It annoys me how closely Lia follows behind Crede and me. Like she can’t wait for the future that’s been paved for her. As if continuously coming in second to me, always trailing behind me, is a success of sorts. I scoff. As if I want to share my home with a houseful of women who are inferior to me in everything but their title.

“Be nice,” Crede grumbles under his breath, the deep rumble of his voice reaches me, and I avert my eyes for only a second before I meet his gaze.

“Don’t you ever get tired of this?” I ask under my breath. “Our whole lives are orchestrated, each detail thought out before we were even born.”

Thick eyebrows shoot to his forehead. “Would you do anything differently, Liana? Would you choose differently?” he clarifies.

“No,” I reply without hesitating. “Or I don’t think I would. Maybe, I don’t know because I was never given the option to choose.”

Abruptly, Crede stops walking and his large hand grips around my waist. “I don’t understand you. This -” he waves his unused hand around us – “is what you want. To rule our pride, to rule all the realms. It’s all you’ve talked about since we were cubs. There’s only one way to get what you want.”

“Marriage,” I reply.

“You say it as if marrying me was a bad thing.”

“It’s not,” I argue without any real vehemence behind my words.

“Is it at least better than marrying a wolf?” he tries to joke.

“Royal or not, no one’s marrying some rogue wolf, least of all me,” I bite back.

He chuckles, a deep rumble that starts in his belly and I smile back at him. He leans into me, his breath inches from my ear and I close my eyes at the sudden shudder in my body. “Just think of all the times you’ll be able to see me naked once we’re married.”

Laughter builds and explodes from within while his words settle and tense in my gut. “You’ve already seen me naked more times than I’d like anyone to know about.”

Heat emanates from my body as I flush at the hunger behind his gaze. The reminder of the intimacy we’ve shared makes me feel powerful in this moment. Wanted and desirable.

I first felt the butterfly of my attraction to Crede when I was sixteen years old. It danced inside of me, somersaulting in my belly until I was certain I’d be sick. There was a small flicker between us and every time our gazes met, I felt the power of our mutual affection for each other grow.

Years passed and while the power grew, attraction dwindled. It wasn’t him or me. It just was. He was and still is a beautiful lion. A magnificent creature.

My destiny.

“Liana,” Lia interrupts, her eyes dancing across the thick garden, “your mother.” She drops her chin and sinks into a deep bow when my mother reaches us.

“Mother,” I say, also bowing with my head tipped ever so slightly.

A long slender finger glides under my chin and she lifts my head. Silently, I observe everything she doesn’t say. Sadness, anticipation, and pride twist her features, and I take it in trying to figure out the meaning behind each expression. While she ignores Lia’s presence, she smiles warmly at Crede.

“Liana.” My name falls from her full lips with a tenderness she reserves only for me. “Let us speak in private.”

Crede and Lia melt into the background as I walk beside my mother, her leading while I still maintain my stand alongside her. While independence isn’t something others in our pride value, it’s something I hold dear. And something both my parents understand. Maybe even appreciate.

I may be part of our pride, but I’m an individual. Strong, resilient, capable.

Together we cross the garden, dry leaves cracking as we step on them. Water trickles through the crystal pond, the sound replenishing its surroundings. Summer smiles back at me with the warm vibrancy of the overhead sun. When we reach the foyer, we take a seat at the small table set in front of the vines scaling the tall walls of our castle. Immediately, house servants bring us two glasses of wine and a plate of cheese. Swirling the cool liquid beneath my nose, I take in its sultry scent and let my eyes droop closed.

“I have spoken with your father,” my mom says, and I open my eyes in time to watch her avert her attention away from me.

My mother lifts the glass to her lips and takes a small drink. Her movements are purposeful, confident. When she puts the wine back on the table, she rests her hands over her lap, folding them with a simple interlacing of her fingers.

“Your father and I have tried everything to resolve the problems your attack on the prince wolf have brought our realm. There is no other solution, Liana.”

“Yes, Mother.” I bow my head as I imagine my life beside Crede. I’ll be his beloved, always his beloved. But I’ll also have to share him with my sisters, and it is that alone that drives me mad.

“We’ve agreed marriage is the only way.”

My heart races forward to a fate I’ve known about since I was a cub, while it trips over the same nuisances of our customs that will likely bother me until I meet my death.

I tip my head up and catch my mother’s gaze. “I understand.”

“Good.” She takes my hand in hers. “I’m proud of you, dear one. Your father and I thought you’d be more difficult.”

I smile, the sides of my lips wobble at the attempt. “I’ve always known I’d marry Crede, my lady. While I thought I still had some time, it will be my honor to have a lion such as Crede as my husband.”

The hands that held mine, loosen and drop while my mother’s face contorts. “Oh, Liana.” She places a shaky hand to her lips before she composes herself once again. “Liana, you are not marrying Crede.”

My brows draw in confusion and I cough to clear my tightening throat. “Mother, you can’t mean…”

“It has been decided,” she cuts me off. “You must be wedded into the realm of Winter.”

“Mother,” I protest.

Sharp hazel eyes pierce through me and again, I bow my head. My teeth grind against each other in the hopes of keeping further grievances in check.

“Speak, Liana, but speak with confidence, not with fear. Tell me, dear one, what troubles you about your marriage to Noble.”

Holding my chin up, I gaze into her kind eyes and speak with clarity. “He is rogue, Mother. A rogue wolf in a realm I do not belong in. This is my home. Crede is who I am destined to marry.”

“Crede will do well in marrying your sisters.”

“It is I he favors.”

“He will learn to favor another.”

I turn my head downcast, not as a sign of respect of her demands, but because the weight of what she and my father are asking is too much.

“What of love? Crede and I love each other. Should I not be permitted to marry for love?”

“Sometimes fate smiles on us and we marry someone we already love, or someone we grow to love. But peace, Liana, is what we marry for. Lions and wolves will be united for all of eternity. Your cubs will be heir to Winter. We shall have lions in another realm, which will make our pride even stronger. That is what your obedience will grant us.”

“You’re sacrificing me for the greater good of our pride? Is that what you’re telling me? Because if it is, if it’s better for the pride, then I shall do this without complaint. My loyalty is always with our pride and if I am better served in a different realm, then I will leave without so much as a mutter. But if this is because I attacked a rogue wolf, a wolf who was spying on me, I cannot go. I will not go.” Straightening my shoulders, I face my mother with the confidence I was born into. “My place is with Crede as his queen, but if my lady and my king wish me to marry a wolf for our pride, speak it and it shall be done.”

My mother leans into me, pressing a warm kiss on my temple and I feel her shudder when she places a palm to my cheek. “It is what the king and I demand of you, Liana. It is your duty to marry Noble and be the first queen of our kind in Winter.

“Yes, Mother. May I speak freely?” I drop my head in a deep bow, letting her know I am as always loyal to her and my father.

She nods, a slight dip of her head.

My bottom lip trembles but as I’ve been taught, I hold my gaze steady, my head held high. “I feel as if my world is crumbling beneath me, and you, my own mom, aren’t going to be there when it all shatters.”