“I am unsuitable,” she said, far too quickly.
“And yet my brother says you are suitable. The only suitable choice, in fact. So there we have a problem.” He regarded her even more closely. Her dark eyes were glittering, and for the first time he saw that there was quite a deep well of fear beneath her prickly exterior. For the first time he questioned the way he had handled her. He was angry at being maneuvered, and he was taking his anger out on her. But she was not a part of this, any more than he was. “You have nothing to fear from me. You have nothing to fear from Kairos, even though he can come across as quite the tyrant. Neither of us is going to hurt you.”
He saw no signs of relief on her face. “But you are going to use me,” she said.
“You are royalty, Zara. Had you not been thrown out of the palace as a child and spirited away to live with the Gypsies, you would certainly be facing an arranged marriage anyway. Just as I expected I would be one day, though not quite with such short notice.”
“Don’t you dare lecture me on the responsibility of royalty. My life as a royal was stolen from me.”
“And here you have it back. The price of admission into the life is marriage.”
“I did not expect it,” she said, her tone stiff.
“Did you ever expect to marry?”
She blinked. “I’m only twenty-one.”
“Not so young in your country. So I ask you again, did you ever expect to marry?”
She lifted her shoulder. “Were I a typical part of the clan I was raised in, I would likely be married by now. But I was not. I was under their protection. So different things were expected.”
“Is that your very long, uninteresting way of saying you did not expect to marry?”
Her expression darkened. “I may have someday. But I was in hiding to spare my own life, in order to save myself from a fate such as this. I hadn’t given it much thought. I knew I would have to leave if I was ever going to pursue a normal existence...”
“I suppose this isn’t exactly normal.”
“Indeed.”
“You will need to be trained,” he said.
Her frown deepened. “Oh, really?”
“Yes. I think it’s entirely possible for you to be made into a suitable bride. You have the looks for it. You simply need...taming.”
“Am I so wild?”
“You have no sense of decorum. Your burrowing into my room is evidence of that. Your hair, your posture... You exude.”
“I exude what?”
He let out a long, slow breath. “You exude. In general that isn’t something a princess should do. You need to be...placid. Serene. As I said before, tame.”
She clenched her hands into fists, her expression filled with rage. Her dark hair hung lank down her back, making her look all the more wild. “I refuse to be tamed.”
He wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that, and he resented her for making him feel as if his back were up against a wall. Kairos had given his orders, and Andres had sins he needed to atone for.
Part of him wondered why he was making an effort. He failed, that was what he did. Their father had always been quick to remind him of that fact when they were boys, and still when they were men. Kairos was the responsible one, the heir, thankfully, as he took his role so very seriously. Andres had been the one his father could always count on to create a scandal, to make a mess, to create disaster.
There was a reason he’d been barred from official events as a child. Reasons he had spent state dinners locked in his room while the rest of the family put on a show.
Their father might be dead now, but the feel of his cold eyes on Andres remained. Of the hard disappointment that had laced every word the old man had ever spoken to him.
He had given Kairos his word, and he would not fail. Not again. In this, he would triumph.
It was only marriage. And she was only a woman. How could he lose?
He was a legendary playboy renowned for his skills of seduction. Surely he could seduce this scraggly waif easily enough.
“You will not refuse me,” he said. “What is it you want, anything besides freedom? I will see that you have it. Surely there must be something. Surely we can trade.”
She looked down, hesitating for a moment. “I wish to be sure my people are cared for. Beyond that, that those who raised me are safe.”