“I think,” Dimitri said carefully, “that our world destroys most people who enter it.It takes a special kind of woman to survive beside men like us.”
Their mother surfaced instantly between them unspoken.She was beautiful, a quiet and faithful shadow behind their ruthless father.However, she was gradually hollowed out by the violence surrounding their father and their family until almost nothing remained.
Maksim remembered her crying behind locked doors when she thought her sons could not hear, and he remembered swearing he would never allow weakness like that near him again.
“She’s not like our mother,” Maksim said flatly.
Dimitri watched him closely.“No?”
“No,” Maksim said firmly.
Lena had fear in her, yes, but she also argued with him.Hell, she challenged him.Lena looked directly into darkness instead of lowering her eyes from it.Even after he kidnapped her, she had never truly broken.
“She’s stronger,” Maksim said.
Something unreadable crossed Dimitri’s face then.It wasn’t disagreement exactly, and that gave Maksim some hope.Dimitri probably understood that Maksim didn’t make this decision lightly, and he’d stand by his choice, no matter what happened next.
“Strong women bleed too,” Dimitri said quietly.
Maksim held his gaze steadily.
“Then I’ll make sure no one gets close enough to cut her,” Maksim argued.
The room fell silent again after that.Dimitri finally moved back toward his desk slowly.
“You understand Alexei won’t accept this easily,” Dimitri pointed out.
“I don’t particularly care what Alexei accepts or thinks,” Maksim threw back.
That almost earned the ghost of a smile from Dimitri.Then the older man hardened his expression again.
“If you do this,” Dimitri said, “there is no halfway point.Once she becomes yours officially, every enemy we have becomes hers too.”
Maksim thought of Lena in his shirt that morning asking him to come back alive.The warmth of her body curled against his beneath tangled sheets, and the way she had looked at him without fear for the first time.Mine.My woman.The thought settled into place with terrifying certainty.
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Maksim assured his brother.
Dimitri studied him for a long moment after that, fingers tapping once against the side of his whiskey glass before stilling again.Finally, he exhaled through his nose.
“I’m only agreeing to this because I know how stubborn you are,” Dimitri said.“Once you decide you want something, you become impossible to move.You’ll tear through anyone standing in your way to obtain it.”
His older brother’s gaze sharpened slightly.“And you’re still my brother.Blood.”
The word carried weight inside these walls.Blood above everything, above loyalty, and above reason sometimes.
“I have no interest in losing you over some woman,” Dimitri finally admitted.
“Lena,” he corrected coldly.
Something unreadable flickered briefly across Dimitri’s face at the speed of the correction.The possessiveness behind it.Then, slowly, Dimitri nodded once.
“Lena,” he repeated.
For the first time since this entire disaster began, Maksim felt the future shift slightly beneath his feet.Not safe, never safe, but it was certainly now possible.That was good enough for him.
