man’s eyes met Lord Vlacik’s, seeking approval.
This display of outrage was fabricated, she realized. Vlacik meant to gain favor, to look strong and immovable in the face of all these families. Perception was the only thing that really fueled them; the truth had always come second to the way they could tell it.
Vlacik looked down his nose at her. “Tell us, why should any of our men be forced to marry you for a throne we could take for ourselves? A woman who has already beenruinedby an Icrurian?”
Ozik stood from his chair abruptly, insult carved into the lines of his face. As she peered around the room, it seemed that plenty in the crowd agreed—to them, it was blasphemous to have to work so hard for a woman. In their eyes, the throne should go toone of their men by default, regardless of the law. Regardless of who deserved it.
Vaasa took note of their faces. She categorized each one, considered their threat levels and where their territories lie. She had escaped this. She had fought for a life worth living. Yet in the absence of anything else, this instinct was as natural as breathing. Every expression painted a picture in her mind—of what they thought, what they felt, what they were capable of. She could practically feel every single thing in the room, some innate instinct.
Anger.
Fear.
Pride.
Lust.
Ambition.
Her eyes met Ozik’s for the briefest of moments, and the cords in her body tangled and tightened.Do something, he seemed to say. Icruria had shown her a new path, but as she gazed around the room, she found herself entirely capable of becoming what Reid had once called her.
The most insincere woman he’d ever met.
They were trying to put her in a cage, and she was going to make them pay.
So, despite it all, Vaasa fought a smile.Thiswas familiar.Thiswas a landscape she had been raised in.
Each of these men was about to be ruined, too.
Her eyes met Lord Vlacik’s with the most ridiculous sadness, false tears springing at her command. One slipped down her cheek. She visibly swallowed. He wanted to make himself seem powerful, but in that moment, she knew he was being perceived as cruel. Impolite. Asteryans were nothing if not politically correct, and Ozik had already sold them a story of somedesperate rescue, their heiress saved from the clutches of a violent warmonger.
