It’s not my other brothers knowing that terrifies me. Oddly enough, it isn’t even my father knowing.
It’sPetyrfinding out like this.
What will he think of me when he discovers who I am? That the wife he dragged into his bed, the woman he claimed so fiercely, carries the blood of his family’s greatest enemy?
He’ll hate me. He’ll despise me. Maybe worse.
Hot tears sting my eyes, but I blink them back and start pacing again, faster this time. I can’t let it come to that. I need to act before it does.
I need to run.
But my gaze strays to the bed, messy from this morning. His side of the sheets is still rumpled with the shape of his body.
I sink down onto the edge and touch the space where he was. Every instinct screams at me to flee, to disappear before the net tightens. And yet, the thought of leaving him makes my chest ache in a different way.
I tip my head back and whisper into the silence, “What am I going to do?”
Before I can even think about an answer, I hear the front door unlock.
My heart lurches up into my throat as I jump to my feet. I’m not ready for him to see me like this. I don’t have the strength to explain. Or worse, to lie well enough to convince him nothing is wrong.
The bedroom door opens, and there he is, larger than life in the doorway, his presence filling the space even before he steps inside. His gaze finds me instantly. Concern sharpens the edges of his expression, softening his usual hardness.
“Luka said you weren’t feeling well.” His voice is calm, but there’s a thread of steel under it, like he’s already preparing for a fight with whatever’s put me in this state.
I take a breath to steady myself. If I falter for even a second, everything will come spilling out. The truth, the fear, the ugly tangle of guilt and longing clawing at me.
I swallow hard and whisper, “Migraine.” The sound is croaky, thin, but it comes out. “I… I’ve got a migraine.”
He moves closer. His eyes flick over my face, taking in every twitch, every tremor I can’t hide. My palms are damp and clenched into fists at my sides.
“A migraine,” he repeats quietly. He doesn’t call me a liar, though I can see the suspicion lurking just behind his stare. Instead, he reaches out and brushes the back of his knuckles over my temple, feather-light. “Then you should be lying down.”
Tears threaten to leak out at the gentle touch. I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep them away and nod, fumbling back toward the bed. He watches me like a hawk every step of the way.
When I sit on the edge of the mattress, he kneels in front of me, his hands warm on my legs. His closeness makes it harder to breathe and yet easier at the same time.
“I’ll take care of you,” he says firmly. “Just tell me what you need.”
What I need is for the past not to come clawing back into my life. For Maksim not to have seen me. For the truth to stay buried.
But none of those things are possible, so I nod mutely instead, whispering, “Just… stay.”
He rises to join me and we curl up on the bed, his arm sliding firmly around my waist, drawing me back against his chest until I can feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing. The warmth of him seeps into me, anchoring me even as my mind continues to spin, storm clouds colliding in the corners of my thoughts.
“What do you want to watch?” he murmurs into my hair.
The simple question takes me by surprise. He almost always chooses—some gory documentary, some brutal piece of history—and I almost always let him.
But tonight, with my nerves frayed to threads and my heart still racing, I want something else. Something lighter. Something safe.
“How about…Young Frankenstein?”
Petyr stills for a beat. “Mel Brooks? Really?”
I force a small smile, playing it off. “Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.”
Suddenly, I want to tell him more. I want to tell him how Lara and I used to watch every Mel Brooks movie we could find, how we’d sneak the old DVDs into our room and muffle our laughter with pillows, terrified of being caught. I want to tell him it was one of the last things that made me feel normal, safe, before she was married off and I was left alone.
