AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And nothing.”
He moves closer, crowding me. “What did he say, Willow?”
I wince when he uses my real name, and it’s clear he won’t let this go.
“Fine. He said you made your choice between me and your country by sacrificing yourself to the resistance fighters. And you chose your country, even if you wanted to choose me.”
“Konstantin is an idiot. I found a way to have both.”
I knit my brows together and peer up at him. “What do you mean? You gave up the presidency.”
“I put Andarusia first by forfeiting my supposed ‘claim’ to the presidency. This country needs someone else to lead, some fresh, progressive blood. Someone who isn’t a Kurochkin. And by doing right by Andarusia, I also found a way for us to be together—though my father’s death certainly helped matters.”
He’s right. I didn’t think about it that way, but Alek put Andarusia and me first. And knowing I mean as much to him as an entire nation makes my chest swell.
“I’ll send flowers to Irina,” Alek says. “Signed from both of us.”
“See? You do care.”
“Just don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin my reputation.” The corner of his mouth twitches before he grows somber again. “I’ll send flowers to Johanna’s parents too.”
I snuggle into his side.
Flowers aren’t enough, given what we put her through, but it’s a start. I’m ready to end this cycle of revenge and payback. I want to move on to the next phase of my life—one I almost didn’t get to see.
In a way, the violent attack on the school saved my life. If it hadn’t happened, Alek and I wouldn’t have found our way back to each other.
But many others had to die so I could live, and that guilt has been gnawing at me since.
“I also have something for you.” I chew my lip.
“For me? But it isn’t my birthday.”
“I know, but…” I reach over to the nightstand, where I set his pills down, along with an envelope.
The one with his name on it. I packed it in my getaway bag after Dad found his letter. Something in my gut told me to, though I didn’t understand why at the time.
Now I do.
I take the letter out of the envelope and unfold it, laying it out on his lap. When he starts to read it, a strange look crosses his face.
Gone is his mischievous grin and cocky attitude. Instead, only sorrow remains.
I refuse to read it along with him. Maybe I will one day, but I’m not ready to relive those dark thoughts yet.
I want to move forward, not backward, and I have a long way to go. But Alek deserves to know what was in the letter I wrote for him.
He comes to the end and turns it over, laying it facedown in his lap. A weighted silence falls between us.
“I don’t want to spend another second of my life apart from you again,” he says. “I won’t let anyone else come between us, and if they try, they will stare death in the face. That is a promise, my love.”
Alek pushes me down so my back is flat on the mattress. He lays on his side, taking care not to hurt his injured arm as he entwines his leg with mine. Fisting his hand into my hair, he descends onto my mouth. His love for me pours out of his soul, and with our lips joined together, he seals his promise.
To love me fiercely for the rest of our lives.
I moan against his mouth, angling my hips to press into his. All I want is to be closer to him, and if I could jump into his skin to become one person, I would do it without hesitating.
He breaks our kiss, only enough to speak against my lips. “I want you, malishka. Right now.”
