Chapter Eleven
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Alessia
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How would I even starttelling all this to Clover when she gets back from her honeymoon?
I sit in stony silence in the limo until I can't anymore.
"How did you know?"I ask.
"We had to know everything about our future bride, Alessia."
"You're just saying that.You don't want to marry me.I'm a mess.Was that a power trip?He might be a prince, but Arthur's country is very weak, really not much to contend with.He's small fry, so why then?"
"Didn't you hear what we said?You belong to us.Every part of you is ours."
"You just met me yesterday.You can't want to marry me already.You don't even know me."
But I know everything I can about them.
"Alessia, do you think we don't know what we felt the instant we saw you?Do you think we'd tell you something that isn't true?We're men of our word.If we say we decided to make you our bride the first time we saw you, it's foolproof."
"And if there was a man threatening you with imprisonment if you stepped into your own country again, it's our business to set him straight or take him out, whichever works best."
"You're ours, Alessia.From the moment we found you in our bed in our apartment, we knew you belonged to us.We had no choice in the matter."
“That was yesterday.You found me yesterday,” I cry.
"Exactly and we needed to stake our claim in a public way with the most influential people in the world, so they'll know you're ours.Norvik is a drop in the ocean for us."
Tears roll from my eyes, but I wipe them away quickly.
"The pearls," I say."They're mine, a family tradition.Each princess is given a set of pearls from the atoll, and she's buried with them.But those were the last ones, and I'm the last to have them.
"I tried to take them with me when I fled—they were the only things that made me miss my home less—but I couldn't.To spite me, my grandmother sold them to a private buyer, and I traced them back to you."
I know my grandmother kept the truly exorbitant sum of money they paid for them through a private anonymous sale for herself.If I thought she would use the money to uplift certain parts of my country, I overestimated her.
