The Agreement

Arianna's POV

Silence descended over the chamber, heavy and immediate. Prince Cassian sat several feet away near the window, his blindfold firmly in place.

"Come closer."

My body stiffened. "Why?"

A faint crease appeared between his brows. "Do you question every order you're given?"

"Only when I don't understand it."

Silence stretched between us. I expected him to snap, to remind me of my place. Instead, something unreadable touched his features.

"Come closer, Lady Arianna."

I hesitated before taking a step forward, then another, stopping several feet away from his wheelchair. "Here?"

"Closer."

I took one more step.

"Closer."

I clenched my teeth, letting out a sharp breath. "How close do you want me to get?"

The corner of his lips lifted into the faintest ghost of a smile. "You're surprisingly impatient."

"I'm standing in the private chamber of a man whose wolf nearly tore five women apart yesterday," I retorted. "I think I've been reasonably patient."

The faint amusement disappeared. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, he gestured toward the velvet chair opposite his own.

"Sit."

I lowered myself onto the edge of the seat, keeping my posture rigid. The moment I settled, his voice cut through the quiet.

"The wedding will take place in two days."

"I know. The King made that clear."

"Then let us clarify the rest." Cassian leaned back slightly. "The Council demanded a marriage and an heir. Before the court, you will give them both."

"And behind closed doors?"

"I will not demand affection or devotion from you. I will not expect you to become my wife beyond what the Crown requires. You will stay out of my affairs, and I will stay out of yours."

I crossed my arms. "And if I refuse?"

"You won't."

"You seem very certain."

"Because refusing me will not stop the wedding."

The blunt truth silenced me. He was right. Defying Cassian here wouldn't free me from the King's decree; it would only leave me trapped in this palace without any terms of my own.

"Why me?" I asked, keeping my voice level.

"The Council chose your body. Not you."

The words struck harder than I expected. To them, I was not a person. I was a solution to their succession problem—a vessel defined by my two wombs to secure the royal bloodline.

"And you?" I countered. "Why did you choose me?"

A brief silence followed.

"My wolf chose you."

"...Why did it choose me?"

"I don't know." For the first time, a shadow of genuine uncertainty entered his voice. "My wolf has never accepted anyone before."

"The Council wants this marriage to prove I am fulfilling my duty," he continued, his tone cold and deliberate again. "You will give them something convincing enough to keep their attention where I want it."

I frowned, catching the hidden meaning beneath his words. "Away from what?"

"That does not concern you."

He opened the drawer beside his wheelchair, removed a folded parchment, and set it on the table between us.

"Read it. Sign it."

I leaned forward and picked up the document. The terms were brief: I would complete the wedding, perform the public duties of Crown Princess, and maintain cooperation in all public matters before the Council. In return, he would not demand anything beyond what the Crown required.

Nothing on the parchment looked like an obvious trap, which only made me wonder what Cassian had deliberately left unwritten. Refusing the contract would not stop the wedding. It would only leave me trapped in it without terms of my own.

I picked up the pen resting beside the parchment. My hand trembled slightly, but I pressed the ink into the paper, signing my name at the bottom.

Arianna.

I slid the agreement back. Cassian placed a hand flat over the parchment.

"Good," he said. "Our arrangement begins now."

I stood up from the chair, eager to leave the heavy atmosphere of the room. "If you'll excuse me, Your Highness."

He offered a single, quiet nod.

The contract gave me boundaries, but it did not give me safety. Until I understood what Cassian had deliberately left out of that agreement, I needed an escape route before his unwritten plans closed around me.

I turned toward the door. As I walked across the room, my mind absently retraced the layout of the wing I had observed since arriving.

One high window.

One main door.

A second exit half-hidden behind the towering bookcases.

Three possible routes once I reached the corridor outside.

My hand reached for the door handle.

"You counted three routes."

Every muscle in my body locked.

Slowly, I turned around.

Cassian hadn't moved. He was still seated in his wheelchair, the dark blindfold covering his eyes, his posture entirely relaxed.

My heart slammed into my ribs. That was impossible. He shouldn't have known.

"You've been planning your escape since the moment you entered this palace, Lady Arianna," he said, his voice smooth, cold, and absolute.

I stared at him, unable to speak. He had known exactly where I stood. He had known what I was looking at.

My fingers tightened around the door handle.

"...How?"

I whispered.

Cassian turned his blindfolded face unerringly toward me.

Then I forced the question past my tightening throat.

“You can see, can’t you?”

He didn't answer my question. Instead, his quiet command cut straight through the silence. "Stop planning your escape."

A chill crept up my spine.

"I wasn't..."

"You were." His voice stayed calm, certain, and completely unyielding. "You won't leave."

"Not until I say so."