‘No, I’m not,’ she agrees. ‘But it’s never too late to start being one, right?’
‘You could pull that trigger, it’s true,’ I say. ‘But you wouldn’t live long enough to enjoy your widowhood, alas. My security is…how shall I put it? Enthusiastic.’
Her hand is shaking a little, the muzzle wobbling, but she doesn’t lower the gun. ‘So what then? I’m just your prisoner forever? Is that what you’re going to do with me?’
‘Correction. You’re my wife forever.’
She snorts. ‘Is there a difference?’
I decide to ignore this, since I’ve yet to make specific plans about what to do with her. ‘What are you doing in here,gattina?’ I ask instead.
‘What does it look like?’ she snaps. ‘I’m trying to get away from you.’
‘By exploring my bedroom?’
She flushes even as green sparks of anger glitter in her eyes. Interesting. Is she blushing because I said the words ‘my bedroom’? How delightful, if so. It’s been a while since I’ve encountered such innocence in a woman.
‘I thought I might find something useful,’ she says. ‘And as it turns out, I did.’
The gun, supposedly, which won’t help her, as I’ve already pointed out. Even if she manages to get a shot at me, she’ll then have to contend with all the guards in the villa, and there are a lot of them.
‘Well,’ I say calmly, ‘as refreshing as it is to be held at gunpoint by my own wife, you’re going to have to let me go at some stage.’ I pause and then decide to mention it, since she’ll find out anyway. ‘At least before Annika arrives.’
Her eyes narrow. ‘Annika? Who is Annika?’
I shift against the door-frame, oddly discomforted, though why I’m not sure. Caterina and I are married, it’s true, but those vows of fidelity we swore were only words with no meaning behind them. I don’t love her and she doesn’t love me, and I’m going to make sure it stays that way, since love is a cruelty I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. At some stage, though, I might want to explore that moment of chemistry we had during our wedding ceremony, but not now.
I ignore my discomfort. ‘She’s my mistress,’ I say bluntly. ‘I’m expecting a wedding night, after all.’
‘Mistress?’ She says the word as if it’s foreign to her and she’s unsure of the pronunciation. ‘What are you? Seventy? Who has mistresses these days?’
I can’t help but smile at the disbelief in her voice. ‘Ihave mistresses. Don’t you think the term is more romantic than, say, “lover”?’
‘Romantic?’ Again, she says it as if she’s never heard the word before. ‘Are you serious? You’ve just married me and you’re already talking about lovers?’
I study her a moment, because the shock on her face looks genuine. How strange. Why should she care how many lovers I take? Shouldn’t she be pleased that I’m not going to take advantage of her? That I’m seeking pleasure elsewhere?
‘What does that matter?’ I ask. ‘I already told you I’m not expecting you in my bed. All I want from you is your name and your father’s obedience.’
Expressions move over her face like clouds, moving so fast I can’t read them all. ‘So…what do you expect from me? I mean, are you going to get an annulment in six months or what?’
I haven’t told her my plans. I’m waiting for her father’s capitulation first, but it won’t hurt to tell her now. Perhaps it will make her lower that fucking gun.
‘I expect you to be my wife,’ I say simply. ‘As I said, it has to be you to ensure your father’s obedience. But I also need a wife to start a family with, building my dynasty, etc., etc.’
‘That might be difficult if we’re not sharing a bed.’ She goes pink as she says this, which again, I find strangely delightful.
‘I presume you’ve heard of the existence of fertility clinics?’ I murmur, then add, unable to help myself, ‘Or of course there is the old-fashioned way.’
Her cheeks flush an even deeper rose, but her mouth firms. ‘No. My statement about the goat still stands.’
‘Pity.’ I sigh theatrically, enjoying myself more than I care to admit. ‘I could wear a goat costume at a pinch.’
I’m hoping to get a smile out of her since she’s managed to get so many out of me, but her mouth remains in a firm line. ‘So, I’m what? Just a figurehead? What about me? What about what I want?’
Unfortunately, the answer is that I didn’t care what she wanted. But again she’s forcing me to contend with the fact that she’s a person. It’s inconvenient. I don’t want her thoughts and feelings getting in the way of my crusade, because nothing can get in the way of my crusade.
I will stop the murders of blameless women and children, stop the inter-family killings. I will stop the men who think violence is the answer, men like my father, and I will not be turned from my path. I will not be stopped, not by anyone, and she needs to understand that.
