He snorted. “Mikhail, please. You pause maybe once a year. And it’s usually because someone has died, or Viktor did something so catastrophically stupid even you need a moment to process it.”
I rubbed my temple.
He leaned forward, voice amused. “So which is it? A corpse or Viktor?”
“Viktor,” I muttered.
He laughed. “What did he do this time? Start a fight with a diplomat? Insult a general? Break something expensive?”
“He slept with her.”
The words dropped between us like a glass shattering.
Andrei blinked once. “Slept with… the liaison?”
“Yes.”
“Last night?”
“Yes.”
He stared at me for a long moment, then leaned back, rubbing his jaw. “Well. That explains the face.”
“What face?”
“The ‘I want to strangle my brother and possibly throw him out a window’ face. Not that I’m against defenestration, but maybe that wouldn’t be best right now…”
I sighed. “It’s a mess. She’s not used to working with anyone. And now she’s compromised because Viktor cannot keep his hands—or anything else—to himself.”
Andrei lifted a hand. “Okay, but question—did she initiate?”
“That isn’t relevant.”
“It absolutely is.”
I glared. He raised both brows, unbothered.
“Fine,” I said. “Viktor claims she wanted him.”
Andrei laughed under his breath. “Of course she did. Women like dangerous men. And idiots. Viktor is both.”
“That is not the point.”
“Then what is?”
“She should have been handled differently,” I argued, tension twisting through me again. “Carefully. Strategically. She’s… exceptional.”
Andrei watched me quietly, the humor fading from his eyes. His lips twitched. “Ah. There it is.”
“There what is?”
“Your problem.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And what, exactly, is my problem?”
“You wanted to be the first one she trusted,” Andrei said simply. “And Viktor got there instead.”
I didn’t answer.
