“So we’re just going to go our separate ways and ignore the whole mate thing?”
I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay and get to know him. I wanted to escape with that man I didn’t even know.
“Can I at least help you with your task?” he had asked, voice lower. “And talk?”
I had searched his face, my eyes darting between his before my shoulders slumped with a sigh.
“Okay. But stay close to the edge of the cliff so people won’t see you.”
Now, more than ever, I wished I said to Hell with all this and ran away with him.
My heart was beating fast as Aghen entered our home, eyes instantly finding me sitting at the table while our mother hummed and cleaned the stones behind me.
“Are you okay?” he whispered, giving me his hand to help me stand. My nod was slow and I followed, looping my arm with his.
We stayed silent until the door closed behind us and as the people waiting outside stared at us, arranged in some sort of line leading out of our village, where the Dragons must have set camp.
“What did mother tell you?” he asked, whispering so as not to be heard by the people bowing as we passed.
“The usual. I’m an ugly disappointment, I upset Father and my new husband by not welcoming him myself…Nothing I wasn’t expecting.”
He cleared his throat. “She lied. Amyntas was actually glad you weren’t there because he wanted to rest and settle the camp before the introduction.”
“Should we go back home then?” I asked, casting glances to the bystanders. “Maybe he’d like even more time for himself, I don’t mind waiting for a few more days. Or weeks. Or if he could fuck back off where he came from, that’d be great too.”
Aghen tensed next to me as we kept walking. I was glad the weather was so nice and it hadn’t rained for a while, or hundreds of people would have been watching me walk—and probably fall—in the mud, only to arrive to my future husband dirty. My mother would have had a fit and somehow blamed it on me. Maybe it would have been better, to be fair. Amyntas’ vanity might have decided I was not good enough and left me alone.
“Do you want me to explain to you how this is going to go?” Aghen asked.
“I’ve seen these ceremonies before,” I reminded him. “I’m being put on display for him to check out the goods, and then we’ll meet again at dinner, a whole table just for ourselves while the rest of the clan can watch us interact from their own tables farther away.” I rolled my eyes as I turned my head to look at my brother. “I’m not looking forward to it.”
“It’s not how it’s going to happen here,” Aghen said, now looking straight ahead where a makeshift camp started to appear. “You’re to give him a tour.”
“Why me?” I groaned. “Mother and Father’s other wives are supposed to do that.”
My twin shook his head. “Not today. Amyntas requested thathis Maidendo the tour. Then you’ll escort him to the dining hall and stay with him until dinner is over.”
The idea of being stuck with him for the whole late afternoon and evening made me flinch. Maybe it wasn’t too late to flee. Maybe Dimitri was still near the cave and he’d help me escape.
“Ania,” Aghen said.
My head felt heavy, eyes unfocused, breath short.
I can’t do this, I thought.
“Ania, you can’t stop here, we need to keep walking.”
“I can’t,” I croaked. “I—I don’t want this. I don’t wantto—”
“I know,” he said, pulling me to resume our slow pace. “I have a plan. Just listen to me and stop spiraling.”
A plan. Aghen had a plan. My brother was going to get me out of this.
“Breaking the arrangement will only cause trouble. Youcan’tbreak it yourself, or we’ll all pay the price. We don’t want to start a war.”
I didn’t see how this information—one I already knew—was a plan.
“What if I find my mate before we’re to be married?” I asked, hope flaring. Maybe Amyntas had a tender heart? It would be cruel to force mates to split, right?
