Page 143 of The Sinner's Bargain

I showered with Thoran’s arms securely around me the entire time. His chest hard and warm against my back. My chest. His lips on my neck, my shoulders. I had never felt so completely surrounded.

So safe.

Malcolm had made me feel safe. He’d protected me and kept Mother from potentially killing me or keeping me locked in the closet until Jarrett was ready for me. But even Malcolm never made me feel this protected. Not entirely. He wasn’t always there. He couldn’t be. I didn’t blame him for that. He did enough to keep me going.

But Thoran was a shield. A wall of power and strength. He made me want not to be scared. He made me feel like I could tackle anything as long as he was there. He didn’t simply protect me but embolden me because I could tell him what I wanted, and he would never deny me.

It was just the small fact that he knew Jarrett.

But did it matter? Once I married Thoran, what could Jarrett possibly do?

He could give you back, said the taunting little voice. The cruel doubt. He just needs you to get his inheritance. If Jarrett asks him, Thoran could divorce you once he gets what he wants and give you back. You’re just a means to an end.

No!

No. I didn’t believe that.

Thoran wouldn’t do that.

“Blue?” I raised my face off his damp chest to peer up at the man I was so in love with it physically hurt. I stared up into eyes I could happily sink into and drown. “What is it?”

No. He wouldn’t.

I believed that.

I had to.

I gave him what I hoped was an assuring smile. “Nothing. Nervous.”

He planted a kiss to my forehead. “Don’t be. It’ll just be you, me, Vance, and Cyrus. And the justice of the peace,” he added.

“What about the other woman?”

A tiny crease formed between his brows. “Once I tell Vance I’ve changed my mind, he’ll call and let her people know, I suppose.”

Let her people know.

I’d been wondering about the other woman, the one Vance was expecting to show up at the courthouse. Unlike me, she would know about Thoran’s history. Despite it, she had agreed to marry him.

Or someone was forcing her to. I knew all about that. Only unlike how my parents sold me to Jarrett at sixteen, she was only just being told. She was probably terrified. I had been. For weeks, I had lain awake in my bed, waiting for Jarrett to swoop in and drag me away. If Malcolm hadn’t promised he wouldn’t allow that to happen, I would have lost my mind.

“Blue?”

I blinked out of my spiraling thoughts to focus on the weight of Thoran’s body settled against mine. His fingers were under my chin. His eyes cutting through the shower to find mine.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I was just wondering what will happen to her.”

He studied my face, his expression bemused.

I didn’t expect him to understand my concern. Only those of us raised with the blade of marriage steady against our throat could comprehend the magnitude of his rejection. To a normal person, it wasn’t a big deal, but if this was something she had no control over, it could mean pain and punishment. She could be marked.

I had been practically wrapped in pink lace and white ribbons and gifted to Jarrett on a silver platter. Mother would have skinned me alive if she even suspected I somehow lost his attention; I missed his call once when I was seventeen because Mother had put me in the closet for displeasing her. That unavoidable act had earned me thirty lashes with the crop across my backside and thighs.

Even years later, my skin still prickled.

“Naya?” He grazed my cheek, taking me out of that memory.

“What will happen to her if you turn her away?” I asked him.

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