My heart resumed beating suddenly. Each pump caused an ache in my chest as her words replayed in my head.

"By mate... Do you mean sex? I have to have sex with him?" My voice broke at the end and I hoped she would give a negative answer.

I prayed to all the deities that existed in the world at least this once, I hoped they listened to me. I wished that the term mating in their world meant something entirely different.

My stepmother had always accused me of sleeping around in town but I had been preserving myself for the one man who would truly love me.

Out of...