I clenched my jaw and forced myself to breathe. He had the peculiar talent of making me more angry than my physical body could withstand. Every part of me thrummed with the vibrance of life, the reality of pure anger. “So why did you ask to come, besides to provoke my allegedly astounding jealousy?” “To try. With you.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and exhaled. “…It did not go well.” “It did not.” “You may go then. I wish to descend on my own.” “No.” “I won’t leave you. No.” “No.” And again. He stepped when I did. A most aggravating shadow. “It is getting dark,” I complained. “Then we should both descend.” “I will—” “No.” I put my hands on my hips. “You cannot be dominant unless I submit. And I won’t.” “What happens now, then?” And Taeyo stepped toward me. So close that there were only two choices. Fall off the edge of the cliff or face him. Touch him. I sucked in air and titled my chin and tried to look like I meant what I was about to say. “My mind is made up. I descend on my own. Challenge me, and I will push you off this cliff, Taeyo. I promise you I will.” But this High Prince, this Taeyo, switched places with me, moving me in one fluid motion toward the center of the cliff while his back was to the edge. The Future King leaned into me, both his hands gripping my waist so he could pull my hips against his. And then he whispered, his lips grazing my temple. “Say my name like that again and you may do anything to me you like.”
Sanaa of Rote exists only to please her father, the King, by marrying the High Prince of an allied realm. And she will succeed. She must. If she can bear to swallow her hatred for the man to whom she must yield every fragment of her power.