The rescue itself violated his life’s work. And he had done it anyway.
It made her feel sick with guilt. Regret.
But then… He would’ve kidnapped her today even if she weren’t pregnant. He didn’t know about the baby.
She didn’t know whether that made her feel a strange sense of joy, or rage. He hadn’t put the country first. He hadn’t…
He had put her first.
Or just him.
But knowing that he wanted her that much was a strange sort of intoxicating elixir she had never known had the potential to be quite so powerful.
She came out of the bedroom, and he was getting dressed. He was wearing only a pair of black pants, and just as she came out, he pulled a white T-shirt on over his muscles.
How could he be so familiar to her, but so novel all at the same time? How could he be the man that she had known for most of her life, and also a stranger? The object of her fantasies, but also a fantasy fulfilled, and one pushed even farther out of reach.
She knew him well enough to know that his fury was not something to take lightly. Knew him well enough to know that this was not a small slight in his eyes.
He would make her pay for this. Possibly for years to come. He had made it so that Onyx couldn’t save her, and while she knew that for Andrei, protecting her was paramount, she also knew that she was his now.
Whatever that meant.
“We both had the same idea,” she said, trying to force a smile.
“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t speak to me like nothing has changed.”
“I made the decision that I made,” she said. “It was the only one that I could think to make at the time. But you planned to undermine my decision all along. So I’m not certain that you have the right to be quite this angry at me.”
“You would deny me my child.”
The words were like a knife. He was singular in his feeling on that, and he wasn’t going to shift. She couldn’t blame him. The truth was, staring at that through his dark, outraged eyes, she saw the flaw in her decision. Immediately. She couldn’t justify it. But she wanted to. She wanted him to believe the best of her, even now. It was such a strange, hollow sensation, this need to cling to the choice she’d made while also feeling that her choice had been a cowardly one.
One that she would’ve regretted. One she regretted now.
“We will land soon,” he said. “We’re not going far away.”
“But how do you expect we’re going to hide?”
“Because we’re going back to Romania. To my father’s house.”
“Your father’s house? Don’t you think that it’s certain that we’ll be found in that case?”
“No. Nobody knew about the estate. The whereabouts of the property of the Ardelean Crime Family are very secretive. My father told me this when I was a boy. Then I have known ever since.”
“You… Crime family?”
“Yes. My father was fleeing persecution of his own making, Princess. My father was not a good man. But, that has its uses for me now. I wanted to be different than him. I didn’t wish to treat a woman like a position. I did not wish to put the needs of myself above the needs of a nation. And yet, now I find that I feel differently. Because your wishes have no place here. And nothing matters but that I get what I want. And what I want is you. I would have taken you to be my wife. But now I’m happy to keep you as a prisoner. You are used to seeing me in your brother’s kingdom. But in my home, no other man sits on the throne. There, I am your king.”
Chapter Ten
THE WATER WASso blue.
She didn’t know what she had expected Romania to look like, but in truth, she had imagined something dreary and grim.
A sort of Soviet blockade.
But this was all green mountains wreathed in mist, and the unfiltered light of the sun. It was glorious. But she didn’t want to say that. The plane landed at a small airport, and from there they were put in a helicopter, which carried them high over the mountains until they arrived at the top of one, and there, nestled in trees was what could only be described as a fortress. It was made from natural gray stone, blending in with its surroundings. Vines and roses climbed all over the walls, as though nature was trying to draw it back into itself.
