The Rejected Beast Bride's New Mate novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Wronged Mate

The clerk's pen stopped above her blotter.

Behind me, the marble hall had gone silent.

There were maybe twenty people in it.

A deer-kin couple at the bonding window holding hands.

An old badger-kin man paying a fine.

Two reporters who'd camped on the bench by the door since the hearing, waiting for anything at all.

Both of them had their phones up.

"Miss Saxby," the clerk said faintly. "It's April first."

"I know what day it is."

"People do come in with jokes."

"It's not a joke," I said. "Do you want his name? It's on the rematch form already. Orrin Wyck. Gargoyle-kin. Willing."

Somebody at the bonding window said, "Oh my God, it's her."

The clerk picked up her phone and pressed one button.

"Registrar," she said. "You need to come down. Now. Please."

The Registrar came down the big staircase two minutes later in a cardigan.

He had his glasses pushed up on his head and a mug of coffee in one hand.

He was an elderly owl-kin with tufted gray brows, and he looked at me.

"Miss Saxby."

"Registrar."

"You understand what you're doing."

"I'm telling the truth in front of witnesses," I said. "That's what this building's always told me to do."

He set the coffee down on the counter.

"Under the law, a breach makes your mate the wronged party," he said, for the reporters as much as for me. "From today, only Mr. Hallam can ask for dissolution. He has fourteen days. If he doesn't ask, the bond stands, the breach goes on your record, and the Council may fine you."

"I know," I said.

"He can also forgive it," the Registrar said. "Publicly. And then nothing changes at all."

"I know that too."

He looked at me over the top of his glasses for a long moment.

Then he took the pen from the clerk's hand and gave it to me himself.

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend