“Terms.” Pavel was so close. So close he could taste it. There was no chance in hell he was going to let a little thing like nerves come between them. If Zane needed further reassurance? So be it. He’d been patient for years, surely he could manage to keep himself in check a bit longer if it meant getting to finally tie his bashert to him.
“We marry before the time limit my brother gave us is up, and we stay married for a year.” Zane huffed when Pavelgrowled. “Let me finish. After one year, we check-in. If we both still feel the same way as we do now, then…”
Pavel tilted his head, waiting, and when it became clear Zane was struggling to continue, urged, “Then, Doctor?”
“I’ll legally change my name to Hart,” he offered. “And I’ll never bring up the possibility of divorce again.”
Giving up the Solace name was a massively big deal. The only reason they’d adopted him was that they could further that name, after all. It was a good offer, a tempting one, something that Pavel hadn’t even allowed himself to hope for.
And yet…
He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it because that still left his bashert an opening. If Zane decided he no longer wanted this in a year, according to those terms, he could walk away. And Pavel would have to let him.
But if he didn’t agree…If he tried to force Zane into this and rip away his security blanket…
That wasn’t family. That wasn’t what he’d promised to be.
“There is no version of me in any timeline or universe that doesn’t want what’s best for you,” Pavel said.
“Pave—”
“I agree.” He held out the box again. “It’s like I told you before. I’ll always play your game, gorgeous. No matter the stakes. I get one year to convince you I’ll want you for the rest of our lives? You have a deal.” He stepped closer. “Doyouaccept?”
Zane hesitated, eyes on the rings. Then, just as Pavel was starting to get nervous, he lifted a hand and took one of them. “Yes. Yes, I accept.”
“I believe the words are, ‘Yes, I’ll marry you’.”
“Pretty sure you’re the one who botched the proposal at the start,” Zane drawled, though he did hold out the ring and then present his hand. “Here. I’ll give you this, at least.Although,” he pulled his hand back when Pavel reached for it, “aren’t wedding bands supposed to go on at the wedding?”
“These can be couple rings,” he quickly suggested. “Meaning we can wear them any time. Including now.”
“No,” he chuckled and dropped the ring back into the box before snapping the lid closed. His laughter got louder when Pavel scowled, and he took the box and set it aside on the counter. “Let’s do it right, yeah? I don’t know about you, but ideally, I’d like to only get married the once.”
“That is not a funny joke.”
“I thought it kind of was.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Okay, but—” Zane didn’t get to finish.
The sound of the front door literally exploding had them both ducking for cover, Pavel instinctively pushing Zane down beneath him. Footsteps flooded the foyer and pounded throughout the house, echoing toward them. Within moments, they were surrounded.
He stood and turned, catching sight of uniformed men with the Imperial house crest stitched into their tight jackets, and saw red. He’d expected the bitch to retaliate, of course, but not quite like this.
Her men paved the way, and she stepped into view, and he moved to shield Zane who had risen behind him.
Lyra’s gaze pinged between them and then she flicked her wrist in their direction. “Seize him.”
“Hold on,” Zane demanded and grabbed onto Pavel as he was torn away from him and dragged to the dining room where Lyra and most of the men had congregated. He tried to follow, but three large men stepped in his way, blocking his path. “Move, right now.”
“They don’t listen to you, Zanie,” Lyra said, sighing heavily. “This is for your own good, really. You should bethanking me. We all saw what he did to you. How he abused you.” She turned to the table and bared her teeth in disgust. “How deplorable. And to a fellow Retinue member as well, someone you swore to protect. I’ll have you jailed for this, if not worse.”
“No.” Zane pushed against them again but was still held at bay, and it was clear he was starting to lose control of his carefully crafted calm exterior.
Pavel regretted that he’d thought to bring the rings down and not the star crystal blades which had been conveniently left on the side table in the bedroom. He tried to wriggle free from the men that were holding him, knew he could toss them all aside if he really wanted, but acting out like that might put his bashert in danger and he couldn’t risk it.
“Lyra,” Zane’s eyes snapped with fury, which he turned on her without holding back, “stop this immediately. You know that’s not what happened. You know—”
