Marry Me To Destroy Them
I looked out the window instead of answering, because I didn't trust my voice not to betray how much that sentence had unsettled the careful architecture of my composure.
"The cage," I said finally, testing the word out loud, thinking of the marriage contract, the public conduct clause, the shared residence, the ring that would soon sit on my finger like a brand. "That's what this is, isn't it? You said I'd belong to you completely. That's not a partnership. That's ownership with better manners."
He was quiet for a moment, and when I finally looked back at him, his expression had gone unexpectedly raw, the mask slipping just slightly, just long enough for me to see something underneath it th