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I paused by the doorway to watch the boat fade into the distance. This island had been a good place for me to rest and grow stronger. To let my mind refresh after years of running the city. But it wasn’t home.
I’d return stronger. Unbreakable.
The sun dipped below the horizon as I closed the door. Through the front window, the moon rose full, like a pale gray shadow against the deep, velvet blue of the sky. It was a warm night, a soft night.
The boys were in bed, their doors shut. I passed by them and slipped into our bedroom.
She sat the end of our bed, still in her dress and sandals. Her back was to me and she’d taken down her hair, letting the soft, dark waves fall to her waist. It was fuller and longer than it ever had been in the city. The sight made me pause.
Was the Olivia that lived on an island in Greece a truer, freer version of herself than she had ever been as queen of my city?
“Liv,” I said softly.
She turned, her eyes swollen. “Viktor left?”
I nodded once. “He’ll return next week.”
She rose and turned. “And you will leave with him?”
The air in the room was stifling. Instead of answering, I moved past her and opened the window to let the night air in. She slipped off her shoes and padded up behind me, slipping under my arm and against my side.
“You didn’t answer?” she whispered.
How could I? Her heart was so tender already. Silently, I slid her dress down and turned her to unfasten her bra. It hit the ground with a soft thump and her nipples hardened as her breasts fell free. They were soft, marked with silvery lines, and her nipples were a medium brown from her pregnancies.
She let her head fall back as my hand slid over her stomach and under her panties. Tugging them down and helping her step from them. I gathered her hair and let it fall down her back, exposing her breasts to the soft moonlight.
“You are more than my queen,” I murmured. “You are my goddess.”
“Lucien,” she whispered. “Tell me the truth. Are you leaving with Viktor?”
I cleared my throat, pressing my mouth to the top of her head. She smelled so sweet, like sunshine and warmth. It was a scent I wanted to bathe in, to rub into my skin so that when I was gone, I would never forget it.
“I have to go, baby,” I said.
She hiccuped, gasping. “Fuck you. Why can’t we just leave all of this? We could live here forever with our sons, we’d have a perfect life.”
I turned her around to face me and wiped the tear hanging from her chin. Her lashes fluttered and dropped. Refusing to look at me.
“Would you love me the way you do if I wasn’t who I am?” I asked. “If I’d been content with my station beneath Romano? If I hadn’t given him what he deserved for what he did to you? If I hadn’t protected you from your father? If I had put my tail between my legs and run when Riccardo Mezzasalma took you? Would you still have borne the sons of a man who wasn’t willing to spill blood for his wife and children?”
“I…I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Beneath all your softness is a ruthless, little lioness. I know you, Olivia. You get off on the cock of a man who kills anyone who stands in his way.”
“Do you have to be so honest?”
“The truth hurts, Liv. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.”
Her lids lowered. “You still haven’t answered though.”
“Yes,” I said. “I leave with Viktor.”
She swallowed, her breasts heaving. I wrapped my hand gently around her lovely throat. More out of reverence than lust.
“Your love is worthy of the best, Olivia,” I said. “And until I’m dead, I’ll give you only perfection. Even if it takes blood and war.”
“Why?” she whispered.
