"…He did it. He actually did it."
Viola's voice echoed inside her like a trembling whisper, but Emerald didn't respond. She couldn't.
She sat on the cold marble floor, hands pressed to the new mark on her neck, chest rising and falling in shallow, erratic breaths.
She didn't remember when the tear fell, just that her cheek was wet as it slid down on its own accord.
His words looped through her mind.
You've always been mine.
Promised.
Claimed.
Her father… her own father had promised her to him.
The Rogue King's voice replayed in her mind again and again:
"He promised me something. You."
Tears kept falling slowly and heavily, coming from deep inside.
He did it. Vale Lycannis. Her father. The one she'd idolised, tried to live up to… had made a deal. A deal that ended with her being marked like property.
"Why?" she choked out. "Why would he…?"
No answer came.
Only the bond.
