"Don't do this right now."
"Do what?" She let out a hollow laugh, her chest rising with uneven breath. "Speak my mind? Tell you exactly what I think, just like he does?"
His gaze sharpened.
There it was.
The moment Lucavion's presence entered the conversation, even unspoken, the air shifted.
Aeliana took a step forward, chin lifted in defiance. "What are you really trying to say?" she pressed. "That I should let him go? That I should forget all the things he's done? That I should just—just comply like I always have, because you have already determined my future?"
She could feel the fire in her chest, the way the words cut into her as they left her lips. But she didn't stop. She couldn't.
"After all, you already arranged my marriage, didn't you?" Her voice turned razor-sharp, laced with venom. "You decided that I needed to be useful—that if I couldn't bring value through strength, then I could at least serve as a convenient piece in your political game."
