"And God forbid anyone disobey Alessandro." I snap a bloom off its stem, ignoring the prick of thorns against my fingers.
It’s been two weeks since Luca and Katerina left for Chicago.
I watched them at their wedding, how they looked at each other like nothing else existed.
How Luca's hand never left the small of her back, as if afraid she might disappear if he wasn't touching her.
She glowed with that bright light of a woman who knows she is cherished.
I will never know that light.
My marriage will be different.
Clinical.
A business arrangement sealed with a ring and a reluctant kiss.
There will be no love in Maksim's bed.
Only duty.
"You're bleeding." Cristian's voice startles me. I look down to see blood beading along my finger where a thorn has broken skin.
"It's nothing." I wipe it against my black dress.
"You should be more careful." Something in his tone makes me look up.
For once, his dark eyes aren't scanning the perimeter but fixed on me with an intensity that makes my breath catch.
I shake away his effect on me.
"What would be the point?" I don’t hide the bitterness in my voice. "I'm already being sacrificed."
His jaw tightens, and I think he might say something, but he doesn’t, too loyal to Alessandro to say something real.
I envy Luca his freedom, his chance at happiness.
While I prepare to freeze in a marriage as cold as a Russian winter, he builds a family in the warmth of genuine love.
Some Dantes get happy endings. Just not me.
But I’m resolved. I wasn’t lying when I told Luca I was ready to make this sacrifice.
Truthfully, I’m happy to be able to do something that helps the family.
It makes me feel important to the family legacy.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.
I'm not naive about what awaits me in Maksim's bed.
The whispers about his cruelty aren't just rumors.
They’re more like warnings.
My body will become another territory for him to conquer, another possession to break at his leisure.
And because of that, I desperately would like to know what true love is like. Well, maybe not love.
