to get more power and control. They would never have let me be with their son.
Rebeka’s odd speech to me on the way in made sense. She knew what was going to happen tonight and decided handing me over to an abusive monster was something she could live with if it kept her world protected.
My black-eyed gaze lifted to Rebeka, betrayal and hate spilling from my eyes. She held my stare for a moment, a slight apology in her gaze before she bowed her head, turning back to Sorina.
“I have so many ideas for the wedding; we must get together before you leave.” Rebeka acted as though Caden and Istvan weren’t about to throw down.
I choked. Bile burned up the back of my throat, twisting my stomach.
“Father.” Caden’s chest pillowed, his tone filled with warning.
“Caden.” Sharp. Cold. “Either you gather yourself together and act like the future leader or step out until you do. Let the grown-ups speak.”
Caden jerked back, fury flaring his nose, reddening his cheeks. I could see the debate in his eyes: one part wanted to fight his father, and one part wanted to please him. For a moment, I hoped the first one would win, that I was worth the fight.
Caden stepped back, shaking his head in abhorrence, then flipped around, stomping out of the room, leaving me. His departure made me feel he was throwing me to a pack of hyenas. Isolated. Alone.
“Brexley, I expect you will be more mature than my son.” Istvan turned into my space, speaking directly to me. “You might not be my actual flesh and blood, but I feel you are my daughter. You are smart, savvy, capable, strong, and understand when sacrifice for the greater good is necessary.”
Every word was set to flatter and control. I’d seen him use this tactic so many times.
“Do you understand the importance of this union?”
Disciplined to not show emotion, hiding the sobs building in my throat, my gaze slid over to Sergiu. His sour, annoyed, bored expression made me want to vomit. Elitist and traditionalist, much like his father, he treated women as if they were property. I felt repulsed at the thought of him touching me, thinking he had a right to my body because I was his wife.
Staring at him, I could see my future laid out. I would no longer do anything I loved, living a life in a cage the same as Sorina or even Rebeka. One you survived while you wished for death to take one of you.
I wasn’t built for that.
“Brexley?” Istvan’s voice drew my attention back to him. His eyes now held a bit of softness I had never seen. “I know this is not what you dreamed of. But you are far cleverer than him in everything. I taught both you and Caden the things you need to be great leaders someday. You will be the one to rule…not him.”
That was the real reason for this union. Through me, Istvan was hoping to gain Romania. I’m sure Lazar was planning for the opposite. I was much better suited for battle or running a country. It was well-known Sergiu had been pampered and spoiled his whole life. Even now, he stomped his foot and acted like a petulant child instead of a man who could rule, leading humans into the frontier against the fae.
I couldn’t stomp my feet or cry. I couldn’t throw a fit or tell them all to fuck off. He might say I was like a daughter to him, but I knew my place. I was their ward, owing them my obedience and loyalty for their kindness.
They could have turned me over to my criminal uncle I had never met, who ran off after the Fae War and hid out somewhere in Prague, or my hateful grandmother who banished her son because he fell in love with my mother. This woman saw me as an evil bastard child because my parents had never married. She thought my mother had been socially beneath my father.
The Markos family had fed, clothed, and loved me in their way. They weren’t bad people; they had given me the best of everything. Istvan was strict, but not once had he laid a hand on me. He was the one who taught me chess, who pushed me to study history, languages, and economics. He encouraged me to train in the academy when Rebeka thought I should be behaving more like a lady. It was all to have a smarter,