Tomorrow is the day. My wedding day. And standing in the party hall of the gathering wing of the palace, I feel the closeness of the event even more intensely.
Kaz comes and stands beside me. “Do you like it?”
I nod, sipping my coconut water. “It’s pretty. At least I’m going to have nice pictures.”
He chuckles. “Please don’t leave us peasants onat least, princess. Give us all your demands and we’ll fulfill every single one of them. We don’t want you to compromise on anything. You are the most precious daughter of Russia, your wishes are orders for servants like us.”
I laugh. “The most precious daughter will be the daughter-in-law of the Mikhailovs.” I look at him. “Your wife will hold that title forever. By tomorrow’s sunset, I’ll be precious in America.”
His smile fades into a sigh. “I’ve been thinking about adopting a child. I don’t want to get married.”
My brows shoot up. “Why?”
His face hardens, eyes fixed on some distant point. “After dating a few women over the years… I’ve realized I don’t want to marry one.”
I chuckle. “Then why don’t you try finding a man?” My laugh dies the moment I see his lips don’t even twitch in response, neither smiling nor denying.
“Holy shit.” I almost drop my bottle. I grab his arm and spin him toward me. “Don’t tell me you just realized overnight that you’re into men.” My voice is thick with horror.
“What if I am?”
“The Pakhan of all Russia can’t be gay. People would never accept it—never, not in a thousand lives. And you can’t just resign, because that’s a death sentence. Whoever becomes the next Pakhan would kill you the very next day, even if they had to blow up an entire state to make sure you’re dead. But I guess you already know that, right?” The weight of the situation hits me fully. “Brother… you’re done for.”
He takes a slow breath and looks away. “We’ll see what happens. I’m still figuring it out.”
“Figuring out what? Your sexuality, or how to survive this without dying?”
“My sexuality. I’ve never felt any kind of attraction to a man before…”
“Before?”
“Before him.”
“Who?” I need to know who this man is who turned my brother gay in just a month.
He pulls out his phone and shows me a photo. A stunningly beautiful Asian man. I take the phone from his hand, my mouth falling open. Dark brown, round eyes, short black hair, a small mouth with red lips, every feature perfectly sculpted, like a painting. His soft, feminine features make him look more like a goddess than a man, just add a wig, and he could fool anyone.
I hand the phone back, patting his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Any man would fall for someone like this. But who is he?”
“My new chef.”
“You don’t have to worry—” I’m cut off by Zan’s voice. “Ah, here you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
He smacks Kaz on the back. “And you said you were in the garden.”
Zander is Uncle Ruslan’s son. He’s two years older than me and two years younger than Kaz.
“I was in the garden just ten minutes ago,” Kaz replies.
Zan grins at me. “So, you can’t wait to get married to the man you were dying to marry, huh? Want to spend the night on the dais?”
I roll my eyes. “Congratulations. You just made the best joke of the day.”
He comes to my side and drapes an arm around my shoulders. “Tell me honestly, you’re just putting on thisI don’t want to marry himfaçade so we won’t tease you, right?”
I elbow him in the stomach. “I really don’t want to marry him. He’s even more irritating than you. And he’s a psychopath, which is the cherry on top.”
Zan sighs. “Being a psychopath is not his choice. He had no choice, like Kaz, either kill or get killed. These guys torture people on a routine basis. You can’t do that if you feel bad about someone else’s pain. They’re conditioned into becoming the way they are.”
