"I refuse to be your slave," Alya said in defiance.
"A slave? Who told you that? You will be my wife."
"With you, it's the same thing."
Larissa stood beside Ning, watching the vision with an increasingly troubled expression as she understood that this was no robbery, no random racial attack, and no crime that had begun within Conjora at all.
These people had come from somewhere else.
They had crossed an ocean, perhaps even passed through the security of multiple countries, and had spent years searching for a single woman who had believed she was finally free of them.
Alya's arms trembled, but her voice did not. Even though she possessed none of the strength required to fight the people before her, she continued standing in front of her child without moving aside.
"I will not let you use me in your ploy to take the throne," she said. "I refuse to help you or anyone else."
