The Bride He Hates-Chapter 20: You Are Mine, Lyanna

After the dinner, Lord Richard and Lady Sylvia went to the guest chambers while Azrael and Lyanna returned to their chambers. Azrael dismissed the guards outside the chambers with a curt wave of his hand and closed the door.

Lyanna stood by the window. The evening had been full of careful words and smiles, and she thought she had handled it well. She turned to face him, expecting acknowledgement.

Instead, she saw his face burning with anger.

"That comment about being satisfied...you made it sound sexual. Do you have any idea how inappropriate that was?"

Lyanna blinked and stared at him. Of all the things she’d expected him to criticize, that hadn’t been on the list.

"She was provoking me." Lyanna replied. "I defended us. I defended our marriage."

His laugh was harsh, and bitter.

"You defended us by using our bedroom as a weapon. That’s crass, Lyanna. It’s beneath a queen. It made you look desperate and vulgar."

The words hurt. She was frustrated with the unfairness. She couldn’t win, no matter what she did, how hard she tried, it was never enough.

She had spent the entire evening trying her best, but it didn’t matter. She was just the revenge bride, the thing he owned but would never value.

"I did what I thought was best. Sylvia was insulting me. Was I supposed to just sit there and take it? Let her say I’m not fit to be your wife?"

"You were supposed to handle it with dignity." Azrael snapped. "Not with a sexual innuendo. Do you understand how that reflects on me and on this court?"

This was the real problem. It wasn’t that she had defended herself poorly, but that she had embarrassed him.

"Then why did you defend me in front of Lord Richard?" Lyanna asked.

Azrael’s expression turned even colder as he walked closer to her.

"I defended you because Richard was testing if I’m weak enough to let others insult what’s mine. It was about me, not you. I was proving that I won’t tolerate disrespect towards what belongs to me. Don’t confuse politics with care."

"If I’m such a burden, such an embarrassment, such a disappointment, why not just kill me? Why go through this farce of a marriage at all?"

"I’ll give you the same answer as before. Death is too easy for you. I don’t want you dead, Lyanna. I want you to live a very long life. I want you to wake up every single morning knowing you’re trapped with someone who hates you. I want you to believe that every kindness is a lie, and every cruelty is what you deserve.

That is my revenge, wife. Your lifetime of misery for my public humiliation, your decades of knowing your bloodline destroyed something you can never fix. I want you to carry that weight every day until it breaks you."

Azrael backed her against the wall. His presence was overwhelming. The cold radiating from him made the air feel charged, and electric. Lyanna’s breath grew short, and she hated that her body reacted to his closeness even as her mind screamed at her to push him away.

But there was something in his eyes that contradicted everything he had just said, the way his gaze lingered on her lips for just a fraction of a second before looking back up.

"Then why do you keep defending me? Why stop Queen Elise from belittling me? Why stand up to Lord Richard when he questioned my loyalty?"

She pushed away from the wall, forcing him to either step back or let her invade his space. He didn’t step back.

"If you hate me so much, if I’m just property, just your revenge toy, why does it matter what anyone says about me? Why not let them mock me freely? It would be another form of punishment, wouldn’t it? Public humiliation to match your private cruelty?"

His jaw tightened. For a second, he just stared at her.

"Because you’re mine." He whispered. "You’re mine, and I don’t let others damage what belongs to me. I don’t allow anyone to disrespect my possessions."

Then he kissed her. It was hard and aggressive, his mouth crashing down on hers with a desperation that contradicted every word he’d just spoken.

His hand tangled roughly in her hair, tilting her head back at an angle that should have been uncomfortable but instead sent heat through her body. His other hand gripped her waist, fingers digging into her gown.

For a second, Lyanna froze. This kiss was different from their wedding kiss. This was raw.

Something sparked inside her. If he wanted to fight this way, she would fight back.

She kissed him back with equal intensity. Her hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer as she bit his lower lip hard enough to taste his blood. The taste of his blood flooded her mouth, and she heard him groan.

The kiss turned into a battle. His tongue invaded her mouth, demanding dominance, and she met it with teeth and anger. Her nails dug into his shoulders through his shirt. His hand in her hair tightened, controlling the angle, but she pushed back, refusing to be passive.

They broke apart gasping, both breathing hard even though he didn’t techalthougheyes had darkened, pupils had gone wide with hunger. Lyanna could feel her own pulse racing, her lips were swollen and probably bruised. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Because you’re mine." He muttered again as he pressed his forehead against hers. "I don’t have to like you to be possessive of you. I don’t have to care for you to keep you."

But even as he said those words, his hands were gentle on her. His one hand was cupping her neck from the back, his thumb stroking her racing pulse. The contradiction was dizzying.

"I won’t spend my life begging for scraps of kindness from you. If this is all we’ll ever be, hatred and possession, and these moments where we tear each other apart, then fine. I can accept that. But don’t expect me to break. Don’t expect me to become a hollow shell who’ll live only to suffer for your satisfaction.

I’ll survive you, Azrael. I’ll endure every cruelty and every punishment. And maybe one day, that will be my revenge. That I survived when you wanted me broken, and stayed myself when you wanted me destroyed."

She felt him tense beside her. In the dim candlelight, his silver eyes were impossible to read.

"We’ll see who breaks first, wife."