“They would never demand this of Nikolai,” I said, my voice low and trembling. “He can ascend the throne without question, no matter how unfit he is. But because I’m a woman?—”
“It’s unfair,” Nadia admitted, her expression softening for the briefest moment. “But it’s the reality we’re facing. We have to work within the rules if we’re going to win.”
I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. I hated the rules. I hated the throne. I hated that, no matter how hard I tried, I was always one step behind Nikolai simply because of my gender. But most of all, I hated that she was right.
I heaved a sigh, my mind whirling. This needed to be fixed, one way or another. There was no reason for me to ascend to the throne if my father could be saved.
But if that couldn’t happen before this was called into question…I would need a husband. And I would need him quickly.
“A husband,” I whispered, the word tasting bitter on my tongue. “That’s what it will take to secure the throne?”
“Not just any husband,” Nadia said, her gaze sharp. “He would need to be someone we can control. Someone trustworthy—or at least useful.”
Stefan arched an eyebrow at me. “And who,malenka, do you trust that much?”
Kyle’s face flickered in my mind, unbidden, sending a jolt through me. I shoved the thought aside. He couldn’t be part of this—not now. Not like this.
CHAPTER 21
KYLE
Icleared my throat, trying not to visibly tremble under the bed covers that I held up to my neck. There was just something so daunting about Nadia that it unsettled me to my core.
Those cold eyes, so different from Nattie’s, made me want to shiver all over.
“Mind if I get dressed first?” I managed to squeak out.
“I do, actually,” she answered as she stalked a little closer, her hands clasped behind her back. “I like to keep a man…off-balance. Being half-undressed has a way of doing that.”
Mission accomplished. If I had any balance at all, she’d taken it with that frosty demeanor and those pointed glances.
“Right,” I answered, keeping the sheet high. “Where is Nattie?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Not your concern.”
I licked my lips, trying to find a response, but I couldn’t. She wasn’t wrong. Nattie wasn’t exactly mine despite all those lovely kisses we’d shared.
Had she even admitted to her sister that we had something beyond friendship?
“Oh, well, I just…wanted to say good morning.”
“You’re really an odd duck, aren’t you, doctor?”
A discerning assessment of my character, yet surprisingly rude from a woman I assumed was a princess. “I could argue the same. You’re not exactly what someone would expect from a princess.”
That comment seemed to amuse her. She tugged one corner of her lips back into a half-smile.
“Seriously, the leather outfit really doesn’t scream princess.”
“Yet I am,” she answered. “Not that it matters. We are here to discuss you.”
“All right, so I’m a little strange. I’ll admit it.”
She flicked her eyebrows up, crossing her arms. The leather of her jacket creaked as she settled into the pose. “I’d say more than a little. Who shows up ready to ruin their father merely because he didn’t know about them?”
I raised a finger in the air, ready to rebut that. “Well, actually, at the time, I thought he did know about me and tried to abandon me–or get rid of me.”
“I see. So, would you say you’re a man of action then? If a problem needs solving, you’ll…do anything you have to do settle it?”
