“The ranch? Yes, yes, but you could have so much more. Power, status—even the right to marry.”
“I don’t want more, and I don’t wish to be married.”
“Come now, Selene! Marriage is the best thing for a woman. It’s time you remembered who you are.”
“I’m no longer your pawn,Father.”
The word burns. He releases me as if scorched by the venom in my voice.
“I’ll see you after the Selection,” he says frostily. He gives a warm nod to Kat, and then he’s gone.
The silence roars in his absence. I flinch as Kat’s hand grazes my shoulder.
“You didn’t have to be so cruel,” she gently chides me.
“And you shouldn’t let him use you,” I snap.
She sighs. “He’s lost so much…”
“Then let him name you his heir. Or the son Lori will most likely bear him.”
“He can’t,” she says, shaking her head, “not until I’m twenty-one. And Lori won’t deliver for another six months.”
I grip my reins tighter. “You always defend him.”
“You don’t know everything he’s been through.”
I grip the lead rope tighter.
And you don’t know what he almost let happen to me,I think.
My breath catches at the memory, and I look away.
“The Selection’s soon,” I say quietly, changing the topic. “I’ll sell the mares and meet you there.”
I watch as she turns toward the fire, toward the music, toward her fate. I want to follow, to drag her back, but my feet stay rooted.
The fire always takes the best of us.
Chapter 4
The Selection
Ihead toward the livestock pens at the heart of the market. Just as I pass the farrier’s tent, a shadow darts from behind an adjacent building.
“BOO!”
I whirl around and let my fist fly into the face of my attacker.
“Ow!Selene, it’s me!”
As the confusion clears, I find myself facing Aaron Grey, whose very name grates on my nerves. “Aaron Michael Gray! You imp!”
He only pouts, casting a forlorn glance at the horses. “Aww, they didn’t even spook.”
“They’re trained not to, you dolt!” I snap, still fuming.
A tuft of Aaron’s auburn curls escapes his leather cap, emphasizing the freckles dancing across his nose. The son of the minister of coins, he’s stupidly handsome, infuriatingly charming, and worst of all, he knows it. He’s grown taller since last I saw him—broader in the shoulders, too—but he still wears that same boyish smirk that gets him both into and out of trouble more often than not.
