Arjun's face was like stone when Scarlett entered the dining room, and he gestured wordlessly to a chair. Scarlett tightened the towel around her waist and sat, her heart hammering like a drum as her father regarded her with an unblinking stare that sent an uncomfortable shiver down her spine. Her mother wasn't there, and Scarlett felt even worse. Never had it just been her father talking to her about her destiny, and Scarlett shivered again.
"Just what do you think you're playing at?" Arjun finally said, his voice level. Scarlett's dread worsened; when her father got quiet like that, trouble was on the horizon. Scarlett nevertheless mustered up the courage to keep her own voice steady as she answered.
"Ishan's my friend," she said. "I like him a lot, Father."
Arjun grunted. "As long as you don't carry it further than that," he said curtly. "Ishan is a nice boy, but he's a forest elf. You're from sun elf stock; I won't have you muddying my grandchild's blood. In any case, I've arranged your marriage for you, so you might as well stop this infatuation."
"But I don't want to marry --" Scarlett shut up when her father held up a finger, another silent warning she'd grown to know all too well.
"You will marry who I tell you to," Arjun told her sternly. "And you will like it. I will not have you acting like a spoilt child because you didn't get the toy you wanted. That is not the behaviour of the girl who will one day birth the child that will save us from complete obliteration."
Scarlett bit down her protests. She was eager to fulfil her destiny, but not at the expense of marrying someone other than Ishan. "Who am I to marry?" she asked as calmly as she could. Evidently it wasn't calm enough; Arjun raised an eyebrow.
"I see you're still not mature enough to understand just how important it is for you to marry well," he said shortly. "Go to your room; missing dinner should teach you a lesson. Oh, and don't think of entertaining any visitors either; I've warded the place so no one can come or go without my say so."
Missing dinner was not a prospect Scarlett was looking forward to; though she knew it was a bad idea, she tried to appeal the decision anyway. "I'm sorry, Father," she said. "Truly I am. It just caught me by surprise, that's all."
Arjun shook his head. "You're not sorry," he stated. "You're only saying that to get out of your punishment. For that, you can miss breakfast as well. If you haven't adjusted your attitude by lunchtime tomorrow, you'll be missing lunch as well. Now go."
There was a clear warning in his tone; Scarlett knew she'd pushed her father as far as she'd dared, so, with a heavy heart, she rose and made her slow way upstairs, hoping to see her mother on the way. But Saanvi didn't appear, and Scarlett sighed as she reached the upper regions of the house. Still, as she shut the door behind her, she felt her heart lift a little. Unbenownst to anyone but herself, she had a small mini fridge that she kept regularly stocked with snacks against the rare times her father made her go without food. In a house where Arjun's vigilance was relentless, Scarlett counted herself fortunate that this little secret had thus far remained a secret, but when she burrowed under her bed, her heart sank again when she saw the fridge was padlocked. Arjun, it seemed, had been onto her all along, and Scarlett muttered under her breath as she dropped onto the bed with a heavy sigh. Clearly, her father was determined that she feel the full force of her so-called "disobedience."
"Damn it," she muttered, as she flopped on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She didn't even dare leave her light on; Ishan had strong magic, but Arjun was descended from sun elves, who had the most powerful magic out of any of the elven tribes living on Pandora. Nothing Ishan tried would get through whatever barriers her father had placed around the house, and the tears of despair slid down Scarlett's cheeks for a very long time.
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