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I pout and turn back to the , staring out at the wild ocean as the coastal air blows throughfiery red hair The same hair my e ride thiswith it down and wild, like I alear it, instead of done up like she asked

Maybe s like their hair when they’re on their way to , for the first time

…Maybe if I wasn’t being forced into this, I’d do the same

“Oh, yeah, if big i women read,” Ailith mutters sarcastically

My scowl only deepens

“Well, if Lord Ballentyne thinks he can stop ot much to learn”

Cat snickers, leaning her head on h muddy road

“I’ve heard he’s quite handso

I smile wryly “You have not You’ve heard the saes are horrible”

I wince,a face as I look up at Ailith and then Rhona—both of whom are also betrothed to Lords they’ve never met

“Sorry”

Rhona ss “It is what it is”

“Well your vieill be beautiful, least?” Ailith puts up a brave smile as she nods out theat the spectacular views of the sea Rhona ives her an odd look

“What, you don’t like the ocean?”

Rhona shakes her head “It s coain “Father says they’re not even really men More like beasts”

Cat givesback to our friend

“Rhona, I am sure you remember the marauder Lord Entwyne captured after the raid last year The one they paraded through the town naked as the day he was born on the way to the stocks?”

Rhona blushes furiously, shaking her head Okay, all of us blush a little, re the scene we all snuck out to watch e’d been forbidden to witness it

Catriona s her brows “I’s”

The four of us blush even deeper before Cat sighs and shakes her head

“Well anyways, I’d like to see my father try and foist me off to some Lord I don’t know”

Ailith and Rhona and I share a look, quietly rolling our eyes The fact that Lord McDougall, Catriona’s father, hasn’t set up a husband for her is a mystery But we all know it’s just a matter of tihters of lower Lords or chieftains