Page 108 of Kingmakers, Graduation

Ilsa doesn’t like that phrasing one bit. Her eyes narrow and she sets her cake back down on her plate without taking a bite.

As we all set our plates aside, Neve says, “If you’d like, I’ve reserved the suite for your use tonight. There will be fireworks over the Moskva—you’ll have a perfect view.”

I would never stay in a room overnight after a normal business meeting—especially not with this much cash on me. But I’ve known the Markovs all my life. I consider us friends as well as allies.

Besides, Sabrina has no poker face—I can see how this idea excites her. If only so we can fuck as loud as we want without the Wolfpack overhearing.

“Spasibo,”I say. “That’s very generous.”

“I’ll send the staff for the dishes,” Neve says, shaking our hands in farewell. I see Simon’s diamond glittering on her finger, bigger than one of our pills.

“We should go for lunch together,” Sabrina says to Ilsa. “If either of us ever takes a day off.”

“I’d love that,” Ilsa says.

I think it’s the only sentence she’s spoken the whole meeting. Sabrina is going to have to meet Ilsa one-on-one if she wants to actually talk to her, because it’s pretty clear Ilsa despises her sister’s fiancé and isn’t going to say shit when he’s around.

In a reverse of our entrance, Neve, Ilsa, and Simon depart, leaving Sabrina and me alone in the suite.

“What should we do?” I ask Sabrina.

She bites the edge of her lip, looking me up and down.

“I can think of a few things …”

Several hours later,we’re laying on the bed in the dark. The only light comes through the large windows overlooking the river. The clouds have cleared away enough that I can see the flat disk of the moon, cold and silvery, looking down upon its twin rippling in the dark water below.

I hear a faint popping sound. A small flare shoots up into the air, then bursts into thick purple sparks, like a chrysanthemum blooming in the sky. It’s followed by a dozen more flares. Our window erupts in color.

The fireworks glisten on Sabrina’s naked body. They tint her skin in brilliant bursts of blue, gold, silver, and green. The sparks reflect in hereyes.

“I got you something,” I tell her.

She sits up on one elbow, her sheaf of black hair tumbling down, trailing across the rumpled sheets.

“What is it?” she asks, eager as a child.

I take a flat box from my coat pocket, opening it to her view.

The diamond collar is colorless as ice, but it glows like flame as another firework erupts.

Sabrina’s mouth falls open.

She stretches out a hand, stopping just short of the glittering jewels. Afraid to even touch it.

“Put it on,” I say.

She turns obediently, lifting her hair off the nape of her neck.

I drape the diamonds around her throat, fastening the clasp behind her.

Sabrina slips her feet back into her shoes, abandoned next to the bed. She stands in front of the window, naked except for her heels and the diamond collar. A firework detonates above her left shoulder, drenching her in a shower of silver light.

She’s so fucking beautiful.

I can’t breathe. I can’t speak. All I can do is stare.

I wish I could capture this moment and freeze it forever in time.

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