Page 30 of Daddy's Reluctant Queen

He gives me a small, humorless smile. “I don’t think you understand. What you’re doing with her isn’t really the problem. She’s dangerous, Titus. And you know that. Everyone knows that.”

I pause, rubbing my fingers together thoughtfully. “Yeah. But then again, so am I.” I pause, thinking back to the whole business with Luka. The nerve of her bringing him up in the first place. “You know what, though? She is sneaky. I think she might’ve gotten out last night.”

“Oh?”

I nod. “I may have to change the locks on her door. I can’t have her wandering around the house at night.”

He considers that, his eyebrows knitting together in a deep frown. “She got out and she didn’t try to leave?”

“I have guards posted all over the grounds. She wouldn’t have gotten far.”

“That’s not the point, is it? She didn’t even try. That’s curious, don’t you think?”

I don’t have an answer for him, so I don’t respond for a few seconds.

“So, where is she now? Still locked away?”

I nod. “She knows about Luka. She said she heard him crying last night. I think it’s possible that she went to check in on him.”

Ignat nods but doesn’t respond. I can almost see the wheels turning in his mind.

“What?” I prod him.

“Well, nothing. Except… You don’t have anyone to watch Luka anymore.”

That old ball of rage turns in my chest and I shake my head. “No.”

“Titus—”

“She is the last person I would ever want around my son. I don’t think I have to explain why.”

Ignat’s jaw clenches and for a second, I think he might drop it. He doesn’t. “I know you don’t want to think about this,” he says, “but consider something for a moment. If what you’re saying is true, then she had plenty of opportunity to do… well… a lot of things last night.”

“Right,” I say impatiently. “She could have run. So you’ve said.”

“She could also have taken her revenge,” he responds softly. “On you, on Luka… You were sleeping and blissfully unaware of her escape. She could have gotten the jump on you, gotten herrevenge and her freedom in one night.” He pauses. “She could also have killed Luka. An eye for an eye for an eye.”

My rage chills to an icy cold feeling all over my body. I see his point. She could’ve done all those things easily. And she didn’t. Why?

“The bottom line,” he goes on, “is that she didn’t do any of that.”

“So, what? Based on that, you think I can trust her with my son? Pick up where Natalie left off? Are you out of your mind?”

“I am just suggesting that she could be compelled to pay for what she broke, in a sense. You lost your housekeeper because of her attack. You need someone to watch after him. And because of the nature of his existence, you can’t just pick anyone to do that. It has to be someone who can be bound to secrecy, someone who could never tell anyone that he exists. Even on accident.”

He’s right. I do need someone like that. But Sofia? The daughter of my sworn enemy?

“Just think it over,” Ignat says. “You will have to do something about Luka, and soon. I’m just presenting her as an option.”

It’s a shitty option. One that makes my stomach turn. But logically speaking, it might be the best option I have.

“I’ll consider it,” I say to him. “But no promises. There may yet be a better solution.”

“Maybe. Until then, though…”

I take that and leave it right where it is. Sofia being the magical solution seems laughable, and it makes sense, all at the same time.

We’ll see, though. If she can behave, perhaps I might find a use for her, after all.