Titiana POV

“Explain to me how this is possible, because you cannot be standing there telling me you are my mate,” Deus said, his voice loud enough to pull every eye in the hall toward us.

“I am not telling you anything,” I said, keeping my shoulders straight even though my hands were shaking, because the bond was already there and denying it would not make it disappear. “It happened the moment the ceremony started, and I felt it before I even understood what it was.”

“That is impossible,” Deus replied, turning away from me and then back again as if the answer might change if he looked twice. “I already have a betrothed, and I am not rejecting my future for some trick.”

“This is not a trick,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady while the room buzzed with loud whispers. “I did not choose this, and I would not humiliate myself by lying about something like this.”

Deus laughed sharply, and nothing about it sounded amused. “You expect me to believe that an omega like you suddenly becomes my mate during a public ceremony, and I am supposed to accept that without question.”

“I expect you to believe the bond,” I said, meeting his eyes even though it hurt, because the pull between us made rejection feel heavier. “Whether you accept it or not does not change what it is.”

Deus stepped closer, lowering his voice. “You found another way to lure me, and I should have known you would try something desperate, because this is what omegas like you do when they want to climb.”

“That is not fair,” I said, and the words felt too small for what I wanted to say. “You do not get to rewrite reality because it inconveniences you.”

“It inconveniences everyone,” he snapped, gesturing toward the elders and the watching students. “I cannot be mated to you when I am already promised to Veronica, and you will not ruin that arrangement with a lie.”

Before I could respond, Jasper stepped forward, his expression cold and dismissive, as if the entire situation bored him. “If we are done pretending,” he said, “then let me make this clear. I reject her as my mate.”

The words landed harder than I expected, even though I had not been looking at him. “Jasper,” Carlos said sharply from behind him, but Jasper did not turn.

“It is beneath my status to be involved with a low omega,” Jasper continued, his tone calm and practiced. “I am meant to be bonded to an alpha or a beta’s daughter, someone suitable, and that is not her.”

“I did not ask for you,” I said, finally looking at him, because staying silent felt like agreeing. “I did not ask for any of this.”

“That does not matter,” Jasper replied, already stepping back. “What matters is that I will not be tied to this mess.”

"Jasper!!!" Carlos called his name, louder, but Jasper walked away without slowing, leaving a space behind him that no one tried to fill.

Deus looked at me one last time, his jaw tight, his decision already made. “I will not accept this bond,” he said. “Not now, and not ever.”

The elders began to move, conversations starting up as if my life had not just been split open in front of everyone, and one by one, people drifted away until the hall felt too large and too empty at the same time.

I left without looking back, because staying would have meant breaking down where everyone could see me, and I refused to give them that. The walk back to the dorm felt longer than usual, every step heavy with thoughts I could not slow down, because my mind kept replaying every word, every look, and every rejection.

When I reached my room, the door was closed, and for a moment I stood there staring at it as if it might open on its own. I knocked, then knocked again, and called out, my voice sounding smaller in the quiet hallway.

Nothing happened.

I knocked again, harder this time, and finally one of my dormmates opened the door just enough to look at me, her eyes bright with curiosity. Before I could say anything, laughter broke out behind her, spreading through the room like it had been waiting for me.

“Look who came back,” someone said, and the laughter grew louder, sharper, filling the space with sound that made my chest tighten.

I did not answer them, because I did not trust my voice, and instead I stepped past the open door and moved toward my bed, focusing only on getting there without falling apart.

“Do not ignore us,” another voice said, close enough that I felt it rather than saw it. “Everyone knows how desperate you were today.”

I kept walking, my head down, my hands clenched at my sides, because stopping would have meant listening.

“Begging a man who already has a betrothed,” the voice continued, followed by more laughter. “Did you really think he would choose you?”

I felt a hand grab my arm, stopping me just short of the bed, and when I looked up, the girl’s smile was wide and cruel. “He did not even care,” she said. “But you still threw yourself at him like you always do, thinking he could contain your whole life.”

“Let go of me,” I said, my voice low, because yelling would have given them what they wanted.

She laughed and tightened her grip for a second longer before I shoved her hand away and stumbled back, finally reaching the bed. I pulled the blanket over myself, turning my face toward the wall, and the room slowly grew quieter as they lost interest.

I lay there long after the lights went out, staring at nothing, my thoughts looping back to the hall, to Deus’s face, to Jasper’s rejection, and to the bond that refused to disappear no matter how much they denied it.

Sometime in the night, I woke up suddenly, my heart racing, and I sat up in the dark, whispering to myself, “What is happening to me?”