I place my hands over his, then crouch down so we’re at eye level.
“Stop.”
He blinks. “Stop what? I’m just planning.”
“You’re panicking.” I cup his face. “And you’re trying to control everything.”
“Thea, there’s a goddamn bounty on your head. If Kolya finds out you’re pregnant with the heir to both the Fetisov familyandmine, he will move heaven and earth to kill you. He won’t keep you to play with you, he will end your life in order to end the heir’s life.”
“Hey.” I lean my forehead against his. “We’ll figure it out. Together. But I need you to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Don’t change everything because of this. Don’t lock me away somewhere even more isolated. Don’t treat me like I’m made of glass.” I pause. “I’m pregnant, not incapable. I need to feel human. This isn’t just your fight now. It’s ours. We take it on together.”
Gabriel is quiet for a long moment as he thinks.
“Okay. You want to see a doctor.”
“Yes.”
“Good. That’s the next move. But Thea, I can’t let you leave. Not now. Not with—” his hand moves to my stomach again. “Not with you carrying our baby. The risk is too great.”
I open my mouth to fire back at him, to tell him that I want my independence, that I have the right to make my own choices.
But just as he needs to come to terms with things, so do I. What’s happening now is bigger than my need to have control. This is about survival—and not justmysurvival anymore.
“Okay,” I say quietly. “You can bring a doctor here. But I want to pick them. I want to interview them, make sure I’m comfortable.”
He nods without hesitation. “Whatever you want.”
“I want to be involved.”
“Involved?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I want to be in the loop about everything. I’m not going to just sit around and let everyone else make decisions for me.”
He says nothing, letting me continue.
“I know I’m not a master strategist. But this ismylife we’re talking about. My life and now the baby’s. I want to play a part in keeping us safe, beyond just carrying this child to term. I’m going to be a mother. That means I need to know what kind of world I’m bringing my child into, what kind of threats we’ll be facing.”
He studies my face, then nods.
“You’re right.”
“I am?” I’m more than a little surprised.
“You’re not just my responsibility anymore. You’re the mother of my child. You’re my partner in all of this.”
The word partner hits a hell of a lot differently than property.
“I want you to be careful,” I tell him.
“Careful?”
“Yes. That means not doing anything stupidly heroic if your protective instincts go off the rails.”
“Those instincts are already going off the rails, sorry to say. It’s taking a lot not to simply lock you in a vault with armed guards all around it. But it’d be a nice vault.”
