Page 65 of Forced Vows

"Are you kidding me?" He doesn't sound like he's teasing.

"Men like me don't joke about violence."

That I believe. "You can't hurt someone for dancing with me."

"I can."

"Does that mean I get to kneecap every woman you dance with?" I demand incredulously.

Does he even hear himself?

"The only other women I will dance with are family."

I assume he means his family, but he could be referring to Kara and Fiona too. "I don't believe you."

"De Lucas don't break their marriage vows."

"Dancing isn't infidelity." I speak slowly, trying to get through his thick skull. "And we are not married."

"A wedding is just a formality. The deal is done."

The sound of steel bars slamming down clangs through my head. He means it. Regardless of when the wedding happens, as far as Miceli De Luca is concerned, we are committed to each other.

"We're not even engaged."

"It may be secret for now, but you are definitely my fiancée."

Secret? But real. That's definitely a different twist on our situation.

"Whatever. That doesn't mean you can go around pounding on other men for dancing with me. I assume women are safe from your murderous tendencies."

"If a woman hits on you, my cousin Nerissa will sort it."

"No. Just no. I don't want that kind of life." The walls are closing. Pretty soon I'll be locked in a box too small to even turn around.

"It's not a kind of life. It is your life and it's time you accept that. Do what I say and no one gets hurt." He thinks he's being reasonable.

His tone and expression aren't even a little upset, while my temper slips its leash and runs pell-mell through my body.

"That's not how it works in the real world," I grit out, not even trying to pretend to be the happy birthday girl anymore, much less this violent Neanderthal's girlfriend.

"It's how it works in our world."

"Yours maybe, not mine." I shove at his chest, hard.

"In my world any man who touches you dies. Remember that while you're pretending to live in a different one." Then he lets me go.

Chapter 23: MICELI

Róise storms through the crowd, ignoring the attempts of our guests to get her attention.

"You do realize this is supposed to be an alliance between our families, not the beginning of the next war, don't you?" Sev drawls in a mix of mockery and warning from behind me.

Still watching my angry secret fiancée, I don't turn to face my brother. "She doesn't want this marriage."

"Catalina didn't want to marry me either. We made it work." My brother's superior tone frays another strand on the last rope holding my temper in check.

"She is not Catalina." And I am not my brother.

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