“Rurik Mikhailovich Romanov,” he confirmed. “Though, technically, I was born ‘Rome Aleksander’.”
Poison looked at him for a very long time.
“Do you understand what it is I am telling you, Poison? How knowing my name is like an infection, and I’m patient zero. My father refused to be used as a political symbol for a movement he didn’t believe in, and they decided to remove him as an obstacle. He was executed on his knees, shot in the back like a lowly criminal, because he would not submit to them. Which means thatIam the next in line.”
Poison’s jaw tightened as her eyes flared in clear offense. “I might be pissed at you, but I would never betray you or your family.”
“I know,” he told her gently, hoping to instill calm. “After my father was murdered, my mother took my sister, Tania, and I underground. She was wounded, and we were far too young to understand what had just happened. I had to scavenge for us to survive, and eventually, we escaped. Tania lives in New Zealand now, and has a husband and children. After I met Jack, I made sure to scrub all our information. Even Rome Aleksander doesn’t exist anymore.” He held his hands out to his sides as if to show her everything he had to offer. “This is me, Ivy. This is who I am.”
“That’s why you’re so careful about leaving your DNA behind,” Poison breathed out softly. “You can’t have it tested and matching the Romanov line.”
“It’s also why I am so adamant never to have children. Tania had kids, but not biologically. After what happened to our father, we swore that the line would end with us.”
Though Poison’s hard expression did not soften, her eyes did. “I’m sorry about your dad.”
“I don’t need your sympathy,” he told her harsher than intended. “All I want, all I have ever wanted, Poison, isyou. To be as we were.”
This time her chuckle held a hint of cynicism. “To be as we were?” she repeated back at him. “You’re a fuckingprince, and you want us to go riding off into the sunset together?”
“Technically, a pretender to an abolished throne, but?—”
“You’re a fucking prince!” she repeated, voice rising.
Kitty took a deep breath and nodded, “Yes.”
“What am I supposed to do with that?” Poison shook her head, like she was trying to put the puzzle pieces in her brain together. Then suddenly, she snorted. “Well, I guess now I know why you’re so fucking cocky.”
“Hey,” Kitty pointed an accusing finger at her. “I have always been awesome, even before I knew the truth of my heritage.”
Poison let out a sound that was a mixture of a snort and a laugh. “I suppose this is the part where I say who the hell am I to have caught a prince’s eye, but if you recall, I’m the girl who held a knife to your throat.”
Kitty smiled widely at the memory. “Hell yeah, you are.”
“I amnevercalling you ‘your Majesty’.”
“I told you already,” he closed the gap between them. “All I want is to be your Knightmare, Poison. Kitty, Robin, Cocky Bastard,Vibrator… It makes no difference to me, so long as I amyours.”
Poison’s jaw ticked. “I’m still pissed at you,” she told him.
“I know.”
“But I am,” she admitted through gritted teeth, “lesspissed at you than I was an hour ago.”
He smiled down at her. “I know that, too.”
“Of course, you do, you cocky bastard.” Poison shook her head, but he saw the smile trying to break through her scowl. “Look, bottom line, I don’t give a flying fuck on an elephant’s ass if you’re the rightful Tsar of Russia. I can respect what you’ve been through, and I understand why you felt you had to keep it a secret, but you still hurt me, Kitty.”
“I’m not sure if it helps that I never planned on telling you,” he confessed with a guilty face. “Don’t get me wrong, I hated keeping a secret from you, and maybe I let a clue or two slip where you could have looked into it if you wanted to, but I never actually planned to ever tell you.”
Poison closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah, not helping.”
“Well, in that case, just know that I plan to make it up to you every day for the rest of my life, if you’ll let me.”
“With the amount of trackers you have planted all over me, it’s not like I could ever shake you,” Poison reminded him.
He smiled down at her. “I may have planted two more just now.” At her bewildered expression, Kitty shrugged. “Didn’t want to take the chance you’d try to slip away in the dead of the night.”
Poison snorted, shaking her head. Then she grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down into a furious kiss. Kitty kissed her back with equal abandon.
