“Your ascension to the empty Dragon throne is more important than anything else right now. I hope you understand that.”
I tighten my grip on my vodka glass. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I saw what you did. The way you chased after her and almost got yourself killed.” Lucy doesn’t flinch, but her voice does lower. “The girl is disposable.”
Rage flares in my chest. Bile rises in my throat. I fix her with a hard look and struggle to keep my anger in check. “Nika’s my wife.”
Lucy waves a dismissive hand. “Right now, people around you have a tendency to get hurt. Which is fine, you’re playing a dangerous game. Nobody becomes a Dragon without blood on their hands.” She draws in close. “But don’t let that hold youback. Mass nearly lost to Medved because he was too obsessed with Allie to think straight. It’ll be a shame if you go down the same road.”
My heart races. I feel myself staggering into the woods. The panic and terror at the thought of losing her, all while knowing it was stupid, it was the wrong decision, and still not being able to stop myself. “Nika is mine.”
“That doesn’t reassure me.”
“You can go fuck yourself then.” I shove back away from the bar and get to my feet. I’m so angry I can barely think clearly. “I’ll win the throne. But I won’t bury my wife under it.”
“Let’s hope so.”
I walk away. I can’t stay a single second longer. If I do, I might say something I’ll regret, because I still need Mass’s support and Lucy’s help, even if they’re doing it from the shadows.
Still, the audacity of these fucking people. Lucy storms in here, drops a few bombs, and casually suggests I should let my wife die to make sure I become a Dragon.
But there’s another voice in the back of my head. A quiet whisper that keeps saying,you know she’s right.
It’s exactly what I was thinking before she showed up.
Hearing the words out loud triggered something in me though. Some long-buried emotion. A feeling I thought I’d managed to scour from my heart.
I don’t like it one fucking bit.
There shouldn’t be any lines I won’t cross and nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice to get what I want. That’s the only way to become a Dragon.
But if I do all that—if I let myself fall that far—what’s left on the other side?
What’s the point of ruling the world if it’s all a smoking crater?
I head back to the room and find Nika in bed. She’s wrapped under the blankets. I kick off my shoes, strip down to my underclothes, and crawl in beside her. I tell myself this is fine, we’re married, it’s normal, but she mutters something in her sleep. Thank God it’s not my name or something sexual, or else I think I’d break.
But she does roll over. Her arms brush against my body as she snuggles up close. I go still, eyes locked on the ceiling. I feel her lips and breathing against my neck. She tightens her grip on me, but her chest still rises and falls steadily, very much asleep.
One of her legs wraps around my waist.
Fuck, this is stupid. Lucy’s right. Nika’s nothing. The girl is a bank account. She’s a body stuffed with money. I don’t need her.
I don’t want her.
But I don’t move and I don’t push her away.
CHAPTER 15
NIKA
Igroan when Gabe tosses my suitcase onto the bed. “When the heck did you have time to pack that?” I blink blearily at the clock. “It’s past eight in the morning.”
“I’ve been up for hours already. I hit the gym, ran three miles, ate a light breakfast, made some calls, took a shower?—“
“Okay, okay, you’re super human, I get it.” I sigh. My body’s littered with little aches and pains, mostly minor but annoying. “When did you get back last night?”
His jaw tightens like I said something wrong. But he relaxes and gestures at the bag. “We’re leaving.”