But it also made her trapped.
Anything out of the ordinary would spur his attention, like her trip to the salon this morning.
The question lingered in the air before she gave a simple answer. “I just needed a change.”
Rurik accepted it because she would do something drastic every once in a while, and he’d take it for what it was: a trapped woman’s desperate attempt at control. “Do you know how long your brothers intend to stay?”
“However long they want,” she replied under her breath. Luerna loved having her brothers home again. It brought a fresh wave of entertainment.
“Gil is bringing home whores in front of my children. I had to break up a fistfight between Alexei and a guard this morning. And Adrik keeps trying to tell me what to do.” Rurik slammed shut the dresser.
Luerna adored his struggle. It was as if her brothers were passive-aggressively getting back at him. “Aww,” she mocked.
Rurik removed his tie and glared at her. “What did you get done at the salon? Hair looks ratty as usual.”
Luerna didn’t want to tell him, but she could think of nothing else. “I got waxed.”
Interested piqued. “Let me see,” he ordered. “It’s been a while since you shaved. Despite my requests.”
Luerna didn’t move. He wasn’t drunk. He wouldn’t force himself on her now. But what if he did? What if he was changing it up on her just to be a dick?
Luerna got out of bed and pulled down her pants. He glanced at her over his shoulder. It seemed to catch his attention, though, because he approached. Her heart pounded in her chest. “Sit down.”
“Rurik.”
“Sit down.”
She swallowed her pride and sat.
A darker demand came into his voice. “Let me see it.”
Luerna threw herself back on the bed, staring at the ceiling as she slowly opened her legs. His hand was at her thigh, and bile rose in her belly.
“Uh,” he sounded, a disappointed little noise out of his throat. He walked away, and she curled into the blanket, wrapping it around her. “Tomorrow morning, you will meet with a friend of mine. He’s a plastic surgeon.”
“For what?”
“Thought you’d want it. After five kids.”
“You want me to get surgery done on my vagina?”
“Don’t you?”
“Fuck you.”
He scoffed with a belittling smirk. “You are a beautiful woman, Luerna. Don’t you want a beautiful pussy too?”
“Sorry, my vagina looks a little different from the teenagers you rape. But I’m fine with it.”
“Whatever. Trying to be nice.” He slipped into the bathroom.
“Funny how all your nice moments are condescending and disrespectful. You want to tell my brother again I’m mentally unstable?”
Rurik rubbed lotion on his arms as he stood in the doorway. He was in his boxers, and Luerna wanted to puke at the sight of him. He had gray hair all over his chest, arms, and back. He had a fat belly, was not overweight, but had no muscle or tone. Not even his chest. His arms were flabby with old people skin. He was over fifty but looked nearly seventy because of the liquor and cigars. He had a few scars and tattoos that he had gotten as a teenager, but they were wrinkled and faded.
“You want to try to kill yourself again?”
“I haven’t tried in three years. Though you do make it hard.”
