As much as Oleg wanted to yell at her, rage atsomething, vent his anger at Ivan’s violation… His wife was standing alone in a secret passage with him, and she was trembling.
Who was he to stand in judgment of her?
Would he not have done the same thing in her position?
She had been going to kill for him. It was infuriating and thrilling at the same time.
“I was not going to tell you about the priest,” Oleg confessed. “At all. If your mother had not said something, I never would have told you. I would have let you believe that Father Izaias was killed by a vagrant like we told his family.”
“Why not?”
“Because there were signs of torture, and it’s very possible that Ivan already knew we were married. Obviously, now I’m sure he does.” He shook his arms out, loosening the tension between his shoulders. “Between the priest’s murder and your human’s betrayal, there is likely little about us that Ivandoesn’tknow.”
“Why hasn’t he used it?”
“A good question.” Oleg shrugged one shoulder. “He likely has plans to use that information against us once our public marriage is final and our guard is down. I did not want you to worry about it.”
“He knows we are blood mates as well.” She took a deep breath. “I had a conversation about the attack at my mother’s house with Sándor, and he mentioned that you were my mate.” She opened her mouth. Closed it.
Oleg knew there was something else. “No more secrets,” he snarled.
“During the attack at my mother’s house, I took an arrow to the abdomen.” She waved a hand just under her ribs. “It’s healed now, and I didn’t want you to worry. It didn’t seem like?—”
“What?” In the space of a blink, Oleg had knelt before her and ripped open her shirt.
Nothing. He ran his hands over the smooth skin that showed not even a hint of redness. Whatever wound she’d had was well and truly healed.
He looked up at her. “How long?”
“To heal? Not even a week.”
“If you had taken my blood, it would have healed faster,” he said through gritted teeth. “This is why you have been avoiding me.”
“Partly.” She closed her eyes and sank to her knees so they were face-to-face. “And partly because of this distance between us. You were hiding things. I was hiding things. I did not know what it was, but I felt it like a wall between us.”
“That is inevitable.” There were things about his empire she should never know. And there were things about her people that he had no right to know. How could he reckon his possessiveness of his mate—which he had no intention of changing—with their dual need for independence?
“But we must find a better way,” she said. “Wewillfind a better way. But for now, what are we going to do? It’s possible Ivan is already leaking information about us.”
“And what would he say?” Oleg brushed her hair back from her face. “That my wife-to-be wants to kill him? She is in good company. Half of Ivan’s own clan wants to kill him.”
“Everyone might know we are already married in truth. That we’re blood mates. The Poshani…” She shook her head. “That is my problem, not yours.”
“For now all he has are rumors.” Oleg shrugged. “Only rumors, Tatyana. We’ve dealt with rumors before.”
Her eyes were rimmed with red. “I have lied to you and put your people at risk with my carelessness.”
Shehadput his people at risk. The last person in the entire world he would imagine doing so.
Oleg often forgot how young Tatyana was because she carried herself with so much maturity, had done so even as a human. She was barely over seven years immortal, the leader of a large clan, mated, and about to become queen to an even larger empire.
Oleg took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Most young vampires would be crushed by the responsibilities forced on her.
“You trusted a human who betrayed you unintentionally.” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “Do you want to know how many people I trusted in my first century who betrayed me?Intentionally?”
“Oleg—”
“I knew you were plotting something, though you were quite good at concealing it.” Oleg stood and looked down at his wife on her knees. “Apologize for lying to me.”
