Now…
Now there seemed to be nothing there at all. He’d locked it down inside himself, closed it behind him.
Now when she looked at him, she could see nothing but duty and honor. She’d hurt him with hers. Now he was killing her with his own.
“Good. We will travel back to Basilia tomorrow. You will speak to your brother. Leave Lucian to me.”
Chapter Fourteen
WITHEMERALD SAFELYdeposited in Basilia, he decided to make the journey to Alabria. She was resistant to the idea, and she was angry. But she needed to deal with Onyx, and her position in the country in her own time. He would not allow her to face Lucian.
Ever.
If the man were any kind of threat to her, then Andrei would kill him with his bare hands. Given the situation they were already in, that was probably only going to make things worse.
And he had to fix this. For their future. For their child.
They had found a way to be together back in Romania. He could imagine long, happy days, and no, perhaps they couldn’t have everything.
Because of who he was. Because of the blood that flowed through his veins. Because of the way he was shaped by the cloistered world his father had raised him in. But they could have this.
They could have a family.
A better version of it than he’d ever had.
He could make peace with Onyx. And he was determined to do so.
But everything had begun to unravel when they had introduced sex, their own desires, their messy feelings. And in the time since then, they had found something more.
Something deeper.
Something that existed beyond the pining and longing the two of them had managed to make their entire identity.
He’d suppressed his need for her for years, and though he’d let it out, allowed himself to get swept away by it for a time, he could suppress it again. It would be better if they could go back to that neater, simpler way of being.
He took a small, faster ship to Alabria, cutting the journey down to one day, and by the time he set foot on the island, he was prepared for whatever met him.
If he died, it would be in the interest of keeping Emerald safe. And she was ensconced with Onyx, so she would be protected.
He walked up to the front doors of the palace and was greeted by the guard.
“King Lucian is expecting you.”
“As he should be. Is there an executioner with him as well?”
“He’s interested in what you have to say. He thinks you’re brave. And mad.”
“Perhaps,” he said.
He allowed himself to be escorted into the throne room. They searched him for weapons. He wasn’t that foolish. If need be, he would fight for his life with his bare hands.
He himself was a weapon. He didn’t need to carry one.
If they had known this, perhaps they would’ve bound his hands. But they did not.
The king was sitting on the throne much as he had been the first time Andrei had laid eyes on him. With the sort of lazy indolence that many would see as nonthreatening. But he saw it for what it was.
Lucian himself was also deadly. And there was no disinterest in him whatsoever.
