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Fingers tightened around my nape. “Ensure our dearkingstays put until I’m ready to deal with him.”
Ren didn’t resist as I obeyed, capturing his hands behind him and wrapping the strip of linen around them to bind him to the indicated tree. Knowing how much he detested being restrained, I squeezed his fingers in wordless comfort, only to be instantly shoved aside by Kolya. The northern prince yanked at the knot, seeming satisfied – and surprised – that I’d tied it tight enough, and then circled the tree to get in Ren’s face.
“Always knew you were a bastard, Quarehian,” he murmured. “Didn’t know it wasliterally.”
“If you indeed want to bear witness to my dramatic and tear-jerking execution, it’s going to require us to start walking south,” my lover said with typical Ren-levels of scornfulness, even as he yanked helplessly at his bindings. “Unless you’re hoping a convenient carriage might stop by, Your Highness?”
“We’ll leave for Máros soon enough,” retorted Kolya. “There’sanotherdelightful sight I wish to enjoy first, and that’s Natty on his knees while he pays me what was promised.”
He reached for his belt, tossing his sheathed sword to the ground out of reach and beginning to undo his trousers.
I let out a long breath, and Ren went pale.
“No,” my prince said in a low growl, fury sparking his gaze. His struggles turned desperate as he threw himself forward, only to be held in place by the knot I’d tied myself. “Take me. If this is about revenge or just getting your cock wet…whatever fucked up reason you have, take me! I’m righthere.”
Before I could protest that never-going-to-happen idea, Kolya scoffed, his lip curling. I’d never been so relieved to see disgust on another person’s face as I was in that moment.
“I would not contaminate myself with your filth if you were the last man in Riehse Eshan,” he spat at Ren, before turning to me.
“I’ve contaminated myself plenty,” I told him. “Do you really want seconds?”
Kolya’s lips thinned. “I may be your second, but I will be your last. Yourforever.”
I snorted out a laugh filled with bravado I didn’t feel. “Are you that unused to people turning you down?”
“I am the first prince of Mazekhstam,” Kolya snapped, “and my subjects know to please me. But you? Nathanael, I gave you the courtesy of saying no, did I not? I respected your choice all those years ago, because I thought I’d misjudged and you weren’t...like me.”
“Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I’m-”
I swallowed the rest of my words, grimacing as I tried to rein in my usual tactless self.
Ren, whose political upbringing meant he knew a dozen ways to phrase it politely, instead spat out, “just because he likes cock doesn’t mean he wantsyours, you murderous, delusional fucker.”
“So then I arrive in Quareh, the cesspit of the continent, and what do I find?” asked Kolya, as if neither of us had spoken. “That you’re givingtheirprince something you would denyme? I could live with it when I thought you weren’t that way inclined. But to lie to me, only to allow a southerner to put you on your back at the first damn opportunity?”
“That’s not fair,” Ren said, his voice cold. “I really had to work for that. Do you know how much Blessed bathwater he goes through? Mat, please tell me you’re going to start running away any moment now.”
Kolya scoffed. “He’s not going anywhere.”
Then his face softened as he gazed at me. “I’ve loved you since we were children, Natty. We can start over and get it right this time.”
“Last chance,Panarin! Leave him alone!”
“I want you to watch this, Aratorre,” Kolya drawled, beckoning me over. “Watch how much he enjoys himself.”
“If you dare touch him, I will bring down the wrath of my entire country on your fucking head,” Ren snarled. His face contorted into pure hate. “There will be nowhere you can hide from me! Beg, while you still have a tongue. Run, while you still havelegs.”
Kolya’s eyes didn’t leave mine. He clicked his fingers and gestured down at his feet; a lazy, princely movement that didn’t contemplate defiance.
I shook my head. “Not here.”
Not…not in front of Ren. I couldn’t do that to him.
“Nathanael.”
“Not fuckinghere,” I snapped, and then deflated as Kolya trailed a finger down Ren’s cheek in clear, wordless threat. I offered a smile that felt thinner than parchment. “Shouldn’t it be somewhere not…” I gestured around us, letting him deduce the rest of the sentence.
Not in the middle of a forest. Not in the snow. Not in front of theother half of my fucking heart.
