I watched in horror as, with defeated eyes, Cyrus walked out the door.

Fracturing, my heart surged and broke.

“No,” I breathed, shaking my head. “No. You cannot just tell me that I cannot be with the man I want!”

“Stop acting like a child, Sevan,” my father dismissed me. He had already returned to the scroll in front of him as if this was only a conversation about the wind outside. “You understand how these things work.”

“Cyrus is a good man,” I begged. “He works harder than anyone I’ve ever known. He is smart and driven and he is going to do wonderful things someday. He only needs to be given a chance!”

“Perhaps so!” my father bellowed. “But no one in this town is going to sully their reputation by making ties with the likes of him and that family! And it will be a cold day in hell before I give him permission to court my daughter.”

Tears welled in my eyes as I turned to my mother.

“I am sorry, my dear,” she said. “But we love you. And we cannot allow you to be with a man who can give you nothing. No future.”

A tear slipped down my face, forced out by anger. I shook my head. “And what about love? Does it not matter that I love Cyrus?”

Their expressions were taken aback. They did not expect such a strong declaration.

Cyrus and I had been meeting in secret for weeks and weeks. But I had only introduced him to my family today.

Love.

Even though it had only been weeks, I knew it with everything in me.

I loved Cyrus.

“I never loved Kevork, and he certainly did not love me,” I said, my voice hard. “But that does not matter to you. You would rather see me married to him, even if he tried to rape me, than see me with someone who cared enough to step in, someone who treats me as if I am treasure.”

My father’s expression showed hesitation. But no shock. No remorse.

“I am sorry, Sevan,” he said, but I knew he was not apologizing about Kevork, or the fact that he would have raped me. “But the answer is no. You may not see that boy again.”

I looked over at my mother. Her expression told me the same.

I shook my head. My fingers balled into fists.

Without another word, I bolted out the door.

People crowded the street outside. I darted into the middle of the road, looking up and down it, scanning. My heart grew frantic, panicked as my mother called my name from the door.

“Don’t do this, Sevan!” she yelled, sounding panicked. “Do not turn your back on this family and go after that boy!”

It was a threat.

I didn’t know if she meant it or not.

But I didn’t care.

Down the road, I spotted the dark hair, the strong, set shoulders.

I took off running, pushing my way through the bodies, shoving my way through. Tears spilled down my face, a sob cutting past my lips.

My eyes fixed on the back of his head, I pushed through the crowd.

“Cyrus!” I cried out when only a few people separated us.

He turned, his eyes red and glistening. His brows rose as his gaze locked on mine.

I collided into his chest, circling my arms around him, burying my face in the crook of his neck, sobbing.

“I don’t care,” I sobbed. “I don’t care what they say. I don’t care what they think about me. I’m tired of being treated like coin and traded for whatever they need. I won’t let them send you away. I won’t let them keep us apart.”

Cyrus hands came to my back, clinging me to him hard.

I felt safe. Secured. Wanted.

Loved.

“I cannot let you throw away your life on me, Sevan,” he said quietly. His voice trembled. I knew how difficult it was for him to say it. “I cannot give you anything but a life of shame and dirt.”

I shook my head, my brows furrowed as I looked back up at him. “I don’t care,” I said, adamant. “About the status. About the dirt. All I want is a life where I feel valued. Where I mean more than an advantageous trade. All I want is a life with you, Cyrus.”

The tears streamed down my face, but I’d never felt surer about any words spoken in my life.

Cyrus’ eyes sobered as he looked at me. And I saw it there, reflected in his eyes: everything.

The doubt in himself at being able to give me a life.

But the feelings that had been there since the first day we met.

“I don’t know that I will ever be enough for what you deserve, Sevan,” he said quietly. “But I will spend every day of my life trying to prove myself worthy.”

He brought both of his hands to my face, cupping it with such gentleness. And peace sank into every corner of my body. There were no words to describe the way I felt, and the rightness of the moment.

“I love you, Sevan,” Cyrus said. “I know it with every bone in me.”

And it didn’t matter, and I knew in that moment that it would never matter, the fact that I would never be able to set foot in my home again. It just mattered what happened from this moment forward.

“And I love you, Cyrus.”

---

We still had so much to learn about each other. It may have been only two moon cycles since we’d first met in that alley. It may have been under circumstances of duress and necessity.

But two days later, Cyrus and I stood beneath that tree at the edge of the field. Wearing a dress borrowed from a friend, with a simple crown of field daises around my head, I stood with Cyrus, my hands held in his.

We married on that beautiful, sunny day. Pledged to love one another for the rest of our days. To support and uphold each other. To take care of one another in sickness or health.

I smiled the world’s happiest smile, even though there was no one present beside myself, Cyrus, and the authority.

It didn’t matter, because I would get to spend the rest of my life with the man I loved.

Cyrus’ eyes danced with wonder and love. He held my hands so firm, so tight. I knew he would uphold every promise he made. Together, we would make our own life.

Man and wife.

We were pronounced.

Beneath that tree, I kissed my husband, the happiest I had ever been in my entire life.

---

I smile, warmth flooding through my chest. I can feel them, Cyrus’ lips on mine. The strength of promises wash through me.

But a little voice echoes across the field.

“Logan?” it calls.

But it’s so far away, I can’t even hear it, only sense its presence at the back of my brain.

“Logan?”

A shake ripples through my body, but as I wrap my arms around my husband, I do not move.

“Logan?” it calls again.

But I only stare up into Cyrus’ green eyes and whisper to him how much I love him.