She dragged her mouth away and tried again to claw away from him, fighting as her breathing increased.
"Ana!" Ryden growled as he let her scramble away again. "It won’t be like with him."
Ana kept her head low and nodded, taking a deep breath before raising her eyes to him. Maybe that was what she was afraid of. "I just need time, Ryden" she said, almost pleading. "Please give me time to get used to being close to you. My first sexual experience was with him and… I just need time."
Ryden's eyes flashed. "You are my mate. I will not have you withdrawing from me."
Ana’s mouth tightened at his tone. "Yes," she remarked bitterly. "We have to get on with our breeding duties to pay for this alliance, don't we?"
He moved so quickly she didn't even have time to yelp before he grabbed her and threw her onto the bed.
"I allowed your comments last night because I understood you were distressed.” Ryden’s contorted features made him look like a different man—still beautiful, still Ryden, but sinister. Fear crept into Ana's chest as she stared up at him. "But you will not use that tone with me again, Ana. I don’t know what happened during those nights with him—I’m sure you screamed and fought and withdrew from him. But you will not behave that way with me. You will be respectful of me. Do you understand?"
Ana nodded, her eyes wide.
The anger seeped from Ryden's eyes and he relaxed his grip on her. "You are the perfect princess," he murmured, his voice slightly softer. "And we are a perfect match. We just need to overcome the difficult start we’ve had." He lowered his mouth onto hers again, and this time Ana tried to kiss him back. She had to at least try to spark the feelings she knew were there for him. Squeezing her eyes tight and ignoring all the alarm signals in her body telling her something was wrong, she pressed her lips back against his. But eventually she couldn't help but wrench her mouth away and turn her head to the side.
Ryden lifted up, watching her for a long moment, a blend of annoyance and resignation in his eyes. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "If you need time, you can have time," he said, his voice low. "But on our wedding night there will be no more abstinence between us, Ana." He looked at her. “I will take what I need from my mate. Do you understand?”
She nodded, trying to control the fear building in her throat. To some degree she understood his anger—she had already been with another man when he had been waiting for her, and now she was pulling away from him, acting like she couldn't stand his touch. No mate would be happy with that. She couldn't imagine Father being at all happy if Mother behaved that way with him.
But what really concerned her was the reaction to his touch. It was strange to react that way with her own mate. She couldn’t recall feeling that way about Maddoc, and while she didn’t want to compare them, she had nothing else to go by. She’d been looking forward to her experience with Ryden’s touch eradicating memories of Maddoc, but how could it if she couldn’t bear to even kiss him? Maybe it really was trauma.
Ryden stood and grabbed his clothes. “Have you had time to think about the agreement with the alliance?”
Ana relaxed on the bed. “No, but I don’t understand why it’s necessary.”
“Because the houses need guarantees that they will get something out of helping us,” Ryden said as he dressed. “And marrying into the ruling family raises the status of their houses.”
When Ana looked at him blankly he continued with a growl.
“You know the houses are not all equal, surely?”
“Yes, I know,” she replied, almost indignantly. “Redcrest and Sterling are the wealthiest.”
“Right. And greater opportunities to grow that wealth come from having a pleasant relationship with the crown. Whether it is a son or daughter who is king or queen, or simply a good history of positive and profitable dealings, all houses want to be on good terms with the crown.” He tilted his head. “I am surprised you are unaware of this.”
“I do know this,” Ana insisted. “But I thought it was a joint, amiable effort. I didn’t realize it was combative until recently.”
“Well, it is,” Ryden said bluntly. “Very combative. It has been that way for generations.” He paused. “Haven’t you noticed the tension in court?”
“I noticed that the houses hardly ever agree,” Ana said. “And I noticed it can get very heated between them”—in truth it had even become physically violent on rare occasions—“but I didn’t realize it extended beyond that.”
Ryden gave her a wry look. “What you see in court is the mildest expression of the true tension between us.”
Ana’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
“Disputes run deep and some have existed for decades. Have you noticed that some houses are always in agreement and others are not?”
Ana nodded. “Sterling and Redcrest never agree.”
“Right,” Ryden said. “But Goldfrost and Sterling always do.”
“They have an alliance?”
“Not exactly. Sterling owns a lot of land Goldfrost has built on.”
Ana lifted her head in understanding. “So they are always under threat if they provoke Sterling.”
“Yes.” Ryden leaned forward, bracing his hands on the bed. “So Goldfrost agreeing to side with us in court today, against Sterling and the crown, will put them at great risk.”
Ana thought back to Theodore and Everard’s agitation and insistence the night before.
“But they will take that risk if it is guaranteed that two of our Beta children will marry into Goldfrost and Thorneshaw.”
Ana examined his face. “You think it’s worth it to offer our children for their support?”
“I do.” Ryden’s expression and tone was firm. “It is not unusual. Almost all Betas in the royal assembly marry through arrangement across the houses. You may not have noticed because there is never a need for the details to be announced, and your own pairing hasn’t happened that way, but it is extremely common.”
Ana exhaled slowly as she thought. So this was the true barter system used among the royal assembly. She’d simply been lucky to be born an Omega with the guarantee of being paired with her fated mate.
“When we visit the houses on our announcement tour today,” Ryden said, slow and steady, “you will locate a representative of Goldfrost and Thorneshaw and tell them you are in agreement with the terms.”
Ana met his gaze. “And if I don’t?”
“Then you will be left to the mercy of your father, or more likely, the outlaw, because I won’t be able to rid you of the Royal Promise without the assistance of the other houses.” Ryden reached out and brushed her cheek with his fingers. “I told you to trust me, Ana, and you can. I wouldn’t agree to something like this unless it was necessary. And it’s not as though we will lose our children, they will still be ours—they will only be married when they are of age. And we can help them through it.”
Ana’s heart sunk as she realized there was no way to get out of agreeing to this. She had, in fact, already unwittingly consented to it when she agreed to leave the palace with him. She hadn’t insisted on knowing the full terms before she left, so now her only options were to continue with the path she set herself on, or suffer the path others wanted to choose for her—Maddoc’s and his wrath, or her parents’ and their lies.