Vengeance (3)

"That is sad to hear." The elderly woman shook her head sympathetically. "Unfortunately, most people only ever care about the backgrounds of their future sons-in-law and forget that their daughters' feelings should be the most important thing. You would be surprised how many young women end up in marriages they didn't want to be in, to begin with, only to be treated as objects by their husbands."

Delaney bit her lip. Her opinion of forced marriages had not changed but she would never have met Darius if she was not forced to. He was not the kind of man she ever thought she would ever want to be with.

"You are lucky, young man. We, in Celossia, care the most about couples' feelings. If you need to keep your identity hidden in case your people want to find you, we will pretend to have known you for ages."

"Why would you do that for a couple of strangers?" Delaney asked skeptically.