The more he spoke, the more she despised everything about him. Not only the cocky arrogance, but the way he was so sure he had her pegged. Like he was so much smarter than her. “I will not apologize for defending myself, nor will I run when faced with danger in the future. If I am to be a Queen, I will be one who cowers.” This was spoken with a self assuredness she felt in no other situation. Even if it meant her death, she would rather face it head on than fleeing like a damn coward.
“As for being honest with you tonight, as I said before. You are my husband and I thought maybe there was a future where we could both be happy together. I thought you would want to know me, not just who I am supposed to pretend to be.” She glanced at him, as if some part of her still hoped to find a glimmer of understanding in his face, but she looked away quickly without paying too much attention. To not see it would be too disappointing, but even worse would be giving herself any room for misinterpretation. Hope was a poison she could do without.
“This is the woman you selected as your wife. I will play the role expected of me, but I will do it my way. If this is not acceptable to you, you could always return home with the news that I am dead. Or, we could spend the rest of our lives at odds with one another. Where we go from here is mostly up to you.” It was bold of her to be so blatant about her intentions to not cooperate with what he wanted from her. She had been fully prepared to plaster fake smile across her face and nod along to whatever he said. Something in her must have snapped though, the insatiable drive to live had reached its breaking point. She would rather die than be forced to live the rest of her life being forced to hide every part of herself.
