Chapter 1

Natalia:

The dress was too white.

Too perfect.

Too much like a noose stitched in satin.

It was the reminder of the duty that they wanted me to carry. A duty that I wanted no part in. A rage that I felt coursing through my veins in ways that I didn’t even want to think about.

And I couldn’t wait to get rid of it. All of it.

I ran barefoot, the gravel slicing my feet, my lungs burning with every breath. Behind me, the bells tolled like a mockery, celebrating a union I never consented to. A union that my father had planned for me, but one that I planned to escape. I was not going to give in to what they desired, and I sure as hell was not going to give them what they wanted. I was not going to allow them to seal my fate.

Let them ring. Let them be the reminder that what they were doing was not going to change the reality. Let them understand that I was not going to give in.

“I will not marry a man that I did not choose. I will not give them that satisfaction.” I muttered under my breath.

I didn’t stop running until I reached the bridge. The river below looked calm, almost gentle in the way it reflected the clouds. Like it was promising me silence. Freedom. “All you need to do is jump. You are going to be free of all of this. And you won’t have to meet him…”

I stepped up onto the ledge. The wind caught my veil, ripping it from my head and tossing it into the water like a final blessing. Or a curse.

“Dramatic,” a deep voice cut through the quiet, slow and indifferent. “If you’re going to jump, at least do it with better form. You’ll drown ugly that way. Because if you think that this means freedom, the current is going to end up pulling you with it.”

I froze.

A man stood by the edge of the trees, lighting a cigarette with steady hands. Smoke curled around him like a crown of shadows. He looked like sin in a suit, dark, dangerous, and maddeningly composed. His eyes didn’t flinch, didn’t waver. He didn’t even seem to care that I was on the verge of collapsing, yelling, or trying to escape.

He was watching me like I was a mildly interesting movie he didn’t pay to see. He was watching like he was actually enjoying it!

“Go to hell,” I snapped, my voice cracking more than I wanted it to. “I don’t need you to give me advice that I did not ask for.”

He took a drag. Exhaled slow. “Already there, sweetheart. You thinking of joining me, or are you just making a scene in that pretty dress? As for the piece of advice, I was merely telling you that if you were trying to run away, it was not going to work in your form.”

I turned fully to face him, still balancing on the edge. “This isn’t a scene. It’s my goddamn life. And I do not need you to tell me something that I am capable of doing.”

His eyes flicked up to mine. Something shifted in them. Just a flicker.

“Oh, yeah? And what is that?”

“Running away from the hell that is building up for me to live in, to be obey, and to be used.” I said, and he chuckled.

“And where do you think you’re going, exactly? Where do you think this river ends? Surely you know that there is a waterfall at the end of it?” He asked, putting the cigarette away. I glared at the smoke and he raised an eyebrow.

“Wherever I am going, as long as it is not here, as long as I get my life back. I am going to take it.”

“Good,” he said, stubbing out the cigarette on the bridge railing. “Because people who jump to die don’t usually yell at strangers first. But I think that you need to get down before you ruin more than just your attire.”

I stepped down from the ledge before I knew why.

“Good girl,” he said, making me frown. “How about you go and get cleaned up? Because judging by the bells, it is only a matter of time, minutes, maybe, before they start looking for you…”