It took everything in me not to let the hot tears stinging my eyes fall. I remembered his lessons and kept my hands steadily aimed at his heart. If he was going to rip mine out with his lies and betrayal, I’d beat him to it.
When his eyes met mine, they were stunned and angry, but something else I couldn’t read. He didn’t bother putting his hands up, but he stayed where he was.
“Lilia—”
“Let me guess, you can explain.”
“Yes, I can. Please let me.”
The ‘please’ made me falter. Not enough to lower the gun, but my aching heart screamed at me to hear him out. Maybe I was wrong. But what was I wrong about? Ever trusting him in the first place, or trusting him now when so much was on the line?
Or was the biggest mistake falling in love with him? Of course it was, but there was no denying it any longer. Underneath my fury and fear for my cousins, there was the stupid fact that I had started loving the enemy. If I pulled the trigger, I’d never recover from losing him.
And yet, if I didn’t…
A big hand clamped around my wrist, and another hand twisted the gun from me in a quick, smooth movement.
“You can’t stand around thinking,” he said, taking a step away from me, the gun at his side. “You can’t ever let your guard down.”
The first of the tears I had been gulping back ran down my cheek. Did he think it was funny to give me another lesson in the midst of my failure? He wasn’t laughing as he reached to swipe away the tear.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you that was a setup you overheard. I needed to get the location out of the weasel who's been going behind my back and causing trouble for both of us for much too long.”
It might have been adrenaline from the seconds-long standoff where I actually wielded a gun at Gavril while seriously considering pulling the trigger, or it might have been intense relief that made my legs falter.
He gripped my arm and helped me to the bed. God, I was still wrapped in a towel. With only a mildly amused glance at my bare legs, he reached for his bathrobe and pulled it around my shoulders.
“It shouldn’t take me long to deal with Luigi,” he said, stripping out of his blood-stained shirt and heading toward thecloset for a fresh one. The gun still rested loosely in his hand, but when he emerged, buttoning up his new shirt, it was gone.
“And then we’ll meet with my cousin?” I asked. An apology clogged my throat, but Gavril didn’t seem to expect one.
“And thenI’llmeet with your cousin,” he corrected. “After I get Luigi to call off his attacks—”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, suddenly full of rage all over again. I tossed off the robe and stomped toward the closet. He followed me in a hurry, but I wasn’t looking for his gun; I was getting dressed. “I am not staying here all by myself. You’re not leaving my sight.”
“You are, and I am,” he said mildly.
I jerked a shirt over my head and grabbed a pair of jeans, swinging them at him before tugging them on. Then I lunged and shoved him with all my might, standing in the doorway like a smug roadblock, so sure of himself and his orders. He took me by the arms and looked down at me, his expression softening.
“Do you believe me or not? Do you trust me or not?”
There was a pleading note under the rough growl. He needed to know where I stood, and not just for logistics. His heart was on the line, too. Or was that more wishful thinking?
“I do,” I said, only faltering a bit.
He breathed out a long gust. “With just about as much enthusiasm as at our wedding.”
“What wedding was that?” I snapped. “I only remember being forced to sign some papers and repeat after the priest.” I poked him in the chest. “You’re crazy if you think you’re going anywhere without me. Don’t bother saying a single word about my safety, either. I’m safer with you than any of your guards.”
He scowled at the truth of this, but still blocked the closet door. Was he going to lock me in?
“And you’ll need me with you if you have any hope of meeting with Aleks. I’ll be the only thing keeping any one of the many, many snipers from putting a bullet through your head the second you get past his front gate.”
I had him there. He knew better than anyone how formidable my cousins were. The Collective had been losing battles against them for much too long now for him not to understand he was a walking dead man without me, whether or not he managed to call off the attacks or not.
It was written all over his face that he was going to have to acquiesce to my demands for once. Then a slow smile curled his lips and gave me a little shiver.
“It’s nice to see how much you care,” he said, reaching for me.
