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“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Before he can say anything else, Dimitri appears beside him. His eyes drop to the three bags in Rei’s arms. “Three?” he glares.

I look him up and down. “Mhm. Jealous?”

“Of what?”

“My superior gift-giving skills.” I smile sweetly.

Dimitri tsks and says, “Dream about it.” I chuckle. He’s right, though. I don’t think anyone can rival his gift.

Rei chuckles and nudges him with one elbow.

“Happy birthday, Rai.” I blow him a kiss with my hand.

“Thank you,” Rei says sweetly.

Later, I lean back against the wall with a drink someone pressed into my hand on the way in and let myself breathe for a moment when a shadow falls beside me.

Dimitri again. “I heard your brother got his balls kicked in.”

I turn my head slowly. “What?”

“During the last meeting.” He leans one shoulder against the wall beside mine, lowering his voice just enough to make it private without losing that habitual thread of amusement. “Your father tried to introduce him as a potential heir. The room was… less than receptive.”

A cold little line forms down my spine. “What do you mean, receptive?”

Dimitri lifts his glass, swirling amber lazily. “I mean there are men who can tolerate many things, but hearing that the son of a whore might be under serious consideration apparently upset their delicate constitutions. One of the idiots got bold and said your father was humiliating himself by even floating the possibility. Your brother didn’t take it well. Neither did the others.”

I let out a short breath through my nose. That explains why he came home in such a charming mood when he returned. He nearly made me lose my limbs.

“Well, don’t worry,” he says. “The alliance your father had with mine won’t hold if he replaces you. I’ll make sure you keep your spot. You’re the only heir.”

There are a thousand awful things I could say to ruin the sincerity of the moment. I could remind him that alliances between families like ours are never as simple as one man deciding to keep another in power. If my position is threatened, it won’t be enough for him to simply declare that I’m staying. I could also tell him he sounds like a sentimental old widow worrying about the state of my marriage instead of a man discussing an empire.

Instead I smile.

Small, unwilling, real.

“How sweet,” I murmur. “Dimkaaa.”

He makes a face. “Don’t.”

“Little Dimka protecting me.”

He sighs dramatically and ruffles my hair to annoy me back into place.

I smack his arm lightly, and he laughs, already being pulled away by someone else before he can get smugger.

The party carries on around me. People drift between little groups, talking over each other. Rei is opening something now while Alexei stands nearby, looking as intimidating as ever. He seems more put together than the last time I saw him, though he still looks tired. Marco is here too, pale, but at least he’s here, which somehow makes Alexei look both relieved and worried at the same time.

I take another drink, then Kento’s eyes find me.

And just like that, I know I’m fucked.

I see the moment his awareness snags on me even from across the room. Nothing anyone else would catch. His head doesn’t turn right away, but some invisible line in him goes taut and points toward me.

My stomach drops.

I look away first.