HER ARRANGED MARRIAGE のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

CHAPTER 002The Weight of a NameCECILIAMy father's study always felt smaller than it actually was.It was not a small room. It had high ceilings, wide shelves lined with books and old pack records, a desk that had been in our family for three generations. But whenever I walked into it for a serious conversation, the walls always seemed to close in a little.I shut the door behind me and stood across from his desk.Bonn did not look up immediately. He was reading something, or pretending to. I waited, because I knew this man and I knew his silences. This one was deliberate. He was gathering himself before he spoke, which meant whatever was coming was something he had already prepared for.He finally set the paper down and looked at me."Sit.""I am fine standing."He held my gaze for a moment, then let it go. "The pack is talking, Cecilia.""The pack is always talking.""Not like this." He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands on the desk. "The elders called a meeting two days

Chapter 004The Mating Ceremony and the Last StepCECILIAThree days passed and I did not participate in a single preparation.I spent every morning and afternoon on the training grounds, pushing myself and whoever was willing to come at me until my body had nothing left to give. It was the only thing that made the time feel like mine. The moment I stopped moving, reality crept back in, and reality was something I was not ready to sit with.But time did not care about that.The morning of the ceremony arrived grey and cold, the sky flat and sunless, and I stood at the window of my room watching it and thinking that at least the weather had the decency to be honest.They dressed me in white virgin silk. It clung to every line of my body and left my shoulders bare, the traditional dress of an unmated female surrendering to her male. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself for a long moment.I had worn battle armour my entire life and never once felt exposed in it. This dress

Chapter 006CASSIANI loved the look on her face.She was spread out across my chest with both arms wrapped around my neck like she had been there all night, which she had, and the moment she registered where she was and how she had got there, every bit of colour drained from her face and then rushed back twice as fast.I kept my expression completely straight. It took more effort than I expected.She pushed herself up slowly, eyes narrowing at me like I had personally arranged her position while she slept."You did this," she said. "You moved me there deliberately just to spite me.""I was asleep, Cecilia.""I do not care. You did it somehow." She straightened, still glaring. "I cannot believe you would stoop this low."That was when the laugh got out. I could not hold it any longer. It came out fully and I did not bother trying to pull it back.She stared down at me. "What exactly is funny?""You." I looked up at her. "You genuinely cannot accept that you crawled onto me in your slee

Chapter 008CECILIA I stepped into the room fully and stopped at the center.He was there. Actually there, lying on the bed like he owned it, which I supposed he did, but that was not the point. I blinked once just to be certain my eyes were not playing tricks on me after the day I had just had."Cassian."He did not look up immediately. The sheet of paper he was reading stayed where it was, held above his face, and then he slowly lowered it and looked at me with the same calm expression he wore for everything."My love," he smiled.I grabbed my shoe off my foot and threw it at him.He moved his head to the side and it sailed past his ear and hit the headboard behind him. He sat up and stared at me."What was that for?""You know what it was for." I snapped angrily. I turned and walked further into the room and turned away from him, taking in the space properly for the first time.It was large. Much larger than I expected, and almost entirely bare. There was a bed taking up the cent

Chapter 010CASSIANI pulled her in before she could step back.My hands found her waist and drew her forward and she came, mostly because the surprise of it froze her for a full three seconds. I watched her face go through shock, realization, and then outrage in quick succession, and then she planted both hands flat against my chest and shoved.I let her."Do not touch me," she said. The growl underneath it was genuine."You walked into me," I pointed out."That does not give you permission to grab me."I put my arm around her shoulders instead, lighter this time, casual, the way you would with someone you had known for years. "Stop performing. You enjoy this and we both know it."She shrugged my arm off with the efficiency of someone who had been practicing. "Are you following me?""I live here.""That is not what I asked.""I was coming back from the east corridor. You turned the corner and appeared." I spread my hands. "I did not plan it. Though I am not complaining about how it en