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For me.
Maxim:Katyonok?
Despite his assurances, I needed to ram something home.
Me:I want to go to college.
Maxim:That can be arranged.
Me:And I want to be courted. Inessa didn’t even meet Eoghan until her wedding day.
Maxim:You have already met me.
Me:I want more.
Maxim:More is something I can try to give you but I’m not a pervert. These types of conversations need to happen when you’re older. I would never have spoken about any of this.
Me:I forced the conversation.
Maxim:You did.
Me:I won’t bring it up again.
Maxim:That is wise.
Maxim:I know that boy Harris has been sniffing around you… Take care of yourself, katyonok. You are aware of the consequences to those around you if you don’t.
The threat was both reassuring and annoying.
Everything about this conversation had been.
I liked Franklin Harris. He was cute. But the threat was clear. If he touched me, he’d lose a hand then his life just like Timofai Stepanov had last year.
I curled my fingers in on themselves and straightened up.
My choices might be limited, but I wasn’t going to be like Mama or my sisters.
There was more to life than a wedding ring.
52
STAR
“OMG,Star, Link was riding behind us thewhhhhoolllleeway from Jersey! It was so freakin’ cool!” Katina shrieked as she flung herself at me.
All thin arms and spindly legs clambered around me, holding me tight, so tightly it hurt, but it hurtgood.
Some days, I was sure she was the only thing I’d ever done right, and I hadn’t even made her, had just saved her life apparently.
Just.
Thinking of a world that didn’t have this little girl in it made me realize how grim a place it would be.
Pressing a kiss to her cheek, I closed my eyes as I hugged her back, reveling in the sweet scent of her shampoo and the perfume she’d sneaked from my room to spritz on herself.
The notion made me grin. “Thief.”
Katina gasped. “I’m not a thief.”
