Once Upon a Time…
… the princess emerged from her uncle’s study, her acceptance letter to the University of Sydney clutched in her shaking hand. She swallowed back misery, but the tears came anyway.
Four years.
Four years of pretending she wasn’t a complete wreck over the death of her brother.
Four years of doing everything that was asked of her by her uncle.
Four years of keeping her face impassive, her expression mildly interested, when he demanded her presence during his little ‘lessons’ on how to manage the underlings.
Four years of hiding her disgust for him and everything he stood for, even when it made her sick to her stomach.
Four years in pursuit of one solitary goal. Escape.
Four years for nothing.
His dismissive, “No,” had brooked no argument. Had left no room for negotiation.
“What’s wrong, Ri?”
She turned, blinking tears from her blurry eyes to find her cousin striding towards her. He, too, had changed after Andrei’s death. He’d been folded into the machine that was the family business, and despite her knowing he despised it as much as she did, he’d become compliant too.
Things had changed for their family in the last few years.
C?lin, the guest who had come for dinner the night of Andrei’s death, the one who had made her skin crawl with the way he looked at her, had become a fixture around the palace.
The princess tried her best to disappear whenever he was around, but she hadn’t been successful in avoiding him entirely.
His sharp gaze, his vile remarks to her uncle about how she was growing up to be a real temptress, made her want to vomit all over his expensive boots.
Maybe then he wouldn’t look at her like she was a piece of meat.
“Ri?” Stefan urged, taking her by the elbow and steering her out of the hallway and into a quiet room. “What happened?”
She hadn’t spoken candidly to Stefan for a long time, not since he’d been more actively involved in her uncle’s business, but she found herself explaining everything in shaky, stuttering words.
About how she’d worked hard to get good marks, to be accepted to university overseas.
How his father had refused without so much as letting her finish.
“I don’t think Dad wants to withhold this from you,” he muttered eventually, studying the letter he’d taken from her hand. “But … funds are very tied up right now, with C?lin.”
The princess shuddered. Stefan noticed her reaction and sighed.
“I know you dislike him … but the fact is, he’s not going anywhere. He’s convinced Father that if we combine our business with his, we can all make a lot more money. He’s convinced Father to invest in infrastructure to improve ease of transportation.”
Rage filled the princess’s belly.
“Are you listening to yourself?” she hissed, snatching the letter back from him. “‘Combining businesses’ and ‘investing in infrastructure’ and ‘ease of transportation’! He sells women into sex slavery! Probably children, too! Drugs are bad enough, but people, Stefan?”
Stefan rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I know, Ri. But what am I supposed to do? I’m just trying to survive, the same way you are.
With the added setback of having a dick.
Being a man means taking an active part in all of this.
You’re lucky, you can just turn a blind eye and forget the gory details of it all. ”
“I can’t forget any of it!” the princess hissed, slapping his hand away when he tried to rest it on her shoulder. “Why do you think I need to move to the other side of the world? I need to get some distance from it before … before it’s too late.”
Her tears welled again. Stefan’s expression softened.
“I’m sorry. I can … I can try to talk to Father about it, see if there isn’t some way we can make it happen for you.
I mean, it’s not a good look; the Rusnacs unable to afford to send their darling princess to university.
” A hint of the wicked child he had once been gleamed in his eyes.
“Leave it with me, Ri.” He stuffed her acceptance letter into his pocket, grazed his knuckles over her cheek and left the room.
She woke from a fitful night of sleep to a weight on the end of her bed. She cracked open her bleary eyes. Stefan sat there, a falsely bright smile on his face. Her stomach churned as she sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
“You can go to Sydney,” he announced, his tone upbeat, setting her nerves jangling. “I’ve sorted it for you.”
“How?”
“I convinced them it was important … for the family, and for you.” He sounded cocky, but he wouldn’t look her in the eyes. Her heart started climbing into her throat.
“Them?” she asked, her voice a weak rasp. But she knew before he answered exactly who ‘they’ were.
“C?lin.” He finally looked at her, and there was a shadow in his eyes that turned her stomach. “It was the only way to get you out.”
“What was—”
But her words were cut off when the door opened and Uncle Bogdan sauntered in, his smirk enough to freeze the blood in her veins.
“I think a celebration is in order! Our lovely Irina, such a clever girl, will be the first Rusnac to attend university! And in Australia, no less.”
He sat down on the bed and patted her thigh through the blankets. She flinched. Uncle’s smile turned nasty. “And when she returns, with her degree in hand, she’ll unite two families into a force to be reckoned with!”
Her breath caught in her throat as C?lin appeared, looking suave and sophisticated and handsome, until she noticed his eyes.
Cold, calculating … evil. In his hands he carried a carved wooden box, and the princess didn’t miss the way her uncle’s grip tightened on her leg as C?lin approached. As if he knew she would try to run.
La naiba, she wanted to run!
“Lovely Irina, please accept this gift as a symbol of our betrothal,” C?lin murmured, his voice silky, unctuous. It sent a chill down her spine. He stepped closer until he loomed over her and opened the box. Inside was a strand of shiny golden coins, joined to make a necklace.
It was an old-fashioned gesture, steeped in tradition, in meaning.
She swallowed, frozen. That gift meant four years of freedom while she studied.
But at what cost, in the end? A lifetime tied to a despicable man.
A man who would own her, the way those women he bought and sold were owned.
Her uncle was using her as payment to buy an empire.
An empire built on powders, and weapons, and flesh.
Did she even have a choice? It was either accept this now and get her four years in Australia, or refuse, be forced to anyway and lose the chance at freedom, even if it was only temporary.
She reached out, forced a smile onto her face and took the box with the coin necklace inside.