“There’smore?” I gulp, “Jeez, Loch, this Bratva life is ad nauseam.”
“But it’s not bad. At least, fuck.” He puffs. “I hope you don’t think so.”
My heart was in my throat, knowing what I needed to tell him, but now it falls to my feet. “Please don’t hurt me again,” I whisper, and he clasps my cheeks.
“Never, Alena, no, it’s just…” He lets go, dragging a hand down his face. “It’s just one more thing everyone is letting me tell you because it’s pretty… well…intimate.”
“Intimate?”
“It’s about the kings and queens.”
I shrug. “I know. Your mom. The Queen. She’s a descendant of the Russian Czar. And I know about your father. And the man who saved you and your brothers from him. How Maxim was royal and died, getting you out of Moscow. She told me how all her sons are like escaped princes.” My fingertip glances the green gem around his neck. “It’s where this ring came from.”
He sits taller. “And in Maxim’s honor, we keep the tradition. Each brother, a king, claims his queen and vows to protect a second queen too.”
I breathe slowly. “Okay,and…?”
There’s more in his eyes, his words following, “And let me just tell you this next part, then you can tell me how you feel about it.”
I nod, bracing for a firestorm of info. At least this time, I’m prepared.
He exhales. “We keep the tradition through an initiation. A king claims his queen in a ritual where we witness their vow. I mean, me and my brothers. Not my mom, but she knows about it.”
I cock a brow, suspicion coiling. “Claims?”
“Fucks,” he clarifies, and lust zips through me. “It goes back to the wedding night tradition when it wasn’t consensual for the bride, but with us, it is. A queen chooses her kingandher second king, and we all witness their bond.”
Oh.
Oh my god.
“You mean?”
He nods. “Axel did it with his first wife. It’s how we started the tradition. Though Katya wanted Sire as her second king way too much, so I can’t say I was sad when she left Axel. She never felt right for him. But Delphine?” His grip on my hips tightens. “I’m her second king. That’s why she trained me.”
I huff, understandably overwhelmed, shockingly curious. “I need you to stop talking in platitudes and speak plainly. What happened?”
He sighs, “Delphine’s been through some shit, and my mom got her out. She brought her to the US so we could keep her safe, and she and Grant fell in love. Like head over French heels, obsessed with each other. Grant wanted Delphine as his queen, and when she chose me as her second king, I freaked out.”
“Wait. Why did she choose you? Does she lo?—”
“God, no,” he scoffs, grinning. “Delphine is free with her body, not her heart. It’s Grant’s. And it’s why she picked me. I was the youngest, the least threat to my brother. You know who they are now. Just imagine.”
Oh.
I can.
Mentally, I comb the landscape of the seven kings. Even my dad. And it’s all menacing ink and mountains of mighty muscle, tensed and threatening to explode. No wonder they’re inked with lions. Like a warning for those who enter their territory.
“So, Delphine picked you because you wouldn’t make Grant jealous?”
“Yeah, in fact, Grant took pity on me because I was a virgin. Just looking at an apple pie could make me cream it. It was embarrassing.”
I giggle. I can’t help it. “So, Delphine used a whip and trained your little lion?”
He smirks. “There was nothinglittleand no whips. Just schooling me like a pupil so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of my brothers.”
“Did you?”
