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Talia’s father wasn’t supposed to survive the weekend.Grinding my teeth, I rose and pulled my pants over my hips. Friday night flashed through my mind. If the job hadn’t gone so badly, I wouldn’t be in this mess. However, it came with the territory. I may have barely made it out of there, but I had. And then, in front of my villa, when I’d wavered in and out of consciousness, Talia had been there. I may have been in poor physical shape, but I distinctly remember the moment where she finally had me completely at her mercy. I remember clearing the air once and for all. But even after offering myself into her hands, she’d refused to kill me.
There could be a thousand reasons why she saved my life, and I would be a fool to completely let down my guard, but I knew there was something there between us—something good, something strong and unbreakable. Whatever it was, I needed to latch onto it and foster it. But that wasn’t happening if I was confined to bed.
I emerged from the bathroom, grabbing a tie as I passed through the closet. Adrian sat up straight as I worked the knot around my neck.
“What the hell? Why are you dressed to the nines?”
“I have work to do,” I ground out, sweat breaking out once more all over my freshly washed body. “There’s a devil who needs killing.”
My cousin groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face. “Even when you were well, marching into Gustave’s stronghold and lobbing the snake’s head from its body was going to be difficult, at best. In this state—” he gestured to me “—it’s impossible.”
Ignoring him, I went to the attached study and the desk where my phone and laptop sat. I wasn’t spending another minute in this room. There were a few correspondences I wanted to send, then I was going to watch the footage of my bride. I needed to see what she’d been doing the last few days.And find out why she didn’t try to come and see me.
My fingers curled around the laptop. Why did everything have to weigh twice, if not three times as much, after an injury? Suddenly, it was hard to draw breath.
“You were on death’s door not even a week ago.” Adrian’s tone held none of his customary humor.
“I’ve been laying down too long already.” I took a step forward. The world swam. Shit.Shit!Bile rose to the back of my throat. Spinning, I dropped the laptop back onto the desk and reached for the waste basket. Acid burned through my throat as I emptied the nonexistent contents of my stomach into the container.
Adrian was at my side a moment later. His hands gripped me tight under the armpits, holding me up as my legs refused to do so. I coughed and spit, hating myself.
“Yeah, you’re not going anywhere for a few more days. And if you push it, you know you’ll only make it worse.” Adrian didn’t gloat, but he helped me back to bed. “Rest. Everything is under control.”
But it wasn’t! Talia knew that I was aware of her original vendetta to kill me. She hadn’t killed me, it was true, but she wasn’t here either. The reason why was driving me insane, none of which I was able to effectively communicate with my cousin because my body was too fucking weak.
“Dammit,” I groaned, gripping the comforter. Breathing through the dizziness, I managed to remove my jacket. And then I laid there. Waiting.
It took far too long for the nausea to subside enough for me to peel open my eyes. Glaring at the study door, I ordered myself not to be weak.
Seeing my intention, Adrian rose once more from his seat. “You’re not going back out there,” he warned. “But I can bring you your laptop if you won’t be appeased.”
“Yes,” I ground out, not able to look him in the eye.
“You’re going to break a molar,” Adrian observed. He went out to the desk and grabbed my device. “Anything else, cuz?”
“Earbuds.” I hated this.
But my cousin wasn’t bothered serving an invalid. In fact, he never commented on it. He simply helped me adjust myself on my side and plugged in the laptop’s power cord so it wouldn’t run out of battery.
“Now, I’m going to snatch a few hours of shut eye. Don’t do anything stupid, okay. And try not to wake me.”
“Thanks, Adrian.”
“Don’t mention it.”
As my cousin closed his eyes once more, I pulled up the video footage. The damn emails could wait. I started with Friday night before I came home. Filtering through different cameras, I saw Talia’s carpet picnic and then our encounter. I rewatched the moment Talia refused to strike, then the moments after where she triaged me before the guards helped her lift me into the house. Then the arrival of our doctor, and the care Talia showed through the ensuing minutes as they saved my life. This was followed by my sister’s appearance and a sudden spat between the two women—again.
I watched that scene a second time with the fuzzy sound. It wasn’t good, but it was understandable. And then Adrian’s arrival a quarter of an hour after. Iryna marched back into the makeshift medical station. It was beyond ugly. Adrian looked damn uncomfortable, but he kept the women from clawing at one another. In the end, Talia left me—but not by her own free will. Talia hadn’t been near me since my cousin forcefully removed her. He had an ass-whooping coming to him for handling her like that. While I understood he was simply keeping my sister from murdering her, it still sucked.
Since then, Talia had been shut away in her room, and right now, she was sleeping, her hair swept across her pillow, her chest rising and falling steadily. I curled into my pillow and watched the screen. The sight of my beautiful, talented wife lulled me into a restful stupor. My wife who hadn’t killed me.
