Page 2 of Married to the Beast

“I need to see—” she began but just then Faleesha came running up the stairs behind her.

“Faleesha—there you are! Whyever did you let this ragged creature into the house?” Grindelia demanded.

“Oh, Mother—Itriednot to let her but shepushedme over and shoved her way inside!” Faleesha’s pale blue eyes filled with easy tears—she had always been able to cry at the drop of a hat. “I’m quite certain I shall have bruises where she shoved me!”

“Why, you littlebeast!”Grindelia exclaimed, glaring down at Aleena. She had always been quick to defend her child and she always took Faleesha’s side, even when she was in the wrong.

“I never shoved her,” Aleena said steadily, lifting her chin. “My sleeve brushed hers as I was coming in the door—that’s all.”

“Liar!”Faleesha’s voice rose to a shrill pitch that seemed to drill into Aleena’s ears. “Liar, you pushed me down! I’m going to have bruises all up and down my side!”

“Here now, here now—what’s all this racket?” a deep voice demanded and the door to the study opened, revealing Aleena’s father at last.

“Oh, Father!” she exclaimed, feeling relieved. “Please—I need to speak to you but these two are trying to stop me.”

Aleena’s father looked distinctly uncomfortable. She was sure he still harbored some affection for her and some guilt over the disavowment of her mother, but he also didn’t like to upset his current wife.

“Well, now…” He sighed deeply, looking conflicted.

“Please, Father—it’s a matter of life or death!” Aleena hoped her words would convince him and it wasn’t like she was lying. If her mother couldn’t continue to get treatment, she would certainly die.

“All right.” He sighed again. “Come up—but only for a moment, child. We’re all busy here.”

“Greggor, I reallymustprotest!” Aleena’s stepmother began. “You disavowed this little beggar along with her mother!”

“You disavow wives, Grindelia—not children,” her father corrected gently. “Come, child,” he added, speaking to Aleena. “I can give you but a moment of my time.”

Feeling marginally relieved, Aleena made her way up the stairs past her stepmother, who gave way with extremely poor grace. She followed her father into his study and got ready to state her case. However, any hope of privacy she might have had was dashed, for Grindelia and Faleesha followed them in. The two of them seated themselves on the plushpurraleather couch with its fat brown cushions and gleaming golden buttons, leaving Aleena no choice but to stand.

Well, she hadn’t wanted to sit anyway, she told herself. She was too nervous to sit.

“Now what is it you want, child?” her father asked, going to sit behind his vasttikkawood desk which had been polisheduntil its dark blue wood gleamed. “As I said, we’re all quite busy at the moment.”

Aleena took a deep breath—there was no delicate way to say this.

“I need fifty thousand credits to pay for my mother’s medical treatments,” she said bluntly, not trying to sugar coat it. “She has a rare blood disease, as you know. If she isn’t able to continue treatment, she’ll die.”

Behind her, she could hear her stepmother sucking in a shocked gasp of air.

“Did you say fiftythousandcredits!” she exclaimed, before Aleena’s father could say anything at all. “You think we’ll justhandyou that kind of money, you little beggar?”

“It would just be a loan—I’ll find a way to pay you back,” Aleena said desperately, still speaking to her father. She knew he had the money—her stepmother’s breast net alone had probably cost in the neighborhood of fifty thousand credits. If he could afford to let her deck herself in such splendor on a daily basis, he must have the money to save the life of his disavowed wife.

But her father frowned and sucked his teeth. Clearly he didn’t want to make his current wife angry—not even to save the life of his disavowed wife.

“Please, Father—she’lldie!” Aleena hated to beg, but this was her last chance. It was either get the money for her mother’s treatment here or sell herself on the streets and let a stranger change the color of her eyes.

“Lies!” her stepmother snarled. “I’m sure she’s not that sick!”

“She is!” Aleena rounded on her. “If she doesn’t get her next treatment, the sickness in her blood will spread to the rest of her body! She’s barely hanging on as it is!”

“Why should we care?” Grindelia demanded, her pale blue eyes flashing. “A disavowed wife is nobody’s concern—especially not the man who disavowed her!”

“My father only disavowed my mother because you lured him away!” Aleena cried, forgetting her plan to be calm and even-tempered. “She’d be safe and well and have as much treatment as she needed if it wasn’t foryou!”

“Howdareyou? Get out of my house at once!” Grindelia pointed at the study door, her arm stiff and her eyes cold.

“No! I came to talk to my father—notyou!” Aleena turned to face her father again. “Father,please—I’ll find a way to pay you back—I swear it!”

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