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Fyodor hesitates for only a second. “Yes, I agree. I’ve known those men for decades. I branded them with their marks myself. Those men are loyal.”
Kirill purses his lips. “Well,someonetalked.”
Vadim raises an eyebrow. “Unless… unless Adrik has eyes on you, nephew. A spy. Someone you would never suspect. Someone who could get close enough to watch without being noticed themselves.”
I shake my head. “All my staff have been properly vetted.”
“Are you sure?”
His tone rubs me the wrong way. Mostly because that nasally pitch is making me doubt my vetting process, as well as every member of staff I’ve employed that has any kind of exposure to Emma and the children.
Which, in this case, is all of them.
Fuck.
“This was not an easy decision to come to,” I say through gritted teeth. “But, somehow, Adrik has shifted from thorn in my side to full-blown menace. And he needs to be dealt with.”
I glance around the room. Kirill’s expression is the easiest to read. He nods at me with resignation. Fyodor looks back towards the garden, uncaring. And Vadim… Vadim is looking back at me with grim submissiveness.
“You are thepahkan,” he concludes. “Your will, our hands.”
* * *
Emma’s fingers glide over the skin on either side of my forehead. She caresses gently before adding pressure. “Blyat’,” I growl. “That feels amazing.”
Her breath flutters against my ear. “Breathe. Relax. I’m here.”
And amazingly enough, I do relax.
How? I have no idea. I’m in the middle of a war and yet here I am, letting my eyes drift closed as my woman massages my scalp.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to,” she adds.
It’s generous, especially since I know she desperately wants to know how it went. I’m still processing it myself. But, quite apart from my promise to be honest and transparent, I find that I actuallywantto share with her.
“I made the decision to take Adrik out today.”
I’m expecting some kind of feedback. A hissed inhale, a flutter in her touch. But all I’m met with is silence. I open an eye and glance at her.
Emma is still stroking my forehead, her lips pursed up thoughtfully. “And you feel… sad about that?” she ventures.
“I’m not sad about anything.”
“Can we remove the macho male ego from this conversation, please? It might actually be a lot more effective that way.”
“Ouch.”
She giggles and that sound goes a long way in relaxing me, too. “Come on,” she whispers. “Tell me what you’rereallyfeeling.”
The suggestion makes me shudder. Have I ever just sat with my thoughts and let myselffeel? If I’d done that when we lost Mother and Leonid, I’d have imploded. Maybe that’s why I decided a long time ago to keep an arm’s distance between me and my feelings.
“I’ve known Adrik since I was a kid,” I murmur. “We used to play together as little boys.”
Emma’s fingers stop moving abruptly. Just long enough to meet my eyes. I can see all that empathy swimming inside her, ready to forgive a man that she hates simply because she’s able to picture who he was before he was a monster.
“Is this story gonna make me feel sorry for Adrik?”
I laugh brusquely. “I don’t know.”
