The Last Prince of Dahaar(11)
“You should have thought about that before you barged into my room, Princess.” Mockery gave his mouth a cruel slant. “Whatever you do now, I will hold myself responsible for it.”
“You wouldn’t have even laid eyes on me until the wedding if I hadn’t forced my way in here. No one is responsible for my actions or my life but me.”
“I became responsible for you the minute I said yes to this alliance. And I won’t let you cause any more problems for your father.”
“This...” she couldn’t speak for the outrage sputtering through her “...this kind of archaic behavior is what I’m talking about. Your claim just proves how right I am in wanting to get out of this marriage, out of Siyaad.”
“So you’re going to run away in the middle of the night and expose your father to a scandal?”
“I owe my father nothing. Nothing. And I’m not running away, I’m going to exercise my right as an adult and leave. Neither my father nor you can force me into a marriage that I don’t want, nor can you stop me from leaving.”
He took his hands away from her. Not trusting his actions even for a second, Zohra straightened from the wall. Her knees shook beneath her.
“Fine, leave,” he said, displeasure burning in his gaze. “But you leave your father no choice either except to announce my betrothal to your sister. I understand she will be eighteen in a year.”
Bile crawled up Zohra’s throat and pooled in her mouth. How dare he? “Sixteen and a half. My sister is sixteen and a half.”
Only silence met her outburst.
She covered the gap between them, fury eating away at reason. She pushed at him, powerless anger churning in her gut. Saira would never go against their father. She had been born and raised in Siyaad, exposed to nothing but the incessant chatter about duty and obligation despite Zohra’s presence.
“You cannot do that. She...I won’t let my father or you...”
She fisted her hands and let out the cry sawing at her throat.
There was nothing she could do to stop her father from promising Saira in her place. And he would, without blinking. Zohra knew firsthand the lengths to which her father could go for Siyaad.
Her chest felt as if there was a steel band around it, the shackles of duty and obligation sinking their claws into her.
“Saira is innocent, a teenager who still believes in love and happily ever after.”
“And you?”
“They do exist. Just not in this world, in your world. And I will do anything before I let Saira’s happiness be sacrificed in the name of duty.”
“So you’re not completely selfish then.” He moved closer. “What is this world that I belong to, Princess, to which you don’t?”
“It’s filled with duty, obligations, sacrifice...what else? If Saira marries you, you will shatter her illusions, bring her nothing but unhappiness. You would marry a mere girl in the name of duty?”
Disgust radiated from him. “The very thought of betrothal to a sixteen-year-old makes my skin crawl. But Siyaad needs this public alliance. Your father’s heart attacks in the last six months, your brother’s minor status, the latest skirmish at the border? It has made Siyaad weak. This wedding means that the world knows that Dahaar stands by Siyaad. It’s the best chance your father, your people, have of retaining their identity. If something should happen to your father, your brother will have our protection.