Chapter 11: Trip

I sat at the vanity, still in my robe, staring at the crystal dress hanging on the closet door, and let myself finally think through everything that had happened in the space of one impossibly long day, the events refusing to settle into any order that made sense no matter how many times I turned them over.

Yesterday morning, I’d woken up a bride, nervous and hopeful, still believing Sherwood loved me, still planning the small details of a future that had never actually existed outside my own imagination.

By midday, I’d died, my skull cracked against cold marble while the two people I trusted most calmly discussed disposing of my body like an inconvenient piece of furniture.

By evening, I’d been reborn into the exact same morning, forced to relive it all with the terrible knowledge of what waited behind that guest room door, every familiar detail turned suddenly sinister by hindsight.

By nightfall, I’d been claimed by a stranger powerful enough to command an entire cathedral into silence, carried out like a prize, married against my will for the second time in a single lifetime.

I laughed, short and humorless, the sound cracking apart halfway through into something closer to a sob, the two emotions blending together until I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

What a spectacular mess my life had become. Cheated on. Murdered. Reborn. Sold. Married to the most feared man in our entire world, all before I’d even had the chance to properly grieve any of it, let alone catch my breath long enough to figure out who I even wanted to be in this second, unwanted life.

I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes, caught somewhere between laughing and crying, unable to fully commit to either one, the vanity mirror reflecting back a woman I barely recognized anymore. It was almost funny, if I let myself think about it sideways.

The Moon Goddess had promised me a second chance, and instead of freedom, I’d traded one gilded cage for another, one that simply came with better security and considerably nicer curtains.

A knock sounded at the door before I could spiral any further into my own hysteria.

“Come in,” I called, wiping my face quickly, refusing to let him see any evidence of the breakdown he’d nearly walked in on.

Jason stepped inside, dressed impeccably in dark evening wear, his eyes finding the dress hanging on the closet door before they found me, a flicker of anticipation crossing his face that he didn’t bother to hide.

“Hope you like it.” Something almost boyish flickered across his usual composure, an eagerness I hadn’t expected from a man who commanded armies of guards without raising his voice.

I stood, gathering whatever remained of my resolve, and faced him fully.

“If you think luxury is going to buy your way into my heart, Supreme Alpha, you’re sorely mistaken.” I lifted my chin, meeting his gaze with as much steel as I could manage after the emotional wreckage of the last few minutes, praying he couldn’t see how close to the surface that wreckage still sat. “I will never love you. I’m simply following the terms of our little arrangement, playing along for thirty days, and then I’m walking straight out of this ridiculous mansion the moment the clock runs out. Mark my words.”

Something flickered behind his eyes — not quite amusement, not quite hurt, some complicated mixture of both that I refused to examine too closely.

I turned on my heel, intending to sweep past him toward the bathroom with as much dignity as I could salvage, when my foot caught on the trailing edge of my own robe.

The floor tilted violently beneath me.

“Oh no—”

I pitched forward, arms flailing uselessly for something to catch myself on, and collided instead with a solid wall of chest and steady arms that closed around me before I could hit the ground.

Jason had moved faster than should have been physically possible, catching me mid-fall with an ease that suggested he’d been anticipating exactly this outcome, or perhaps simply trusted his own reflexes more than I trusted my own feet, given how little grace I’d managed to display since walking into this house.

My hands landed flat against his chest, my heart hammering from the near-fall and something else entirely, something I refused to name even privately.

I looked up, and found him already looking down at me, close enough that I could see the flecks of gold still lingering at the edges of his irises, close enough that the confident speech I’d just delivered felt suddenly, thoroughly ridiculous.

“Careful.” His voice had dropped low, quiet amusement threading through the single word, his arms still steady around me despite the fact that the danger had clearly already passed. “Wouldn’t want my future ex-wife breaking her neck before she gets the chance to walk out on me properly.”

Heat flooded my cheeks, equal parts embarrassment and something I refused to call anything other than irritation.

“Let go of me,” I managed, though I made no immediate move to actually pull away.

“In a moment.” He didn’t loosen his grip, didn’t so much as shift his weight, studying my face with an intensity that made it difficult to remember exactly what I’d been so certain of thirty seconds earlier. “You did just deliver quite the speech, princess. Mark my words, wasn’t it? Very dramatic. I almost believed you meant it.”

“I did mean it.” My voice came out breathier than I wanted it to, undermining the conviction I was trying desperately to project.

“Mm.” He finally set me back on my feet, though he took his time about it, his hands lingering at my waist a beat longer than strictly necessary, long enough that I felt the warmth of them through the thin fabric of my robe. “We’ll see, princess.”