“The Mark was the best alternative I could come up with at the time. And thanks to the venom, I didn’t have many other options to explore before it stopped your heart. I asked you to grant me permission to help that night. There was your choice. You betrothed us. I accepted.”
As if I needed a reminder of that grievous error. “Alternative to what?”
“To delay certain urges the acceptance creates.”
“Urges.”
My mouth shut with an audible click as understanding sank in. All of my lust-filled thoughts and feelings toward Wrath had slowly been intensifying. They’d been eroding my distrust and the betrayal I had felt. I’d thought it was only this realm, its tendency toward desire, fueling my emotions, nudging me toward that almost primal frenzy to bed him. But it wasn’t. It was also an ancient need to claim my husband. To secure our marriage.
Goddess above. Wrath was my intended.
I’d been fighting a battle on many fronts and hadn’t even known it. No wonder resisting temptation had been so hard. I’d been battling the bond, the realm, and its nudges for me to face my fears of owning my sexual desire without guilt or shame.
If I was being honest, the conflicted feelings had started well before we came to this world. When he’d been attacked by Envy and bled out before me, something had shifted then.
And prior to that, when I’d been under Lust’s spell, I’d wanted Wrath desperately. For a moment that night, he seemed to want to close the distance between us, too.
I snapped myself into the present. “Your acceptance of the betrothal creates desire?”
“Consummation, along with a traditional ceremony, complete the marriage bond.” He searched my face, probably seeing if I was about to hit him now. I wanted to. Tremendously. “You look…”
“Angry?” I raised my brows and canted my head. He was wise enough to know that the silence that followed was twice as dangerous as raising a hand.
“Create was a poor word choice. It encourages the completion of the bond. At some level, you have to already possess those feelings, or else there’d be nothing for the bond to encourage.”
“Has the realm ever been encouraging me, or is it only our bond?”
“Both.”
“And your summoning Mark does what, exactly?”
“Marking you subdues the marriage urges because it’s its own unbreakable link between us. If you were to think of it in terms of a body of water, it would be similar to a river that breaks into two smaller streams. Each diluting the other to an extent, until they rejoin.”
Which was why he’d brushed his knuckles across the Mark whenever we kissed; he’d been trying to dilute my urges. He also did that while I was under Lust’s influence at the bonfire. Which meant he’d been tamping it down for a while. And hadn’t bothered to tell me.
I don’t know why it stung so badly, but it did.
“What happens if I refuse to accept the marriage? Will I still want you in my bed?”
“The urges will remain, but they won’t ever force your hand, Emilia. That’s not the way the bond works. You will always have a choice. Just as you would with any other partner.”
“I always have a choice,” I scoffed. “Except if I want to marry the devil.”
Wrath stiffened. The words were out of my mouth before I’d given much thought to them. Or how they might impact the prince. In order for him to experience those urges, too, he must possess some level of feelings for me.
And that was… it was too complicated to sort through.
I knew it was unfair to blame him, especially since I was the one who’d originally trapped him in a betrothal, but I couldn’t help but cling to my fury. All of my plans were going up in flames. If I didn’t get to House Pride, I might never discover what really happened to my twin. The only reason I’d even signed that contract was to place myself in the viper’s nest and stop any more witches from being murdered.
Now I was in this realm and stuck in a situation that wouldn’t further my mission. I didn’t come here to find love, or to become Princess of House Wrath. I came for vengeance. I came to be Queen. I was here to destroy the demon who’d killed Vittoria and save my family and island from further danger from invading demons. And Wrath was complicating my entire world.
“Why the secrecy?” I demanded. “If you didn’t want me to sign Pride’s contract you could have told me about this back in the cave that night. Why not ask me to align myself with your House? It makes no sense that you’d hide this from me.”
“Fiancée or not, you are free to join any House of Sin you wish. I won’t ever stand in your way. And I did not tell you because I didn’t want you to come here.”
“Why don’t you want me here?” He pressed his lips together. I wasn’t about to let him get away with that non-response answer again. “Tell me. Tell me this has something to do with the curse and not with another person you love. I need to understand why you keep some secrets and give up others.”
“I cannot. Be content with the answers you’ve gotten.”
I noticed his word choice. Cannot and will not were vastly different. I looked him over, but his expression gave nothing away. I knew he’d chosen those words with care.
“Is this why I can’t travel between the demon courts without an invitation? Because I am technically bound to your House?”
He nodded. “You would still need an escort through the realm since it’s dangerous to travel alone, and we’d need to have a delegation from each House meet at the border of our territories, but yes. As my intended you are seen as the future co-ruler of House Wrath. Therefore, it would be an act of aggression if you were to simply show up at another court without warning or permission.”
“What of the contract I signed with House Pride?”
“If we complete our marriage, it becomes void.”
“And if we don’t? What about the witch murders? Are they still happening?”
“No. They are not.”
“How is that possible? Your entire mission revolved around finding the devil a bride. Unless it was never truly about that…”
Wrath looked as if he wanted to say more but either couldn’t or wouldn’t. His growing silence solidified my earlier worry about the murders having nothing to do with the devil needing a bride to break his curse. Which meant the witches were killed for some reason I’d yet to uncover. Annoyance warred with anger as I glared at the prince of secrets.
“If you choose to do nothing,” he finally said, breaking the silence, “then it will eventually be sent to the Temple of Fate. A council of three will then convene on the matter. That path is ill-advised, but is your choice to make nonetheless.”
“Wonderful. The council will what? Decide then if I marry you or someone else?”
“They will decide the fate of us all.”
I regretted not accepting the drink he’d offered earlier. I rolled my head, trying to ease the mounting tension. There were way too many emotions fighting for dominance right now. Wrath walked over to where I stood and put the glass in my hand, then began circling the room.
“How did you know I wanted the drink? Can you sense my emotions that clearly, or is it an added bonus from our betrothal bond? Or maybe the summoning Mark. It’s hard to keep all of your tricks straight.”