“And if you are wrong?”
“Then I force him to prove it.”
Dmitri exhales heavily again, then nods once. “I will increase security,” he says.
“That is fine.”
Dmitri’s mouth curves faintly, humorless. “He acts like a prince,” he says, “but if he chooses to behave like a demon, we treat him like one.”
“Yes,” I reply quietly. “We do.”
He looks at me one more time, softer now. “You do not have to carry this alone.”
I hold his gaze. “I am not alone,” I say quietly.
The door to Papa’s office opens behind us. “We heard.” Papa stands in the doorway, already dressed, his expression unreadable in that way that has intimidated men twice his size. Mikhail is just behind him, arms folded loosely across his chest, one brow raised in mild amusement.
I turn slowly and glare at him, which only makes Mikhail’s mouth twitch. “You are very loud, sister,” Mikhail says, shaking his head at me.
Heat floods my cheeks before I can stop it. “We were not yelling,” I snap.
“You were not whispering,” he replies smoothly.
Papa steps fully into the room, closing the door behind him with deliberate calm. “If you are going to dismantle an international alliance over coffee,” he says evenly, “you might at least lower your voices.”
Dmitri straightens. “We were discussing contingencies.”
“You were discussing war,” Papa corrects.
I lift my chin. “We were discussing readiness.”
Papa’s voice lowers. “So the alliance is off?” The question is direct. There is no room to hide inside it.
For a moment, I am not sure how to answer. Ending an engagement is personal. Ending an alliance is political. I hold his gaze anyway. “I cannot do it,” I say.
Mikhail’s amusement vanishes completely.
Papa does not blink. “You cannot marry him?”
“No.”
“You believe he was involved in your abduction.”
“I believe he is capable of it,” I answer. “And even if he was not, the way he responded last night was enough.”
Papa studies me the way he does when weighing something rare and volatile. “He intends to announce a wedding date publicly,” Papa says. “His father called me last night.”
“Yes.”
“And you intend to refuse.”
“Yes.”
Mikhail exhales slowly. “That will humiliate him.”
“That is not my objective,” I reply. “But I will not stand beside him and allow him to cage me.”
Papa’s jaw tightens slightly. “He will not accept that quietly.”
