Page 67 of Regal Queen

I pulled in a breath. “How?”

“I want you to call Nero.”

I stilled, blinking in confusion. “What does he have to do with you and me?”

“I need to save my sister, and the only way I can do that is for you to call him.”

“Why?”

“If you call him, will he betray us to Dimitri?”

“Probably.” My chest was tightening again with the thought. I hated that about him. He was only living up to everything he ever told me, but the truth of his words were a hard pill to swallow. He really didn’t care about me or Coulter.

It was crushing to know that the person who gave you life would also just as easily take it away.

“Do you think you could face him? For me?”

I nodded my head. “If you ask me to do it, I will.”

She bit down on her lower lip, chewing on it, formulating her next thoughts. “When Dimitri comes, I want to be here. I want to look into his eyes when he dies.”

“I will be the one to pull the trigger.” She opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off. “We will do it together. When he comes, you and I will fight him together. And you will look him in the eyes as I do it.”

She snapped her mouth shut, her gaze penetrating and piercing, searching me for the truth of my statement.

I wrapped my hand around the nape of her neck, digging my fingers in tight. “I swear to you, Rose. You will watch the life drain from his eyes.”

She exhaled a breath, and I knew that she believed me. “Okay.”

My breath caught and a thrill of warmth flowed through me. “Does this mean you’ll come back to me? That you want me in your life?”

She didn’t answer me.

"Rose I…” I prepared myself to grovel, "I need you to know that I would do anything in my power to keep you safe. Protected. Even if it meant throwing myself in front of you to stop a line of bullets." I licked my suddenly dry lips, “And even more, I want you to be happy. To have anything and everything you could ever want. I want everything for you. So, tell me, what do you want to be happy? Tell me what it is, and I will give it to you."

She took in a deep, even breath. "Even if I ask you to never speak to me again?"

Oh, god. An anvil landed on my chest. I couldn't breathe. I forced myself to nod. To croak out the words that I hated but that I needed to say. “Yes."

Her eyes lightened and she leaned into me, burrowing her face into my chest. I surrounded her with my arms, holding her, clinging to her, hoping that she wasn’t about to crush me.

"Do you love me?" She didn't look at me as she said it, and I rested my chin on top of her head, curling my fingers into her hair.

"I think I've always loved you, Rose. You are my achilles heel. And that's dangerous to a man like me."

“Maybe for the moment.” She peeked up at me and a smile spread across her face. It was so beautiful. I wanted to see it every day.

She looked so perfect there, her body tucked into my embrace like God himself had created her to be there.

My thumb slid up to her lips to part them and a flash of her tongue flicked out, brushing against it.

This woman. She made me fucking weak in the knees.

“If I want to walk away after we save my sister, you will let me go. Without question or hesitation. You will help me without asking for my heart in return.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because if I give myself over to you, I want it to be because I love you, not because I owe you.” At the word, ‘love’, my heart pounded and my breath hitched. Even the word from her lips was like manna to my starving soul.

---