I open my mouth to protest, but he holds up his hand, silencing me.
“Fifteen minutes,” he says. “That’s all you’ll get. And you will be accompanied by two guards at all time. Nor will you be permitted in his cell. I don’t want that animal’s hands to touch what’s mine.”
I flinch back at the possessive bent of his words. “Fine,” I mutter. “Deal.”
He nods once more and pivots away from me, but I can tell there’s something on his mind. Something that’s troubling him.
“How did he do it?” he asks, turning back slowly to look at me.
“Do what?”
“Make you fall in love with him.”
I bristle instinctively. “I’m not in love with him.”
Rokiades cocks his head to the side and gives me an almost pitying expression that makes my stomach twist. “You’ve bound yourself to me for life in order to save his,” he points out. “Why else would you sacrifice yourself for a man like him, except for love?”
My heart beats unsteadily, but I try and remain calm.
“So tell me, Renata,” Rokiades presses, “how did he do it? I understand the surface appeal. He’s rich, good-looking, powerful. But that can’t be the only reason he—”
“I don’t love him,” I say again. I want so badly to believe it. For one instant, I do. I close my eyes and say it again, as if to convince myself. “I don’t love Kian. I just don’t want to see anyone suffer on my behalf anymore.”
I can feel Rokiades’s gaze raking over me as he weighs that. In the end, he shrugs. “If you say so.” His footsteps shuffle across the floor as he heads for the exit.
His voice oozes from the hallway as he gives orders to the seamstresses. “Lola, you may begin taking her measurements. And make sure they’re precise. I want the dress to hug her figure. Let the world see what I now own.”
I feel a kernel of dread as Lola and her assistants re-enter the room. The wedding is only two weeks away now. I just hope my body doesn’t go through any major changes in the meantime.
Hold on, little one, I whisper silently to the life in my womb. We’ll get through this. Just stay with me. I’ve got you.