Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(22)

“Holy Hell.”

Jaxon snorted. “Wait. It gets worse. He also completed the lineage check to see if you and I would be compatible for a marriage contract.”

“And it came back negative, right?”

Jaxon didn’t respond.

“It came back positive? What kind of bullshit is that? We’re like oil and water. How could our lineage be compatible?”

Rhianna sniffled. Jaxon walked over and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and tucking her head under his chin. “It means nothing.”

There was a strange itchiness under Bryn’s skin, like it had become too tight. The results had to be a mistake. Was the Directorate on drugs? What did this mean, anyway? “Jaxon, what happens now?”

“Run off with your knight, and nothing happens.”

Dare to dream. “I can’t do that to my grandmother.”

“If you stay, your grandfather will file a petition for approval of marriage between our families which my father, being far more sane, will fight.”

She never thought she’d utter these words. “Please tell me your dad outranks my grandfather and can make this go away.”

Jaxon stepped away from Rhianna and rammed his hand back through his hair. “They are fairly evenly matched. I’m not sure how the vote will go when it hits the Directorate. I’m sure it would amuse some of my father’s enemies to handicap his son with an unsuitable wife.”

Unsuitable? That should piss her off, but he could call her whatever he wanted if it would stop this nightmare from becoming reality. Bryn shot across the room toward Jaxon. “This can’t happen. You need to talk to your father, have him bribe, threaten, or murder whoever he has to, in order to stop this insanity.”

“Are you calling my father a murderer?” Frost shot from Jaxon’s nose.

“Oh, grow the hell up. If my grandfather has had people killed, your father probably has, too. That’s not the point. The point is, I don’t care how your father does it. This,” she pointed back and forth between Jaxon and herself, “cannot happen.”

“On that we agree.” Jaxon slumped onto the couch and held his hand out to Rhianna. She joined him, curving against him like a comma, resting her head on his chest.

The sight of them like that, gave Bryn another idea. “Don’t get mad at what I’m about to suggest.” Bryn took a deep breath and blew it out. “You and Rhianna seem to have,” good God, how do I say this, “an intimate relationship. What if after we graduate, and before we get married, Rhianna became pregnant. You’d have to marry her. Right?”

Jaxon went very still and then closed his eyes. “Sometimes I forget how absolutely ignorant you are. Pregnancy outside of marriage is an unforgivable betrayal in our Clan.”

She looked at Rhianna. “Do you agree with what he said?”

Rhianna gave a curt nod. “I would never bring such shame upon my Clan.”

They were both insane. “You’re worried about shaming the Clan. If the Clan has its way, I’ll have to marry Jaxon.” She laughed. “Clint’s turkey baster idea is sounding better and better.”

“What are you talking about?” Jaxon said.

She repeated Clint’s idea of a marriage in name only, which would allow Jaxon and Rhianna to be together while she and Valmont were together and how a child would be created through absolutely no bodily contact.

Jaxon sat up. “That’s not a bad idea. Except for the part about you carrying on with Valmont. I wouldn’t allow that.”

Fire roared through Bryn’s body. Sparks shot from her lips when she spoke. “What makes you think you’re allowed to tell me what I can and cannot do? And why would I agree to you carrying on with Rhianna while I had no one?”

“That’s the way it works,” Jaxon said.

She wanted to bludgeon him with a chair. “You are not going to dictate how I live my life in some sham of a marriage.”

“She’s right,” Rhianna said. “If you and I continue our relationship, she deserves to have someone, too.”

“Are you insane?” Jaxon snapped.

The door to Rhianna’s room sprung open and smacked back against the wall. Valmont strode into the room, grabbed Bryn’s arm, and spun her around.

Off balance, Bryn clutched at him. He solved the problem by wrapping his arms around her and pressing his mouth against hers. And just like that, the rest of the world vanished. His mouth moved against hers. Magic and heat flowed through their bond, setting off various nerve endings in her body. She growled deep in her chest.

Valmont pulled back. “Did you just growl at me?”

She nodded. “But in a good way.”

He grinned and rubbed his nose against hers. “You’re mine. I’m not giving you up no matter what the Directorate says.”

She melted against him. “Agreed.”

Rhianna giggled.

Right, they had an audience. Bryn turned toward the couch.

Rhianna wore a huge grin. Jaxon looked like he wanted to eviscerate someone.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Valmont said. “Deal with it.”

Frost shot from Jaxon’s nostrils. “If Bryn and I are forced to marry, no one can know about your relationship. It would make me appear weak.”