He doesn’t need to ask me twice.
Vili Bestlasson releases his son and sweeps his gaze up and down my body. “Welcome to the family,Hedwig.”
Goosebumps erupt across my skin, and I’m suddenly aware that my skirt is too short, my tank top too transparent, and I’m not wearing any tights.
The look isn’t so much lecherous, but it’s obvious from the way he congratulates his son that he doesn’t completely share Odin’s religious beliefs.
“Phoenix.” I step back, bumping into Odin, who places a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Until the ceremony, you will refrain from premarital sex with my nephew.”
“But I’m not getting married.”
“Don’t waste your breath arguing,” Veer’s dad says with a smirk.
I clamp my mouth shut. He’s right. There’s plenty of time between now and the end of the academic year to slither out of this arrangement.
Veer’s dad wraps an arm around his son’s shoulders and walks ahead, leaving me trailing behind with Odin. I glance behind us beyond the procession of Odin’s men, toward the guards at the gatehouse.
Without my phone or my ID card, I have no way of leaving the campus and no way of finding or even contacting Professor Segul.
“Why don’t you want to marry my nephew?” Odin asks.
“He’s barely even a friend,” I mutter. “And I was so drunk that night that nothing even happened.”
His gaze freezes the side of my face, negating the sun’s warmth on my skin. It looks like he wants me to elaborate.
“One would think that a man as important as you would have bigger worries.”
The moment those words spill from my lips, I flinch.
By now, Dad would grab my throat and snarl something menacing, but Odin is so cold blooded that his gaze doesn’t even waver. The silence between us stretches out, and the ache in my chest deepens with the anxiety roiling in my belly.
I’ve got to get out of here and find Professor Segul.
“Earlier, you seemed unusually attached to your abductor.”
My lips tighten. How the hell could he read my thoughts?
“Finance and Accountancy is my best subject.”
“Then you will slot perfectly into our organization because neither of my brothers have an aptitude for numbers,” he says.
Shit.
I didn’t mean to sell myself as a criminal accountant as well as a forced bride. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell Odin I’ve had lots of wild, kinky sex with another man but he’s the type to demand his name.
Professor Segul has racked up enough grievances against the Bestlasson family. I don’t want to give Odin a reason for not allowing him to live.
The walk across the campus is unusually quiet, with students either swerving out of their way to avoid Odin and his brother but with a few going out of their way to cross their paths.
By my reckoning, it looks like a quarter of the people here are associated with the Bestlasson organization.
“Have you heard from your father?” Odin asks.
“Not since he disappeared without a note,” I reply.
He nods. “I will see to it that you and he spend some time together before the wedding.”