Mikhail and Siena exchange a glance. “I can’t have children,” he says.
My brow furrows. “What?”
He sighs and rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “I had a vasectomy. There’s no way I can have children.”
Fuck.
Well, that is more problematic. “Surely, you can select someone from the bratva to be your successor, then?”
Mikhail scoffs. “You would give up all our father built just for that rat?” he asks.
I hate that shame coils through me, as the answer to that question is yes. “You and I both know that I would never run the bratva. I’m merely a pawn to be married off.”
“And what of your uncle?” Mikhail says, looking at Elias now. “Would he approve of you marrying my sister?”
Elias shrugs. “I don’t care if he does or doesn’t. All I want is to marry Natalya.”
Hearing him say that makes goosebumps prickle over the exposed skin on my neck. He’d defy his uncle to be with me. It all seems a little surreal, even if his attention toward me this year has been more than confusing. I never thought I’d be sitting next to my mortal enemy while he pleads with my brother to agree to our engagement.
Siena places a hand on Mikhail’s. “Surely it’s not fair to try to separate two people in love?”
Mikhail glares at her. “I’m not convinced he truly loves her. He blackmailed her into having sex with him.”
Siena raises a brow and glances at me. “Is that true?”
I nod in response. “Yes, but—”
“No buts, it’s sick,” Mikhail says.
Siena shakes her head. “I’m not sure you are really the one to judge, considering the way our relationship came about.”
That piques my interest, as I always thought Siena wasn’t just some girl he met in a bar. “How did it come about?”
Mikhail shakes his head. “That’s a story for another day.”
Siena gives me an apologetic smile.
“So you are proposing to my sister Morales?” Mikhail asks, pinning him with his gaze.
Elias, to his credit, just returns it calmly. “Yes.”
My brother’s gaze moves to me. “And this is what you want?”
Is it what I want? Marrying Elias sure as hell beats any other alternative, which is marrying someone I hardly know. Nik Krushev and I have barely exchanged a few sentences in all the years we’ve attended the academy together. Crazily enough I know Elias far more than I know him, even if he’s been a total asshole to me the entire time.
“Yeah, I think so.”
Mikhail’s eyes narrow. “You don’t sound very convincing. If we do this, then there’s no going back.”
I glance at Elias and those ice-blue eyes are full of hope, which makes me wonder where the cruel and vindictive version of him went. “Yes, it is what I want,” I say.
“Fine.” He stands suddenly, putting us all on alert. “I believe your uncle is here, Elias. I’ll find him.”
His brow furrows. “Oh, shit.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“I may have forged a letter from my uncle to get out of the academy,” Elias says.