Page 63 of Reign

What is he doing?

What has Chase done to me?

He’s putting his promise into action.

Chase doesn’t blink, the rest of his expression an ambivalent marble carving showing no sorrow or shame. “Callie, as an initiate claiming a Noble soulmate, can’t finalize her robing without her soulmate’s approval.”

He can’t do this. I wasn’t ignorant enough to believe he’d let this ceremony go on without a fight, but revoking his attachment to me? So officially and publicly? This is worse than being covered in garbage. More excruciating than enduring public humiliation.

This is final.

“Then I claim another soulmate!” I shout.

Fabric rustles as everyone spins back to me.

Daniel says through downturned lips, “Well. I don’t think you can.” He turns to Sabine. “Can she?”

Sabine meets my eye with a wicked grin. I recoil, repulsed at the prospect of having something in common with her. Her reasons for keeping me as a Virtue can’t possibly be as important as mine, yet we’re one with this goal, and it makes me sick inside.

Chase’s eyes incorporate the flames of the sconces. “That’s not possible.”

“Isn’t it?” Sabine asks sweetly. “I don’t believe Rose’s handbook touches on that subject. My great-great-grandmother-in-law’s, however, does. The Harringtons are about empowering women, not stifling them. Callie may have begun her trials bound to you, but she may choose another available Noble at her robing ceremony to assist her in her Virtuous transformation. If you need proof, dear boy, you may go into my study and read through the dusty chapters. The rest of us will see this exciting ceremony through.”

“There aren’t any available Nobles left,” Chase forces out. His exposed hands clench into vengeful fists. “Our barons have chosen their soulmates. The upperclassmen have theirs. Callie’s finished here. There’s—” Chase cuts himself off. His eyes widen, then swing over to mine, the realization in them as obvious to me as shooting stars in a pitch black sky.

I narrow my eyes and grin, emitting none of the shrieking pain in my heart. “Tempest,” I say, the name echoing in the silent chamber. “I choose Tempest as my soulmate.”

21

Chase

So few words come out of my mouth, yet the curses filling my head would make an undertaker hand over his scythe and back away slowly.

My palms slam against the stone railing, my grip begging for the rock to crumble as I match Callie’s defiant stare and try not to strangle her with my mind alone.

The light in here is so dim, shadows claim it as their docile pet, but the scarlet color of her lips manages to cut through the gloom. They’re swollen—she’s been gnawing at them, chewing out her thoughts until she reached this moment, pitting me against her and the society.

“Tempest?” I ask her. I’ve never spat out his name; it cuts against my tongue in ways that make me uncomfortable.

“Yes,” she responds. No hesitation. No shame.

My chest tightens, inhales and exhales shrinking into pinpricks of air. Blood rushes into my neck, heating my ears. Tendons harden where my skin should be soft, and I’m having trouble restraining myself where my best buddy is concerned.

“You’ve been summoned, Tempest Callahan.” My father’s rough voice lingers in my ears, overtaking the shuffling of his steps and rustle of his robe. “How do you answer?”

“Simple. He doesn’t,” I bite out.

A heavy hand hits my shoulder and digs under the bone in warning. “It’s no longer your call, son.”

“It’s always my call!”

I’m aware I sound like a spoiled jackass but see if I fucking care. This is Callie. She can’t be one of us. There wasn’t supposed to be any chance of her succeeding in becoming a Virtue. I’m protecting the Nobles by exiling her. Ensuring the Stone legacy. Why can’t Father see this?

Because he’s built his empire on lies. Callie isn’t yours to direct any more than you believed Emma was your sister.

I growl at the unbidden retort, made by my own brain. This is in my control. It’s all for the greater good.

Confusion over why Father gave me Rose’s handbook in the first place when he’s seemingly taking his fiancée’s side shouldn’t take up so much headspace. I invoked my privilege, cast Callie off as insignificant, yet she remains confident and unaffected at naming my most trusted friend as her Plan B.

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