Page 33 of Ivory Oath

“According to Dr. Hamilton, I already am.” Her mouth is turned into a small smile, but it’s thin. She’s watching me closely.

“You can wear these.” I hand her the clothes. “If you want to take a bath first, I can help you?—”

“I’m fine,” she says far too quickly. Viviana clutches my clothes to her chest like she’s already naked and trying to shield herself.

“If you get in the tub, I want to be there. I’m not going to let you drown.”

“I’ve taken plenty of baths by myself. I’m not going to drown. I can take care of myself.”

“But you don’t have to.” It all comes out more intensely than I mean it to, so I blow out a breath and try to smooth things over. “I’m here. We’re both here now. I can help you.”

“I’m here for Dante.” She chews on the corner of her mouth. “I just—I can’t jump back into the way things were before, Mikhail.”

“This isn’t like things were before. Before, you were locked in your bedroom. That’s why I brought you to my room. There’s still a chain on your door and no one has been in to clean it since Stella—I didn’t want to put you back in there.”

As far as arguments go, this point might go to Viviana. Mentioning the lock I had installed on her bedroom door probably won’t work in my favor.

The purple circles under her eyes look even darker in the dim light of my bedroom. She’s exhausted and we shouldn’t be having this conversation now. I know that. I should wait.

I grind my teeth together. “I want things to be different. We lied and we fucked each other over. But we’re done with that now.”

“We both want to be done with it, but I’m not sure if we know how.” She sighs and tightens her arms around herself. “It’s been a long couple days. I need some time to sleep. We both need time to think.”

I don’t need to think about any of this, I roar inside my head. I know what I want.

“Take all the time you need,” I tell her coldly. “But just know: if you choose to leave, Dante is staying with me.”

Before the hurt can settle fully on her face, I turn and leave.

14

MIKHAIL

“Okay, so the reunion didn’t go exactly the way you imagined. So what?”

I raise my face out of my hands just long enough to glare at my brother. “My wife won’t even touch me. She looked at me like… like I was?—”

“Like you were Trofim?” Anatoly offers.

I snarl at him, but only because he’s right. “She’s treating me like I’m the bad guy here, but without me, she’d be married to my brother right now. Actually, without me, she would have been married to Trofim six fucking years ago.”

“True,” Anatoly agrees. “Then again, you’re also the only reason she was almost forced to marry him this second time. If you hadn’t kicked her out of the mansion, Trofim wouldn’t have kidnapped her.”

“I still saved her.”

He wrinkles his nose. “Yeah, but it’s kind of like asking for an award for putting out a fire you started.”

“I didn’t start shit,” I growl. “If she hadn’t lied to me about stabbing Trofim, then I wouldn’t have kicked her out.”

It’s so much more complicated than that, but I’m not in the mood for nuance. I want Viviana and she wants time. Nothing else penetrates.

Anatoly flops back on the sofa, but I can’t stop pacing. I’m surprised there aren’t tracks worn into the carpet by this point.

“I rescued her,” I repeat. “I risked my life to break into her father’s house and interrogate him. Then I broke into the safehouse where Trofim was keeping her without any fucking clue what was happening inside.”

“Raoul mentioned it was well-guarded.”

“Because it was! I took out three guards on my own. Raoul and his team cleared out ten more, at least. They’re still getting rid of the bodies. We could have died, but she needs time to think.” I snort derisively. “Think about what? Everyone in her life has fucking tossed her under the bus, but I’m here trying to take care of her.”

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