Page 96 of Crowned

“I won’t. And I can’t.”

I thought telling me such a tale might have shaken something loose inside him, but even now he is utterly without remorse. “Why?”

He smiles at me, his sleek, winning smile. “Because the pageant brought me you, Lilia.”

In a cage in his cellar, I relived the worst moments of my life with Dad in terrifying detail. Then I got up and busted out of there. I did that. I’ve proved what kind of woman I am to the only person who matters.

Me.

My hand is resting on my belly, and I realize how broken down I’ve felt ever since my miscarriage. I’ve always wanted a baby, and what a strange and twisted path led me here. “What you said about wanting the strongest, the most beautiful wife in the world, totally obedient to you. Is that still what you want?”

He gazes at me, amused. “Yes, where is my glass of whiskey?”

“Are you going to order me to bring it to you from now on?”

“Malyshka, if you did, I would hand you a gun, open my shirt, and ask you to put me out of my misery.”

“Because you’d know that I was about to assassinate you like Oksana tried to do?”

He caresses my jaw with his large, warm hand. “No, because I would want to die knowing that my provoking, disobedient Lilia was no more.” He shakes his head ruefully. “I’m such a fucking idiot.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.”

I suck in a startled breath. “You’re an idiot for loving me?”

“I’m an idiot for thinking that I wouldn’t fall in love with you.”

I stare at him, shock and—I don’t want to believe it—pleasure rolling through me. “I thought love was off the table.”

“So did I.”

I won’t let my heart be moved by this demon of a man.

Iwon’t.

Too late.

I get to my feet, which takes some effort with this huge belly, and stare out the window at the thick, sinuous river. “You held the pageant on a lake. You make your home by a river. Strange, for a man who nearly drowned.”

“I want everything that could kill me close to me at all times. Right where I can see it. Including you.”

I turn to look at him, sitting on the floor with one long leg out in front of him and the other bent at the knee. “Do I frighten you?”

He smiles, revealing those pointed canines. “You terrify me,malyshka. I never want to let you go.”

“I’m not going to do what I’m told. I’m not going to be the sort of wife you just described to me.”

“Sometimes you will be,” he murmurs, his gaze roving over me. “When the mood takes you.”

Heat ripples between us, and I play along because playing with Konstantin is one of the best things I’ve ever known. I examine my nails. “If I say I want your heart on a platter, maybe I mean it literally.”

Konstantin stands up, lifts me in his arms, and carries me out of the nursery. “I know how to make you stop talking back.”

I wrap my arms around his neck. “I doubt it.”

He carries me to my bedroom where Elyah is laying on my bed, frowning at a paperback. A crime novel in English. He’s been working harder on his vocabulary, and gory thrillers seem to be his thing.

---