“Lucky me.”
“Yes,” Quill said. “That is precisely how you should see it.”
The Mark twitched again.
Caspian Ashford.
It had done that in the south attunement room. Reachedacross a basin for Caspian without asking me first. Pulled me toward a boy who had spent the last week trying to ignore me and failing at the worst possible times.
Quill saw the movement.
“Your Mark understands the offer.”
“My Mark has terrible judgment when it comes to men.”
He ignored that.
“Consent will still be requested.”
“Requested?”
“At the formal. Before the school. In the accepted language.”
I looked at the brooch instead of my wrist.
“And if I say no?”
Quill closed the brooch case with one finger.
“Then the Council will be… disappointed.”
“Heavens forbid.”
“Disappointment changes the range of options available to patient men forced to deal with a girl like you.”
There was the knife.
Placed where I could see the handle.
“What options?”
Quill’s hand remained on the case.
“You are very young, Astra.”
“You say that like it’s something I should apologize for.”
“No,” he said. “It is the thing most likely to be used against you.”
The room had been too warm from the moment I entered.
Suddenly it was worse.
Sweat gathered at my hairline and under the collar of my shirt.
I looked at the black case.
“So this is what? A bribe?”
