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“You’re so sure.”
“Mikhail is my son.”
“You said he was next in line after you in the succession for the throne. I... Doesn’t that mean King Nikolai wants a say?”
“I have just found out that Nataliya is pregnant.”
“Which is really great for them, but doesn’t change anything about Mickey’s role in the monarchy until that child is born.”
“Nikolai is a good man. He will understand your desire for the contract.”
“Yeah, but he has to trust me in order to sign it,” Emma said as that truth literally hit home with her. “How can he? He doesn’t know me.”
“He knows me. I trust you. He either trusts my judgment, or he does not.”
“And if he doesn’t?” she couldn’t help pushing.
“Then Mikhail will stay with you in the States when I travel to Mirrus.”
“Just like that? But that isn’t what you want.”
“I will do what I have to do to ensure you trust me to fulfill my role to Mikhail as his father without ever compromising your role as his mother. From the moment I learned of his existence, you and he became my priority.”
“But that’s not how it works, is it?”
“I lost you once to my responsibility to the crown. I will not lose you, or my son, again.”
She was sure the nearly five years of life he’d lost with Mickey was the deciding factor for Konstantin, but even knowing how very much he regretted that helped Emma to trust Konstantin in Mickey’s life.
If not her own.
CHAPTER SEVEN
DESPITE HIS ASSURANCE his brother and the rest of his family would sign the agreement promising not to interfere with Emma’s parental rights and role as Mikhail’s mother, Konstantin wasn’t at all sure they would.
He and Nikolai had lost trust in each other since their mother’s death. There had been a time they were best friends, despite their age difference, but they’d grown apart.
Now, Konstantin realized that they had both handled their grief at the loss by turning inward. Their father had done the same. The only person any of them had continued to show affection for had been Dima and even their youngest brother had eventually pulled himself into his own space and life, away from them all.
Nikolai’s marrying Nataliya had brought a lot of warmth back to the palace and Konstantin realized that the same could not be said of his brother’s first marriage.
Tiana had not been the friend Konstantin thought she was, but worse she had been a poor queen and an even worse wife. He’d been blinded to the truth, but he wasn’t anymore.
He was learning to trust Nikolai’s judgment again, but was his brother doing the same for Konstantin? He would soon find out.
Nikolai remained silent on the other end of the phone as Konstantin explained what he wanted his brother to sign and why.
“She said this would help her trust you with Mishka?” Nikolai inquired.
“Da.”
His brother made a thoughtful sound. “Is she refusing to move to Seattle without it?”
“Nyet, but that is not the point.”
“No.” He could almost see Nikolai nodding to himself. “The point is you want her to trust you.”
“Da.”
