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“I needed to right the scales.”
“Talia! He almost—” My raspy breath cut short. I was unable to tell her how I felt at the realization I almost lost her, not when I didn’t understand this flurry of emotions myself.
She laughed without mirth. “Dammit, Constantine, there was nothing else I could do. I had to sate the devil in you.”
“Claude was my kill.” But there was no regret in my soul. After what Talia had endured, Claude was just as much her kill too.
Talia shook her head. “No, Constantine. He had to die by my hand; the world needed a declaration of whose side I’m on. No one can ever doubt that again, most especially you.” Her voice was shaking, but she continued, “In addition to that, my damn brother nearly broke my only chance at happiness. This was the only way I could fix it. I know killing him can’t possibly right the damage he’s done because there’s no way to bring Iryna back, but perhaps the scales are more evenly balanced now?”
Her words rocked me. After everything, she was still here, still fighting for us. Whereas I couldn’t get the words past my lips or begin to formulate the declaration whirling in my chest. But my body could. Gently, I tugged on her hair, tipping her head back. Her lip was bleeding in earnest now, but I ignored it as I bent down and kissed her, filling the caress with the promise of a future. The lush curves of her body melded against mine.I can’t lose her.
When I pulled back, Talia ran her tongue over her lip. “You should have run away,” I warned her. “Instead, you keep coming back to the monster who’s going to devour your soul.”
“As if you would have let me get far,” she scoffed. But there was no bite in her voice.
“You’re right—I wouldn’t have. Because I’ve realized that I can’t let you go. I’m just sorry it took this”—I brushed a finger over the bead of blood on her lip—“to make me see it.”
“I’ve fallen for you, Constantine,” she confessed, voice breathy from the adrenaline and maybe with a touch of need in there too. “I would have done far worse to make you see that.”
I hated that this was the case. But the blind fury and the soul crushing pain had made a mad man of me. It was time to start making things right. And while I couldn’t flip a switch and banish the agony, it was easier than I could have imagined to prevent my hatred from spilling over and burning her. “I might be a monster, Talia, but you’re mine. For better or worse...if you’ll have me?” The raw promise hung between us, and my heart beat wildly as I waited for her to answer.
Something blazed in her eyes. It took me a moment to realize it was victory. “I want you, Constantine. In Greece, in a cage, in a seaside villa, it doesn’t matter. I just want you.”
“Then you can have every broken piece of me,” I murmured. I pulled her tight against chest, squeezing her close, then bent my head and whispered against her hair, “Let’s go home.”
Talia nodded, finally bending that imperial resolve that kept her standing proud. She slumped against me, content to take shelter under the wing of my arm.
As we walked to the door, she stopped to collect her knife and gun. Thorough. I liked that.
We met the Bratva prince in the hallway. Viktor slid a pointed look between us. Talia stiffened in surprise, but I tightened my arm protectively around her. After a moment, she leaned on me again.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“Do you want us to clean up the mess?” Viktor asked.
“Leave the body; it’s time to go,” I said, not really caring about the remains.
With a slight tremor in her voice, Talia said, “He likely has a phone. Sophia could look at it, but I can’t guarantee there’s anything on it.”
Viktor nodded. “I’ll go search the body. Should I take a picture of the carnage and send it to the devil?” He smirked.
Talia’s body went rigid at the comment. Again, she didn’t respond. No doubt she was feeling a level of shock at what she’d done—and at the repercussions that came with it, but I would protect her.
I shook my head at Viktor. “As much as I want to let him know he chose the wrong child to declare as his successor, we should keep the element of surprise. The less Gustave knows about what went down here today, the better.”
“A woman is a dangerous creature; I would have told you, Drakos, but you’ve been in no mood to listen to me this whole time.” Viktor brushed past us, a chuckle rumbling in his chest. At the door, he stopped and let out a long whistle. “Still, color me impressed, Lady Drakos.”
Talia shifted to look back, but I kept us moving forward down the hall. “I was trained as a weapon,” she called back. “Don’t be so surprised.”
“An assassin bride for the butcher!” Viktor announced with a laugh. “How fucking perfect is that?”
It’s fucking perfect.But I didn’t say that. “That’s enough,” I barked over my shoulder. Still, the smile on Talia’s lips mirrored the one I didn’t show.
“As you say, grim reaper.”
With that parting shot, Viktor slid into the room to collect the phone. I might have taken bullets for the man, but I was fast deciding that there was also the strong potential for a friendship between us. Still, he couldn’t spill my deepest secret. Talia deserved to hear of my secret profession as an assassin from my lips alone. And right now, the time wasn’t right. The first order of business was getting Talia home; the second was to ensure her basic needs were met. We had a lot of healing to do.
On the landing in the middle of the stairs, Talia slipped. I clutched her close. “I’ve got you, princess.”
