Slowly, he stepped closer, and Aria felt her heartbeat pick up faster than she would have liked. It pounded in her chest like a frantic drum, loud enough in her own ears that she feared Jared might hear it too. Her breath caught as a sudden awareness bloomed inside her—a sharp, almost frightening kind of heat that coiled low in her belly.
The words he spoke about being interested in her were inconsequential compared to how she felt as she realized that Zyren wasn’t the only one she felt the heat towards. Something that was clearly not a good thing.
Her fingers twitched at her side, curled into the soft fabric of her coat. It wasn’t just the cold that was making her tense—it was the sharp realization that she could be pulled toward someone else the same way she was drawn to Zyren. She hated that about herself. Hated the betrayal in her own body.
Not with the way Jared’s eyes turned a light yellow as he focused his gaze on her in a way that showed that he would like nothing more than to take her right there and then. That primal gleam in his gaze made something jolt in her chest, like a warning bell sounding through her entire being. There was no denying what his eyes were saying, even if his lips hadn’t yet spelled it out.
But Aria had just moved to take a step back, trying to ignore the pull and claim some control over her racing heart, when she heard him speak words that made her eyes widen completely in utter shock.
"Mate with me!" he said—just like that—so brazen, so bold, so unlike anything she’d expected. Words that made Aria instantly look at him like nothing but madness had grown on his head and had now covered the entirety of his body.
The blood drained from her face, only to rush back in a flush of stunned disbelief as her lips parted in silent protest.
"If safety is what you want I can give it to you! Would you rather stay with a man like Zyren? Once he has whatever he wants from you... he’ll toss you aside!" Aria heard King Jared speak, and the sharpness in his voice only deepened the confusion swelling inside her.
Her thoughts spiraled, twisting and pulling at each other. She wasn’t sure what she hated more—the offer, or the fact that some part of her didn’t instantly reject it.
She stared into what seemed to be honest, light-colored brown eyes as he continued to speak, and it only made the war inside her worse.
"As my mate, you would be treated with the utmost respect!" he promised.
That was the moment something cracked inside her. It wasn’t longing she felt—it was resentment. Her jaw tightened as her gaze fell slightly to the ground, a bitter taste forming at the back of her throat. Words like "respect" from someone like him felt more like a contract than a truth.
Which only made Aria want to distance herself away from him again as she wondered to herself.
’Is that all I am? An ornament to be worn or draped around you?’ she thought bitterly, the shame curling like smoke around her heart. She was aware that whatever she would be would also depend on him, even as her position as Zyren’s pet depended on Zyren. Always dependent on someone else. Always someone’s.
Her silence stretched out, thick and uncertain. Slowly, Aira nodded her head even as she refused to speak a single word, simply staring at him in silence.
Her arms stayed crossed under her coat, a flimsy shield against the mounting pressure in her chest. Not speaking, not reacting, keeping her face blank—it was the only control she had left.
Even as King Jared expected her to. His annoyance only got worse even after a few minutes and still Aria didn’t speak. She continued to look at him with no expression on her face until he had no choice but to speak again.
"Are you listening to me? Casting your lots with me is much better than—"
But this time around, Aria didn’t let him finish. She lifted her gaze, her eyes dark with defiance and a touch of sorrow. She slowly shook her head even as she felt the heat in her belly slowly increase as she stared at him.
"I’d rather settle for a devil I’m already used to than cast my wishes in a well I’ve never seen before!" she told him, her voice calm, but firm—steel wrapped in silk.
She had barely finished speaking when she felt an arm wrap tightly around her waist in such a possessive manner that it left no doubt in her mind about who the person who did such a thing could possibly be.
Her breath hitched, her entire body freezing at the contact.
It wasn’t a surprise that she hadn’t heard him coming. Such a thing was to be expected. What had been stunning and surprising was the fierce way he held her. His grip wasn’t just possessive—it was punishing, as though he were trying to remind both her and Jared who she belonged to.
She couldn’t see his face, but his hold made it easy to imagine the kind of expression he had on his face even as she watched King Jared raise his gaze to look right at him.
"King Zyren!" he said, voice even but with an undercurrent of warning.
Zyren responded in the same frigid tone.
"King Jared! I could have sworn you would be busy inspecting the dead body of the monster you took with you!"
Zyren’s words came out in an extremely low register, with no inflections in his voice. But that only made Aria more aware of how pissed he truly was. His calm was a mask, and underneath it was a storm waiting to be unleashed.
"I came out for a breath of fresh air!" King Jared responded with a noncommittal shrug. "Last I checked, we were guests, not prisoners!"