Rejected by my Mate, Chosen by his Enemy
"Haydee."
"My name is Talitha." My voice shook the air now, and something under my skin was rising with it, hot and awake. "Talitha Moongale. And I am not fate's prize, or the law's bride, or the rival's ward. I choose myself. Do you hear me? I choose myself."
The Moonstone answered.
Light bloomed inside the dull gray sphere, silver and blinding, and a sound like a struck bell filled the hall. The iron stand groaned. And down the center of the ancient stone, with a crack that stopped every heart in the room, the Moonstone split.