“I’m fine, Doctor,” he reassured.
Lyra grabbed another gun and aimed at them both, confused by what she was seeing. “Shapeshifting? Impossible!We’ll add that to your list of offenses. Withholding from the Imperial family! Which of you is the real Zane? Step away from him!”
“Why? So you can sell me off to your cousin again when the mood strikes?” Zane asked, and the moment the gun shifted toward Pavel, he elbowed him discreetly.
“Or is there someone else on the family tree you want to whore me out to?” Pavel said, realizing what Zane’s angle was. Confuse her long enough they could figure out a way to escape without getting shot.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t give you to any cousin,” Lyra said.
“Wells,” Pavel continued, knowing that’s where Zane had been going with this. If he needed closure there, he’d help his doctor get it. “You gave me to Wells.”
“You told him to become my senior advisor and that if he did a good job and I graduated with high honors, you would let him fuck me while you watched,” Zane revealed, and Pavel almost gave them away by sucking in a shocked breath.
They’d donewhatnow?
Lyra shook her head, her brow furrowing deeper. “No, no I never said any of that. Is that what he told you?”
“You confirmed it when I came home and asked.”
“You asked if I’d requested he be your advisor,” she reminded, “that was all. I never knew anything about the rest of it! I would never do that to you!”
Oh, no.
Wait.
Where was this going?
Pavel risked a glance at Zane, unable to hold back his fears. It was impossible to tell what the other man was thinking, however, even for him.
“Zane,” Lyra turned her voice soothing, gaze still pinging between them since she couldn’t tell them apart, “I know I haven’t always been the best to you, but I promise that’s going to change. I know how much you mean to me now, I told you that at the pool. As soon as I realized what I was about to lose, I reevaluated everything. I can prove I never gave Wells permission to touch you. If you want, I’ll even let you cut his hands off yourself with your knives. This is just one big misunderstanding, I swear. I love you, Zanie.”
Lyra could offer him a hell of a lot more than Pavel could. It was a fact he’d been in denial over for a long time, but one he was forced to acknowledge now as he stood there, worried she was going to be able to sway him to her side.
The one thing Zane had always longed for was to have a purpose, to be needed and wanted above anything else. As the Royal Consort to the Imperial Heir, he’d have a higher stature than he would as the Royal Doctor. He’d get to do anything and be anything he pleased. He’d have a family, anImperialone, and if Lyra’s claims were true and she loved him…He’d have everything.
Pavel felt a fissure in his chest and scrambled to fix it, blurting without meaning to, “That doesn’t matter, I’m still choosing to leave you.”
Zane turned and looked at him, enigmatic expression cracking until something heated behind his dark eyes. Was he angry that Pavel had spoken for him? Was he going to give him up to Lyra and abandon him after all?
“All this time,” Pavel found himself murmuring, words low enough only the two of them could hear, “apparently, I’ve had the same fears as you. It never feels good, being left behind.” He pictured that day when they were kids, chasing after the Solaces’ car. “It never feels good being abandoned without evena second glance.” He inhaled and prepared himself for the worst. “At least look me in the eye this time, yeah, gorgeous?”
“Don’t be absurd,” Zane told him without skipping a beat, and before those words could wound, he turned back to Lyra. “None of what you said matters. I’m still choosing to leave you. What you and I had was never love, I’m not even convinced anymore what it was could be considered affection. We simply…were. And now we aren’t. Majesty, please, respect my right to choose.”
Lyra seemed shocked, floundering for a moment before she regained her voice and stated, “You don’t want a choice. You like being controlled.”
“Not in this,” Zane disagreed. “Not by you.”
For a frozen moment, everything went very still, Lyra and her remaining five guards all standing there like statues. The sound of new voices coming in through the front door they’d left open seemed to snap them out of it, and before the guards could go check it out, the Imperial Prince stepped into view.
“Sister,” Kelevra barely got that one word out, his presence seemingly going unnoticed.
With no hesitation, the Imperial Heir raised the blaster and pointed it at Zane.
Pavel shoved him out of the way a second before the shot rang out.
Chapter 34:
“Pavel!” Zane crawled over to where he was lying next to the dining room table, the multi-slate he’d kept hidden in his pocket clattering onto the ground in his haste. He scooped Pavel into his arms, panicking when he saw there was blood blooming across the left side of his chest.
