An Involuntary Marriage

By my stepfather’s will, I am to marry a man whose name he carefully hides. My opinion doesn’t matter to him at all—after all, arranged marriages in my world are not uncommon. Neither tears nor prayers saved me from this unwilling marriage. Deep in my soul, hope for a happy future kept flickering until the very end. But it shattered into tiny pieces like a crystal glass hitting a stone the moment I saw the groom…