I struggled harder and was finally pinned down, dragged to my knees, and kicked in the stomach. As I doubled over, I got my last glimpse of Ryker being pulled to the ground like a great beast in a Jonathan Swift novel. Pinned by the minuscule creatures desperate to subdue him.
All the while, my ears were filled with the sounds of people grunting in pain as our punches landed, the wet thumps of fists on flesh, and the grating shriek of Avery’s laughter filling my ears and clenching my heart with hate.
I would get my revenge on her one day. I vowed that to myself.
* * *
“What dothey expect you to tell me?” I asked Amara. We were situated in one of the upper floors of the villa, and if I hadn’t been a prisoner, I would have loved the suite.
There were two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, connected to a central sitting room. The sitting room had floor-to-ceiling windows of leaded glass and scrolling designs along the sides. The furniture was sumptuous, thick velvet and soft, springy seats on the chairs and the sofa. I could envision myself curled up with a book and a cup of tea, wasting a rainy afternoon in this place.
If only I hadn’t been a prisoner, I would have been content.
But now I was pacing back and forth, wearing a path in the thick hand-woven silk carpet in front of the windows. I was certain I would leave a deep groove from the number of steps I’d been taking. I couldn’t sit still, though. I felt like a spring was coiled inside my belly, down to my legs and to the tips of my fingers. I was a walking ball of energy about to expand into rage and frustration, my constant companions for the week.
If only I hadn’t taken the bait and yelled at Seymour. If only I had gotten to her exam on time. If only I hadn’t slept in. There were a hundred small decisions that had led to this moment of my captivity yet again. Of me facing an impossible decision, one that couldn’t be made. My head couldn’t wrap around the two choices presented to me because either one of them was certain devastation.
Marry Maksim and save my Kings, but destroy our world. Refuse Maksim and lose my Kings and have no reason left to live.
“I can tell you already know,” Amara said, looking up at me from where she was sprawled across a plump, green velvet chair. She was dangling one leg and leaning against the high chair back, looking relaxed and without a care in the world.
That alone angered me. I couldn’t believe she was so calm in the midst of the worst crisis I’d ever faced. Nothing else had compared, not Desert Ranch, not the thing with Reg, not even killing Thackeray. None of it mattered compared to losing my Kings.
In fact, I’d survived everything else up to this point because I had them by my side, or I knew they were waiting for me.
Now I didn’t see a clear path in front of me, one that would lead me back to them. That was the only way I could make decisions, by choosing the one that took me home. And as outdated as it might sound to most people, home was wherever I found my Kings. We could be living on the streets in a foreign country, and I could still feel at home when I had them surrounding me with their love.
“I already know what?” I demanded, staring down at Amara. “You have to tell me something.”
“I am supposed to tell you that you have to marry Ilya’s son, Maksim,” she said and casually examined her fingernails as if she was considering changing her polish from the dark purple she had now to something happier.
“And my response is that they can go fuck themselves,” I hissed and tensed up even more. The cords in my neck felt like they were going to snap.
“That’s exactly why I’m not telling you what to do,” she said with that infuriating nonchalance that was the bane of my existence. “And why I’m going to tell you that you’ll never have to marry him.”
“Of course, I won’t!” I said. “There’s no fucking way!”
Amara swung her leg off the arm of the chair, looked up at me, and smiled like she was pleased I finally got to the point.
“I know, as you’ve mentioned a hundred times. But that’s what I’m saying. We go along with the wedding until we have a chance to kill Maksim or take him hostage,” she said. “That’s how we’ll get you out of this, using Ilya’s only weakness against him. His son.”
“What do we tell my Kings?” I asked. “I can’t have them leave thinking I’m marrying another man.”
“You don’t think they’ll trust you?” she asked and shook her head. “Then you don’t know them. Of course, they’ll understand that you’re up to something.”
I wasn’t completely convinced that they would know what I was up to. I knew them well enough to assume that their jealousy and need to protect me would take over and demand they act.
If they chose to come for me, I worried that they would be killed in my defense. To save my honor. They would be willing to give up their lives for me, and I couldn’t stand the idea of that.
“We can’t be sure of that,” I told her. “They trust me, but they might not understand my intentions. They’ll know that I don’t want to marry Maksim, but they might assume I’m being forced into it to save their lives. They would rather die than see me with a man like Ilya’s son.”
“You never know, you might like him,” Amara said and raised her eyebrow while tilting her head. “He is apparently quite good-looking. However, I could never see it. He’s got flat, cruel eyes, although most women think his physical appearance is enough to overcome his lack of character or morality.”
I grimaced and shuddered at the thought of anybody other than my four men. I wondered if at least Maksim was stupid, so I could manipulate him into giving me Ivan and letting me go, but if he had even the smallest amount of cunning from his father, then that was not going to happen.
“That’s insane to think about,” I told her. “There’s no fucking way. He could be the most charming fucking guy on the planet, and I’ll hate him on sight. He’s not mine, and he never will be, so he either gives me Ivan or he dies.”
“Ah, there she is,” Amara said, finally swinging her leg back onto the chair. She pushed herself up, shook her dark hair, and widened her smile across her beautiful white teeth. “I was wondering where my fighter was, you’ve been acting more like a kitten than a tiger, and I’m glad to see your claws.”