him, stepping back and narrowing my eyes. He sighs, leaning against the door like he just can’t stand under his own power anymore. He looks pissed off and frustrated, but more than that, he looks exhausted.
“Look, my family is high up in magical society, okay? Powerful. So when I was a kid, my father and a good friend of his from another powerful magical family—they decided I was going to marry this guy’s daughter. I think I was about three years old at the time. Really fucking young. It was a handshake agreement. So I’m not engaged, more like… promised. It was basically a fucking business deal, a plan to merge our magical families and our financial assets through this marriage.”
Holy shit.
That—that’s closing a business deal all right, but with people’s lives. How does this poor girl feel? I know I wouldn’t like it one damn bit. My dad’s an asshole for splitting, and I’ve spent the past thirteen years hating him for that, but at least he hasn’t tried to control my life like this.
I’d rather he be out of my life entirely than trying to dictate how I live it.
Jesus. His own father set this up. If that’s the kind of guy who’s been Dmitri’s parent, the person in control of his life as a child… no wonder he is the way he is. So much about him makes sense now that I know this.
I just wish understanding Dmitri better didn’t come at the price of all this fucked up shit.
“You…” I lick my lips, trying to organize my whirling thoughts. “You aren’t going to go along with it, are you? I mean, you’re one of the most stubborn people I know. You talk back to professors, you never give me or Cam or Asher a break, I think you’re the only person besides me who isn’t intimidated by Roman—you’ve got to stand up to your parents, right? They can’t control you. You’re an adult; you’re twenty-six, for God’s sake.”
Dmitri just presses away from the door and paces halfway across the room, every muscle in his body tense. He stands there silently, and I feel a hysterical laugh bubbling up in my throat.
“You’re not serious!” I choke out. “You don’t even like your parents, why would you throw your whole life away for them? Let them plan everything for you?”
He swallows hard, clears his throat, glares—or tries to—and then finally looks away, like he can’t bear to look at me anymore.
I want to ask if this is it—if we’re breaking up—except that, well, we were never officially together. We weren’t really dating, just… kind of developing into something organically. Cam and Asher are the ones who stood up and said, “we want to date you.” Dmitri never said that.
Maybe he just got swept up in this because his roommates were into me, and hey, the two of us do have chemistry. Maybe he ended up in my orbit without really wanting to be there.
It feels like someone is sitting on my chest, making it impossible for me to breathe.
Fuck. Is this what heartbreak feels like?
I’m not a child. I’m not even a love-struck teenager. I’ve never really been in any serious relationships, and after Mom died and my life became about taking care of Maddy, I sort of gave up on it. Casual flings are all I know, not this serious stuff. I’ve never been able to say that I’ve been in love, and I liked it that way. But this…
Is this what it feels like?
The silence seems to stretch on for ages, until I want to scream. We’re staring at each other. Dmitri’s not saying anything, and I’m not saying anything, because what the fuck would I actually say? The ball’s kind of in his court here anyway, and I’m just wondering if I should leave—
When the door opens.
“And this is where our…”
Asher trails off as he sees Dmitri and me glaring at each other.
The entire Prince family is behind him, and oh fuck. How the hell are they going to react to their brother-slash-son’s girlfriend having a private argument with another guy?
Luckily I’m not crying, and Dmitri and I are standing a good bit apart, not touching or anything. Asher looks from one of us to the other, and I know he’s about to ask what’s going on, so I just quickly slip past him.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” I tell him under my breath.
Asher catches my hand, squeezes, then nods and lets me go as