As for the would-be assassin with the poison pin, his corpse was discovered dangling from a tree in the forest.
I tried to force my attention back on what my father was saying.
Contracts, deeds, negotiations.
Accounts, agreements, business plans.
All of it was clear to me, but I knew that part of the process of his handing things over to me was to explain them in his own way.
I stood up, helping myself to another cup of coffee from the sideboard, and stood at the window, looking at the wide swaths of frosty fields that ran into the forests beyond.
Natasha stood outside, shaking out one of my mother’s down duvets; we’d taken her in when my brother was sitting in jail, and she’d become something of a companion to my mom.
Natasha was still a fucking mess, bone thin and wild-eyed, but she had a good heart and my mom enjoyed having her nearby. I wasn’t sure I completely trusted her not to steal all our goddamned silver, but she was getting better. Day by day.
Mostly thanks to Daniel. From the time I had him return her here to the estate and got her under the care of our doctor, he’d barely left her side. I recognized the look in his eye, it was the same look I had when I looked at Valeria…
Glancing down, I double-checked that I still had the only thing that had any value at all to me anymore: the ring I’d given Valeria. I still had it, hanging from my neck, underneath my shirt, on a ribbon that she’d left behind that she’d used to tie her braid the night I’d kidnapped her.
Thinking about that, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself a little. She’d fought me like a fucking champ. And beat me in the end.
A knock at the door jolted me back to reality. My father barked at the door to come in. Ivan the old butler emerged, looking apologetic.
“There’s a visitor for you, sir,” he said.
“Tell them to wait!” my father huffed. “I’m in the middle of something. Or trying to be!” He turned his frustrated eyes on me.
“Not for you, sir,” the butler said, bowing now towards me. “It’s a visitor for you, Mr. Vasile. And I would say it’s rather… important.”
Important? Please. There was only one thing that was actually important, and that was her.
“Who is it?” I asked.
The old butler lifted his gaze, with a small but definite smile on his face.
“It’s Princess Valeria Valentine, sir.”
She was here, in this house? To see me? I was so fucking stunned that I sat there, completely speechless, until I finally got my shit together and managed to ask, “Is she… is she okay?”
“Oh yes, sir,” he said with a little sparkle in his eye. “Quite as lovely as ever. She’s waiting for you in the drawing room.”
Holy fuck.
My heart banged like canon fire in my chest as I entered the drawing room.
She sat across the room, near the window, wearing a yellow silk dress and hat looking fucking beautiful as ever. Thinner than she had been though, not nearly as voluptuous as my eyes, hands and mouth remembered.
Something about her looked more fragile. And my urge to possess and protect her came rushing back like a blaze through a dry forest.
When she saw me, she smiled that big, beautiful smile. Fuck, I wanted her. I wanted to be inside her right then and there. She was a goddamned vision. The woman of my dreams.
But I didn’t dare let myself think about why she was there to see me. Didn’t fucking dare let myself hope. Just the fact that she was sitting there, waiting for me, was enough. One glimpse at her and I felt like a starving man who’d had his first bite of food in ages.
For the first time, I felt awkward and tongue tied in front of her. Fucking love-struck. I reached out to take her hand and she offered it to me. I kissed the back of her palm, giving her all the reverence she deserved. Not just because of her title. But because of what she meant and would always mean to me.
She was my Queen. My one and only.
I stopped short of actually dropping to one knee and bowing to her, though fuck knows I wanted to. Instead, I managed to pull my pussy-whipped self together and sit down in the chair across from her.
“I missed you so fucking much,” I said, my voice gravelly and deep.
Hearing that embarrassed her, clearly, but she had too much poise to let her veneer drop completely. She nibbled her lip as she looked at her hands in her lap, then raised her bright green eyes to me. They looked bigger and more innocent than I’d remembered yet more powerful somehow.
“I wanted to come to thank you,” she said. “For sending the doctor to help us. To help my dad. It made all the difference.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” I said. “Never.”
“But I am thanking you,” she said, her voice almost sharp now. Demanding almost. My fucking Queen, indeed.
“You’re very welcome,” I said. “How did you know I’d be here?”
She shrugged on a thin smile. “I went to the manor first. Daniel told me you were here.”
I nodded, making note to reward him somehow.
“And…” She stammered now, glancing out at the window as if to collect her thoughts. “I also came to ask if you really did stay with me, when I was so sick. My dad said you were there for days.”
It had been more than a week that I stayed there by her side, wracked with grief and worry like a fucking wild man. While I’d stayed with her, I’d hardly eaten, hardly slept. Only when she was out of the woods for sure did I make myself scarce.
“An army couldn’t have stopped me.”
She blinked a few times in quick, embarrassed succession, searching my face for something, though I didn’t know what.
“Thank you. I saw you, in my dreams. I wasn’t sure it was really you. But you didn’t have to do that,” she said.
“The fuck I didn’t,” I growled
She pursed her lips and looked away, swallowing hard as a beautiful blush came up into her too-pale cheeks. I leaned toward her, just a few inches, hanging on her every word and movement. She closed her eyes, as if to collect herself, and then returned to face me with all that royal self-command that I’d seen in her so many times before.
“I hear you’re making an honest business out of all this,” she said, glancing around the room.
Not exactly the subject change I’d wanted. I wasn’t a fan of all this small talk, but I’d settle for it all the same. There was so much that I needed to tell her, wanted to tell her, but I wasn’t about to overstep. She wanted to talk business, so we’d talk business; after all, there was some shit she really did need to know.
“Within a year, I’ll have everything on the straight and narrow. No more shady business, no more crime. Like I said I would.”
She looked so relieved and so pleased, but she said nothing in response. In place of any answer, she seemed surprised by a sudden yawn that she covered with hand. I was close, so fucking close, to reaching for her ring around my neck, but she stopped me cold.
“I sorry,” she said. “I get so tired these days.”
I shook my head. “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met. And you will be again. It’ll just take time.”
She nodded and sighed, and then took one last long look at me before she rose, the sun behind her engulfing her in a golden glow making her look as though she was made of gold in her yellow dress.
“Thank you again, for all you did for me and for my family. I just thought it was proper to thank you in person. Take care Vasile.”
Without another word, she headed for the door.
I was still fucking tongue-tied, utterly powerless to know what to say or how. Man the fuck up, Vasile, I snarled at myself. But to no effect.
I was held hostage, watching her wrap her scarf around her neck, that delicate neck that I had touched and kissed and caressed so many times.
She turned toward the door, and reached out for the knob. But then paused, and turned back over her shoulder. “Vasile…”
Thump-thump went my heart in my chest. “Say it.”
“If you wanted,” she stammered. “I mean, if you had time, maybe… maybe you’d like to call on me. Some afternoon. For tea, or…”
I lifted my hand to stop her from saying another word.
Finally, fucking finally, I was no longer tongue-tied. And I replied with a clear and booming, “Not a fucking chance.”
Chapter 26
Valeria
Humiliation and embarrassment seized me from the inside out.
My heart was shredded, as if by a thousand knives.
His brutal words left me searching his face for any sign of warmth or caring. There was none. Nothing.
You stupid girl. Coming here, acting like he’d want you after all that has happened? Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
Somehow, I summoned up the strength to draw a breath; keeping my eyes lowered so he couldn’t see how embarrassed I felt, I turned to go. If I could only get outside, then I could let the sadness come. Not here, not now. Not in front of him. I would never let myself be so vulnerable with him, never again.
But as I turned, he seized my wrist, making me spin back to face him. And then he lowered himself to one knee in front of me. Finally, that granite-jawed sternness softened and he smiled up at me, just a little.
“What I’m not going to do is come call on you for a fucking supervised tea party like some chickenshit suitor. Like what we had never happened.”
Even in my whirling confusion, the very idea almost made me giggle. Him, with some tiny bone china cup of oolong and a cucumber finger sandwich, as we chatted about the weather?
“No, I…” I stammered, all flustered and blushy. “I suppose that would be…”
“What I am going to do is marry you. As soon as fucking possible.”
Marry me! I inhaled deeply to try to get my wits back about me. It wasn’t working. The room was spinning, not with an impending fainting spell, thank goodness, but with the sudden and overpowering happiness that I felt.
“You are?”
“Fuck yes,” he growled. “You’re the love of my life. You are the only thing that matters. Everything I have, everything I am, is yours.”
Looking down at his handsome face, at this brawny beast of a man pledging himself to me on bended knee, I tried so hard to remember why I’d told myself it wouldn’t work. All those barriers seemed so insignificant now, compared to this love that I felt for him. And yet, my past self was not foolish. There was one thing, that one terrible thing, that still would stand between us.
“Vasile…”
As if he’d known just what I was thinking, he cut me off at the pass.
“You are my very last gamble, Valeria. It’s all or nothing. It’s you or nothing.” Hooking his finger beneath his collar, he pulled a pale-yellow ribbon that I recognized at once. He slipped it over his head and held out the ring that he’d given me. That beautiful, sparkling, exquisite ring that I had thrown back at him in my fury and fear. He slipped it onto my finger, and took my hand in both of his. Then he looked back up at me, with those bedroomy, sexy eyes, and said, “Marry me, beautiful. Do me the honor. Please.”
I gripped his hand hard, blinking rapidly to try to clear my thoughts, but there was nothing I could do to stop the tears spilling down my cheeks.
I was so, so close to just blurting out that single simple word, yes. My heart said yes, my mind said yes, but I also felt like I was barreling full speed into a blizzard without thinking. I had made so many mistakes, I had taken so many risks, that I’d lost the stomach for it.
“Let me… please just let me think about it,” I said. “Let me have some time.”
He looked so hurt and wounded that it took my breath away, and nearly made me change my mind at once. All these emotions, all these surprises, it was too much for me and I felt myself growing weak and clammy. I tottered slightly backwards and Vasile stood up to support me.
“Sit. Sit down. Are you okay? Please don’t fucking tell me you’re going to pass out again.”
“No,” I said. “No, no. Just… I’m just so weak.” I lowered myself down cautiously onto the chair where I had been sitting.
Vasile looked at me with complete focus and concern. “I’ll go to the kitchens and get you something to eat. You stay here. Don’t move. Understood?”
I nearly groaned with a sudden rush of unexpected desire. That was the tone he’d used with me in the bedroom, when he ordered me, commanded me. Ruled me and made me obey.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Understood.”
He leaned down and kissed my cheek. It felt so good to have him close again; it felt so right. I had missed him so, so much. But before I could reach out to embrace him, he stepped away, leaving the room with heavy, authoritative footfalls.
And there I sat by the fire, with my whirling thoughts.
“Valeria?”
A voice I half-recognized made me turn in my chair to face the door. It was Natasha, looking stronger now than the last time I’d seen her, when she was just a shadow of herself. So thin, so gaunt, so pale.
“You’re here!” I said, reaching out for her. “I hoped you would be! I’d heard they’d taken you in.”
“Yes. I came upon Vasile in the hallway, he said you were here. All of them…and Daniel,” Natasha said. “He’s been… very kind to me.”
I had expected her to rush to me, to take me in her arms like we had so many times before, but she stayed back and eyed me suspiciously. She reminded me of a half-feral cat, untrusting and skittish. But it was just so good to see her, my oldest friend
“The family took me in. I’ve been helping Mrs. Greengallow.” She seemed embarrassed, smiling to herself as she added, “It’s a little like having my mother back. Not that anyone could replace her, but I think she’d like me to be happy helping out around here.”
“That’s so good to hear, Natasha. I’m glad. Truly.”
She stopped and stared at me, nodding a little, but all the time fussing with the hem of her sleeve, picking at the threads, rubbing the fabric again and again.
“Is it okay here? Are they treating you well?” I asked.
“Oh yes,” she said. “Lovely. All the food I want, all the books I can read. A big bed, running water. Heaven, really,” she said, with a flat and empty voice. Then she met my eyes, and there were tears in hers. “Valeria, I’m so sorry for what happened. I’m so sorry that I—oh, God, how can I go on, knowing that I was a part of that?”
What in the world was happening here? She had once been the most lively, happy, joyful person—she’d had a laugh so infectious that even our sternest teachers couldn’t help but catch a smile from her. And still, I was sure I could see a little of that in her, somewhere, someplace.
“Natasha, it’s alright.” I gestured to the chair beside me. “Come on. Sit with me. Talk to me.”
Natasha shook her head. “No, I can’t. I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you, or this place, or Daniel or anything. What I deserve is death, or prison. I’ve been such a—”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Natasha, none of this is your fault. I don’t forgive you because there’s nothing to forgive. You’re my friend, I love you, and that’s all there is to it.” I rushed to her then, pulling her into my embrace.
As soon as my arms closed around her, she melted into tears and sobs. This, at least, was her, truly her. No more artifice, no more anger. Just my lovely friend, having the hardest of times.
She confessed how it all started. An invitation to a secret lavish party. Petre took to her, plying her with words and finally, enticing her to try his special ‘tea’. She was so lonely, lost from her parents’ deaths, she was an easy target. Our engagement was recently secured and he wanted someone to watch me.
Who better than my roommate and best friend? Make my one ally loyal to him, leaving me even more vulnerable.
I swept her hair aside so I could press my cheek against hers. Her tears spilled onto my own skin. I understood then that she w
as as traumatized and exhausted as a beaten pony, living in a world of threats and fear.
I couldn’t imagine what Petre had put her through, but I knew she had a long road back to being fully herself.
“I love you,” I told her as she cried against my shoulder. “And we will make sure you get better. I will be here for all of it. I will never leave you again. You are family, Natasha. I will be your family.”
She held me so tightly that it was hard for me to get a full breath, and her sobs came out as agonized wails. Her knees buckled and together we slid down to the floor. Slowly, very slowly, she cried it out and I felt her begin to relax in my arms.
From far away, I heard Vasile’s heavy footfalls approaching. As he came through the drawing room door, carrying a tray of food and tea in his hands, his expression went from hopeful expectation to serious concern. His eyes shot from me to Natasha. I smoothed Natasha’s tangled hair and looked up at him.
“It’s okay,” I told him softly. “She’s okay.”
Vasile crossed the room and set down the tray, the strong muscles of his neck and throat catching the firelight as I watched him sit down on the sofa opposite where Natasha and I sat on the floor.
With his legs parted wide, he rested his forearms on his knees and watched me. For a long moment, neither of us said anything. We simply stared into one another’s eyes. The truth was that life was much, much too short to delay starting my life with him for one moment more. Life was fragile and I would rather face the risks of life by his side than away from it.
Life was, from start to finish, one big gamble. And it was time for me to put my faith in that gamble—in him. In us.
“My answer is yes,” I whispered to him, over Natasha’s shoulder.
His face lit up with such joy, such happiness as I had never seen from him before. Much to my surprise, his eyes glimmered with tears, and he leaned back in the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. Or maybe even at heaven.
Wild Heir (Fated Royals Book 4) Page 18