“Not publicly.”
He didn’t respond.
“Marriage changes the board,” I continued. “She is no longer a hostage. She is family.”
“She will always be enemy blood.”
“She is Romanov by law.”
“You bound us to a Chernykh.”
“I bound them to us.”
The quiet that followed was razor thin.
“You have made her a weakness. Your weakness,” Kliment said finally.
“No. If they strike her now, they might think they are striking us internally, but that won’t be true. They don’t gain leverage, but instead they create mutual destruction for both themselves and us.”
“You assume they will hesitate because she is their blood?”
“They will.”
“You place a great deal of faith in sentiment.”
“It isn’t sentiment. It’s optics.”
He scoffed.
“Optics? You sound like a politician.”
“Strategy requires adaptation.”
“Strategy requires obedience, and you failed to do that.”
There it was again, the real issue. It was not the marriage itself but the fact that Kliment felt as if he was losing control over me. He had always been one to practice rigid control, and whenever he began to lose parts it, he began to lose his mind. One of the reasons he wanted Ilana back was to bring her under his control again as well.
“You gave me an order,” I said evenly. “And I fulfilled it as best as I could.”
“You were told to use her.”
“I did.”
“Not like this.”
“This is more permanent and far more dangerous for everyone who is involved in the game, and you understand that better than anyone else, Kliment. A marriage to a Chernykh is what solidifies our position in more ways than one.” I leaned back in my chair, one hand running through my hair as I felt a headache coming on.
“You think this is about your pride?” he snapped. “You have attached yourself to a liability.”
“She is not a liability.”
“She is leverage turned inward.”
“She is insurance.”
He exhaled sharply.
“You have always had a problem with restraint,” he said.
