Page 219 of Marrying the Savage

I put one hand against his cheek, then move it to his forehead. Too hot. Not ordinary fever hot. Fast, hard, wrong. His pulse beats too quickly under the side of his neck.

I think of Sofia’s hand over her stomach in the music room.

Our child.

The thought comes at the worst time and stays there.

A child changes the weight of everything. Maksim is not mine, but I have carried him since he was a baby, watched him fall asleep at family dinners, listened to him argue with grown men about wooden soldiers as if his opinion controls the table. I know the exact shape of his small hand when it grips my sleeve.

Soon there may be another child in my house.

Mine. Sofia’s.

The idea should wait.

It doesn’t.

Maksim coughs once, weakly.

Irina leans forward. “Is he breathing properly?”

“Yes,” I say, though I keep my hand on his chest to feel it for myself.

The car cuts through the road. Nikolai speaks to the driver, and the engine pushes harder.

Maksim’s fingers twitch against my shirt. I look down. There’s a strip of clear adhesive on the inside of his wrist, almost hidden below the cuff of his pajama sleeve. It’s small, medical, pressed carefully over the skin.

I peel the sleeve back. Under the adhesive is a puncture mark. A faint bruise sits beside it, the shape of fingers holding a child’s wrist still.

My body goes cold.

Irina leans forward. “What is it?”

I don’t answer. I lift Maksim’s wrist closer. There is a faint smell on the adhesive, almost stinging and chemical beneath the sweat and fever.

Sergei’s voice comes back to me. Someone has been feeding you lies.

I look up slowly. “Nikolai.”

He turns in his seat. “Yes?”

“How did Grigori know about Sofia’s attacker at the club?”

Nikolai frowns. “What?”

“I told you to keep it quiet.”

“It was quiet.”

“Then how did Grigori know?”

Nikolai’s frown deepens. “Hard to keep it quiet from someone who gave me the information.”

The car seems to lose sound for one second.

Irina says, “This is not the time for this.”

I keep looking at Nikolai. “Grigori gave you the lead?”