Page 12 of Knotted By the Triad

"So he made sure they couldn't refuse," I mused.

Allie nodded. “I guess it’s a good thing the princes ordered you escorted into the estate through the side hall and didn’t prepare a lavish wedding. You were too drugged to walk down the aisle. I had to carry you inside with the help of the steward. The princes didn’t know it was you who’d entered the manor until the steward caught a glimpse of your face when the wind lifted your veil. He must’ve run and told them the bride had been switched.”

I wasn’t worried about the steward. My mind was stuck on the fact that I’d been carried inside because I was too drugged out of my mind to walk on my own. How embarrassing!

I guess this could be considered secondhand embarrassment, since it hadn’t happened to me, per se. Still, it was embarrassing. I looked toward the doors the three alphas had just walked out of.

They knew Orion had drugged me, but they clearly didn't know why. They thought I’d been given some kind of aphrodisiac, something that was affecting my scent so I could elicit a sexual response from them.

Orion hadn't been trying to make his daughter more appealing to the three alphas. He'd been making sure she was so out of it, she wouldn't be able to tell them the truth. Once she spent the night under the princes' roof as their bride, it wouldn't matter whether they touched her or not.

Everyone would assume they had. Her reputation, well... my reputation would be ruined if they sent me home afterward. Orion knew the princes would be expected to take responsibility for me.

He'd covered himself from both directions. He'd fulfilled the Bane family's obligation by delivering a bride, and he'd made it nearly impossible for the princes to send me back without creating another scandal.

Orion Bane was a sneaky and manipulative bastard. I didn't know what else my father had planned for me, but one thing was certain: I wasn't going to make it easy for him. Allie finished removing the last pin from my hair, then lifted the dragon crown from my head. My curls fell freely around my shoulders.

"Your father isn't finished," she said, setting the small crown onto the table. “He has more plans for you.”

"What else does he want?" I asked, massaging my scalp, happy to have the wedding pins out of my head.

"He wants you to secure your position here. Once you give the princes an heir, he believes the Bane family will finally have the connection to the imperial court he's wanted for years."

Right. I remembered that from the book. Orion had always been obsessed with increasing the Poison Clan's status. Though the Bane family was noble, Orion was of lower rank than others in his circle.

"He hopes to become an imperial relative through you and your child. After that, he believes he'll have enough influence to become an imperial merchant. He wants the Bane Clan to supply the palace directly. Medicine, herbs, poisons, whatever else the imperial household requires. He's been trying to secure the position for years."

So, Daveah hadn't just run away from an arranged marriage. She'd nearly ruined whatever grand plan Orion had been working toward. No wonder he'd been so desperate to shove another daughter into her place.

"He told me to remind you that once your position with the princes is secure, you need to speak to them on his behalf and have them recommend him to the King in the future."

Fuck that!

The original Zuri had wanted her father's love and respect so badly that she'd often argued with the alphas on his behalf, pushing them to speak to the King and recommend Orion as a supplier of medicinal herbs to the palace.

The princes had always refused. Kai warned her that if Orion failed to deliver what he promised, the responsibility would fall back on them. But Zuri hadn't listened. She'd convinced herself they were refusing because they didn't love her.

"I don't want to be my father's pawn, Allie," I whispered, refusing to be controlled by Orion.

"But what can you do? You don’t have anyone else to back you up, princess.”

True. In this world, the weak needed a backer, and right now, I was probably the weakest person in this manor. Since I didn't have someone powerful to protect me, I'd have to figure out how to become strong enough to protect myself. Allie too.

I looked around the room while she helped me out of the heavy outer layer of my wedding robe. The red silk was beautiful, but between the weight of it and the heat still lingering beneath my skin, I couldn't wait to get it off.

This was too much. I'd gotten into a car accident, woken up inside a book, been drugged by a father who wanted to use me for his own ambitions, and somehow ended up married to three dragon-shifting alphas who were already in love with someone else.

And now I was supposed to figure out how to survive all of it. Maybe I should just run away. The thought was tempting, but where would I even go? Back to the countryside? That would be the first place my father looked.

And going back there would put my grandmother and cousins in danger. No. Running wasn't an option. At least not yet. The King had ordered this marriage, and the princes couldn't consummate their marriage with Mei Lin until their primary wife gave them an heir.

If I disappeared back to the countryside, I'd be defying the same decree Orion had gone through all this trouble to satisfy. And I’d anger the princes, which would lead to them putting me in that tower where I would ultimately die.

I needed a way to give everyone what they wanted without sacrificing my life. Wait, that was it. I could just give the alphas what they wanted. I could have an heir for the princes, then ask for a divorce and leave.

I didn't know if the King would allow it, but it was worth finding out. If he did, the princes could live happily with their precious Lin'er, and I could leave. They’d have an heir, like the King wanted.

And they’d be free of me, like they wanted. As for my father, fuck him. His grandson would be a prince. That was all I could do for him. Once that was done, I could leave and explore this world.