I scrambled over the low knee wall that separated the risers from the field of play. I tore across the dirt footing, desperate to get to Maksim, throwing my arms around his neck and jumping up against him, letting him take my weight. After I’d kissed him deeply, I met his eyes and asked, “What did you say to him? What made him turn like that?”
A grin lifted one corner of Maksim’s mouth, and he sighed deeply, the effort of the fight finally starting to register in his face. “I told him,” he said, “that his mother was a whore and that I’d heard rumors they didn’t know whether his father was the king of his lands or one of the many young soldiers that had tasted her pussy.”
My mouth dropped wide in shock. “Why would you say something like that?”
He laughed. “I had to do something to get him angry. I promised Aiden I’d kill the fucker.”
“Then why let him yield in the first place?”
“In front of all his people, he relinquished his claim on you and promised compensation to Nicolette. They’ll honor his word, or they’ll dishonor their whole kingdom.”
I couldn’t help myself. I kissed him deeply in front of everyone and I didn’t care. He’d planned that all along, hadn’t he? And he had won.
Just like he always did.
Hand in hand, Maksim and I stood before our parents, who towered above us on the royal platform. The king crossed his arms and shook his head at both of us, but addressed Maksim alone. “Don’t do this, son. You’re my heir, my only heir.”
Maksim gripped my hand harder and shook his head. “Bullshit. You had two heirs. Now you have one,” he said, and tipped his head at me.
The king glanced back and forth between the two of us, then let his eyes rest on me. “I suppose that’s true.”
“So, let this marriage between us unite my mother’s kingdom, my kingdom, and yours. Hers.”
The king sighed, still skeptical. Still scheming. My mother said something softly beside him and my stepfather glanced at her, nibbling his lip, thinking. For one instant, my mother glanced at me. And there, in her eyes, I saw the mother that I remembered. Her warmth, her kindness. It had been so long since I’d seen that side of her, I had almost forgotten it existed at all. But it was still there. The woman who had married my father was there, the woman who had given up her own simple life for something grander was there. In her eyes, I saw a flash of victory. If I was indeed the sole heir of Estana, then maybe all that she’d sacrificed for our comfort had been worth it, after all.
“You’ve got nothing to lose, father,” Maksim said, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me close. He placed a kiss on the top of my head—a long, possessive, savoring kiss, and an embrace that made me absolutely melt into him. He kept me close like that as he added, “Nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
My mother lifted her eyes to my stepfather, and he glanced down at her. And then, much to my absolute surprise, he smiled and gave a clear and approving nod.
Chapter 19
Maksim
A Month Later
It was our wedding day, and I started it by doing what I’d done damn near every morning since the first time I saw her: watching her get dressed, without her knowing that I was spying on her. But this time, she wasn’t putting on a dress that I had bought for her, or trying to hide her sexy femininity under boy britches and a cap. This time she was in white and lace, pearls and diamonds. This time she was in her wedding dress.
Though I fucking loved spying on her, I knew that when we were officially married, I’d actually get to be with her every time she changed. I’d make fucking sure of it. So, this might be the last time I got to watch her like this. And I decided it was high time to blow my cover. With one eye against the knot hole, I told her, “You look fucking beautiful.”
She froze, her eyes scanning the wall that I stood behind. My peep hole was a knot hole, immediately to the left of the long mirror. I’d never told her how it was that I kept an eye on her, and I knew it drove her fucking crazy that she hadn’t yet figured it out. Now, a smile crept up her cheeks and she whispered, “Finally!”
Squinting, she approached the wall. I couldn’t help but start to smile, too. Using her fingertips, she searched every panel and board. Finally, we were eye to eye, and she gave a happy little squeal. “Found you!”
“I couldn’t stay away.”