He leaned in until his voice was almost against my lips.
“You run, and every resource I command—every favor owed, every corrupt official, every shadow in Europe and beyond—will hunt you down. You will not make it past the front gate. Do you understand?”
I stiffened but didn’t answer.
My pulse hammered in my ears, my trained instincts screaming to react, to fight.
Yet here, in his domain, all my skills felt muted, powerless against the force that radiated from him.
His nearness pressed against my senses, intoxicating and threatening all at once.
I swallowed, forcing my face into a mask of neutrality, refusing to let him see the fear clawing up my throat.
“Second red line,” he said, his voice dropping into something darker. “You are my wife now—in every sense of the word. You will honor the vows you took before you passed out in that chapel. whether you remember them or not.”
His eyes narrowed, black fire burning in their depths.
“You will never cheat on me. Don’t think about it. Don’t even dare.”
“If you do...” His gaze narrowed.
“I won’t stop at the man you choose over me. I’ll make an example of him so complete that no one will ever dare stand where he stood.”
His voice lowered, turning colder.
“His entire family will pay the price for your mistake. Every name tied to his will be wiped out, piece by piece, until there is nothing left of them but a warning.”
The intensity of his eyes left no room for argument.
Only the heavy, repeated thud of my heart as it sank, a stone dropping into my gut.
“And the last red line you must never cross...”
His voice softened, almost imperceptibly, before dropping again into that lethal undertone that made my chest tighten.
He let the silence stretch, drawing it out until it felt like a blade pressed to my throat.
“While you remain my wife, while you perform your role dutifully and obediently... you will never, not even for a second, cause Violet any kind of pain. Not physical. Not emotional. Nota word, not a glance, not a single act. If you do... I will end you myself, brutally and instantly, without the slightest hesitation.”
The room seemed to shrink.
My knees trembled under the weight of reality, and my fingers dug into the silk of the comforter, desperate for something to anchor me.
The first two red lines... those I could choose not to cross, if it came to it. But the last?
The one about Violet—lit a flame of fury so bright beneath my fear that it almost made my head spin.
“I’ll keep the vows I made on that altar—as long as you keep yours,” I said, even as my voice betrayed me with a slight tremor. “I don’t have to cheat on you... unless you cheat on me first.”
His expression sharpened, something darker settling into his features.
“Test that logic,” he said quietly, his voice like iron dragged over stone, “and you’ll learn exactly what happens when you cross my red lines.”
My chest fell further.
The weight of it pressed on my shoulders, in my ribs, in the pit of my stomach.
Reality crashed over me in waves so sudden I almost swayed.
