Fear. Anger. Grief.
And underneath it all, a terrible, aching sense of inevitability.
I always knew this might happen. In our world, daughters are currency. We're traded for alliances, married for strategy, used to cement power. I watched it happen to girls I grew up with. Watched them disappear into marriages they didn't want, to men they didn't love.
I told myself I'd be different. Smarter. Strong enough to avoid that fate.
I was wrong.
"I thought I'd find you here."
I don't turn around. I know my brother's voice.
Reilan O'Rourke is five years older than me, and we've always been close. Where Father is all hard edges and strategy, Reilan has a softer side, though he hides it well. He has to. Soft men don't survive in our world.
"Did Father send you?" I ask as he sits beside me.
"No." Reilan's shoulder brushes mine. "I came because I knew you'd be upset."
"Upset." I laugh without humor. "That's one word for it."
"I tried to talk him out of it," Reilan admits quietly. "Told him there had to be another way. But the Elders agreed. They think this is our best move."
The Elders. The council of old men who really run the O'Rourke family. Father might be the face of our power, but the Elders make the decisions.
And apparently, they've decided I'm expendable.
"What's he like?" I ask. "William Murphy. What's he really like?"
Reilan is quiet for a long moment. "Complicated."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have." He picks up a pebble and tosses it into the fountain. "I've met him a few times. At meetings, negotiations. He's volatile. Impulsive. But he's not stupid. And he's fiercely loyal to his family, even when they don't deserve it."
"So he's a mess," I state what Reilan won't say.
"He's grieving." Reilan's response surprises me. "His father's dead. Alex confessed to the murder and left. Jason's been exiled. The family's falling apart, and William's been handed control he never asked for." He looks at me. "Wouldn't you be a mess too?"
I want to argue, but he's right. If our father died tomorrow, if Reilan was exiled, if I was suddenly responsible for our entire family's survival.
I'd probably break too.
"That doesn't change what this is," I say quietly. "I'm being sold."
"You're being asked to save our family." Reilan's hand covers mine. "There's a difference."
"Is there?"
He doesn't answer. Because we both know there isn't.
We sit in silence, watching the water flow over stones, and I let myself imagine a different life. One where I wasn't born an O'Rourke. Where I could choose my own path, love who I wanted, be something other than a strategic asset.
But that life doesn't exist.
This is the one I have.
"What if I can't do it?" I whisper. "What if I marry him and I can't...what if I'm not strong enough?"
