Page 76 of Crowned

“I’m so tired of running.”

“Then don’t run. One more journey, and you’ll be home.” He puts his lips against my ear. “What the four of us did the other day, we can do that in my house. My bed is bigger. We will treat you like our queen.”

I remember all the things they said to me while we were having sex. “You talk so dirty to your queen.”

His teasing smile grows heated. “That’s because she loves every word.”

I didn’t know that anything like this was possible. I remember the scared, miserable eighteen-year-old girl who hated being naked with her husband. Sex with these men is incredible.

“So, are you going to do as you’re told?” he murmurs.

I blink my lashes at him. “Who, me?”

Just because they’ve learned how to weaponize sex doesn’t mean I forgive everything they’ve done. My body might give in to them, but my heart does not.

“No? We’ll just have to keep fucking you like this until you’re our good girl all the time, not just when you’re full of cock.”

I lean my cheek against his chest, wishing we could stay.

Konstantin wraps his arms around me as if he’s sensing what I’m thinking. “I know you’re frightened, but this baby is strong. It belongs to one of us, after all. One of us and you. An unstoppable combination.”

“Even if the Vavilovs are looking for their son, they’re not looking for me,” I point out. “They won’t find us. Prague is a big city.”

Konstantin pulls away from me and shakes his head. “Not that big. I won’t take the risk with this baby, and you shouldn’t either.”

I search for the right path, wondering which way to turn in this forest filled with thorns. There’s light ahead, I can glimpse it, but I don’t know how to reach it.

Konstantin wraps a bathrobe around me before we head out into the lounge. I’m greeted by a disarmingly domestic tableau. Kirill is buttering slices of bread. Konstantin pours coffee into mugs while he talks to Elyah, who is on the floor by the sofa doing crunches.

Kirill passes me a bacon sandwich on a plate and licks butter from his thumb at the same time. I feel that lick right down to my toes.

Elyah moves his legs so I can sit down on the sofa. He gives me a smile while he continues to work out, his eyes gleaming.

“Working out is fun?” I ask him, amused.

“It is when I am looking at you,” he pants, still smiling.

I take a bite out of my sandwich and close my eyes. Damn, that’s good. Soft bread. Crispy, salty bacon.

Kirill perches on the arm of the sofa next to me while Konstantin makes himself comfortable in a kitchen chair opposite, a mug of steaming coffee in his hands.

They discuss matters “back home,” which I presume means London. I lose track of what they’re saying as I eat, staring at the yellow wooden crib in the corner with the animal mobile. So many times, I’ve imagined placing my baby down to sleep while leaning over that crib.

When I’ve finished, Elyah takes my empty plate from me and places it on the kitchen table. He cups my cheek, his expression filled with sympathy.

“I know you want to stay, but you need to come with us. We cannot protect you well enough here. That front door is weak. The window locks are not strong.”

“Not to mention we are all living on top of one another here,” Kirill points out, but there’s a gleam in his dark eyes like he doesn’t mind that part so much.

Konstantin gazes at me, his expression serious and his mind made up.

“Everything is sex and hormones now, but you could all turn back into the monsters you were last year,” I point out.

“We had very different goals last year,” Konstantin says. “That is not possible anymore.”

Sure, he’s probably not about to run another twisted pageant, but that doesn’t mean he’s father material. He still hasn’t said sorry, and I doubt he ever will.

“You’re still those men, and I remember what you did. You, hurting all those women,” I tell Konstantin. “You, forcing me to the brink of death,” I say, turning to Elyah. “And you, taking what isn’t yours,” I say to Kirill.

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