I looked back at Elisse. “I won’t escalate this.”
“Why?” Iosif asked.
“Because she is not leverage or a bargaining chip. She is my wife. This marriage might have started as a strategy, but it is no longer that. I love her, and there is nothing or no one that can come between us. She is the mother of our future child, and I will not allow pride or stupidity to dictate what happens next. I couldhave asked her to run away with me, but I don’t want her to lose her family by choosing me. I want her to have both.”
“And what if we say no?” Iosif asked.
“Then she stays here with you, and I will walk out, but you will have to spend your entire life knowing that you gave your sister the biggest unhappiness of her life.”
Elisse’s head snapped toward me.
“I will not take her against your will,” I finished.
“You’d leave?” Avgust demanded.
“If she chooses to stay.”
Silence stretched around us, heavy and measured. Elisse turned fully toward her brothers.
“I am not property,” she said steadily.
“No one said you were,” Iosif replied.
“You have already acted like I was.”
“That man kidnapped you.”
“That man walked away from power for me.”
Iosif’s gaze flicked to me. “Is it true you did it all for her?
“Yes.”
Avgust exhaled slowly. “You understand what this means.”
“Yes.”
“You understand Kliment will never forgive you for this reconciliation.”
“I don’t need him to.”
“You understand this alliance will not be simple.”
“I don’t need simple.”
Iosif stepped closer now, close enough to look directly into my eyes.
“If you hurt her—”
“I won’t.”
“If you choose ego over family—”
“I won’t.”
“If you use that child for leverage—”
“I won’t.”
