“Marriage makes you untouchable.”
“Untouchable?” she scoffed. “Now I feel more exposed than ever.”
“No.” My voice lowered. “You are now Romanov by law, and Kliment can’t do anything to use you.”
Her eyes flickered.
“You cannot be taken without it becoming internal.” She understood that. I could see it in her eyes.
“They can’t kidnap you,” I continued. “They can’t torture you. They can’t use you publicly. Because you are now tied to me and I am tied to the Romanov name.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You tied me to the enemy, and you are forgetting that I don’t need you or anyone else to protect me or keep me safe. I can do that rather well myself.”
“I tied you to the only man in this family who doesn’t want you harmed.”
She went still at that.
“Don’t romanticize this.”
“I’m not.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Containing damage.”
Her eyes searched my face.
“For someone so strategic,” she said slowly, “you made this very personal. You slept with me and kissed me and let me believe that you genuinely wanted me.”
“I didn’t know who you were.”
“And after?”
Afterward, it became impossible to detach. After, the file felt like a threat instead of an order. After, the idea of someone else touching her as leverage made something in me snap.
“I adjusted the plan,” I said evenly, and she stared at me like she wanted to tear me apart.
“You don’t get to decide that attraction equals consent,” she said.
“It doesn’t.”
“Then why kiss me like you still think you have that right?”
Because I do. The thought was dangerous, so I didn’t say it out loud but instead stepped closer, while still holding her wrists. Her breath caught in her throat.
“You felt it too, didn’t you?” I asked quietly.
“That’s irrelevant.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is.”
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, telling me that the anger still hadn’t left, but something else threaded through it. Something hotter.
“You kissed me at the masquerade just the way I kissed you,” I reminded her.
