Page 26 of Betrayal and Vows

“You want me to open that?”

“No rush. It’s not a bomb. I’m sitting here. I don’t want to destroy my pretty face.”

It’s supposed to be a joke, but no one is laughing.

Well, Dmitri smirks.

I slide the envelope toward me, peel it open, and read the contents.

Just a name.

Lena Rostova.

My lungs stop working.

Everything in me stills.

It’s her name, but it might as well be a bullet.

What the fuck? They know. It’s a test. I don’t show any reaction.

Yuri’s still watching me.

“Problem?” he asks mildly.

I shake my head. “No. Who is she?”

Yuri raises an eyebrow. “Your future queen.”

“My future queen?”

I keep up the ruse. Feign ignorance.

Dmitri chuckles. He’s covering for me. It’s the same thing he’s done since we were children. He has a way of pulling attention away from me.

“Ah, Mikhail’s future wife,” Dmitri says. “Mikhail can’t handle her?”

Yuri shoots him a look.

"Watch your mouth," Yuri says coldly. "You're speaking about the future wife of your Pakhan's son."

Dmitri holds up his hands. "No disrespect intended."

Yuri turns back to me.

"She's been... difficult. Sneaking away from her guards. Making trouble." He pauses, letting that sink in.

"Vadim wants someone competent watching her until the wedding. Someone who won't be distracted by a pretty face."

My jaw tightens. They don't know.

They can't know.

This is just bad fucking timing.

“When?” I ask.

“You’re being reassigned to her personal security detail until the wedding. Effective immediately.”