Page 83 of Shâhzâdeh

“Or me. I zhink zhey wouldn’t have minded finally getting rid of me.”

“Finally? You make this sound normal!”

His shoulders lifted unbothered as Dr. Davis wrapped up his arm. “A relative always gets a vild hair and tries to dispose of me. I’m used to it. But zhis time it is different. Zhis time zhey came after an innocent and I can’t allow zhat.”

“But why is anyone talking about getting married? If they want us to be apart wouldn’t they be happy if we just left each other alone?”

“The threat to you would still be there, Vanya. The need to rule out Xerxes from doubling back to you so to speak.” I knew Yacouba tried to make his words sound less terrible, but there was really no way for ‘they gone kill you girl’ to sound less bad. He tried, though. A for effort and all.

“So because they know you have an interest they would kill me even if you were to leave me alone.”

“Yes.”

“Holy fuck.” My hand went to my mouth because I shouldn’t have said that out loud.

“Priest, she sounds like Ny when she cusses.” Another man, as handsome as the rest of them with deep brown skin and long locs spoke up from where he stood with Quentin and Shoaib. This was Jada’s Smoke.

“It’s very precious, but fitting. This is a fuck of holy proportions. No disrespect intended,shâhzâdeh,calm down.” Jahmir rushed through that last part as Xerxes bristled on the bed at his language.

“Xerxes, please stop getting mad at people for how they normally speak. I want people to be comfortable around me and you’re making it hard for them to do that by being all growly.”

“We don’t mind, Van, it’s a respect thing. Your man wants to ensure everyone around you is giving you the ultimate respect. He’ll calm down about it. Probably sooner than you think.” Yacouba was grinning like he knew a secret I didn’t, but it wasn’t in the bad way. Like how my old family would look right before they ruined my life or killed one of my dreams.

Fingers on my hand directed my attention back toward the bed, and Xerxes pulled me closer to him. Dr. Davis was back standing and I was impressed at how quickly he worked.

“I might not understand all zhat I need to about your situation before, but I know it vasn’t ideal. I don’t vant zhat for you, especially not vith me.” Xerxes voice was low, being respectful of what he knew of my past even in a room full of people.

“What does that mean?” My eyes searched his silently begging him to be honest with me.

“I vould never vant zhis between us to be somezing zhat was zhrown togezer because of a zhreat. I can have a team of trained guards here to follow you around until zhey tire of zhis game.”

“Who knows how long that would last?”

“He’s trying to make you feel better, but they haven’t stopped their foolishness with him in thirty years.” I glanced up at Jahmir and he looked sympathetic to the position I was in.

“How would marriage change anything? That would just keep me around even more.”

“Because zhey can’t interfere with a covenant made wiz god. Despite zhe immoral vays my family behaves, zhey couldn’t keep coming afzer you zhe way zhey did today.” He still seemed reluctant to explain all of this, but I was happy he’d done it.

“That sounds crazy.”

“Everyone has zheir zhing, Vanya. Multiple wives might be acceptable—”

My head snapped back because that shit was not about to fly. “Multiple?!”

He rubbed the back of my hand as though to reassure me but I needed some words with the actions. “Zhere would never be anozer wife for me but you, ziba.”

“Would they leave you alone as well?”

“For long enough.” His answer was flip but the meaning was clear. Long enough until he handled them permanently.

“Even I understand what that means.”

His thumb was back caressing my hand and I felt myself lulled by his touch. “One zhing I will never do is force your hand. My friends are here and we are all united in ensuring zhat you are safe. Do not let zhe fear of idiots have you leaping into someting you are not sure of. But if you are open to the idea, I’m sure you know it vould be zhe greatest honor of my life if you agreed to be my vife. But zhe choice, ziba, is entirely yours.”

XERXES

THE MINUTE I heard Vanya’s panicked voice on the line I was up and out of my seat. I hadn’t given a damn about the meeting I was in the middle of or what money might be left on the table. My horses were the best anyone could get their hands on, and people who wanted the best knew they had to wait in line in order to receive it. Just like many luxury items, you worked on my time, not the other way around. I was always unapologetic about that, but even more so with Vanya. I offered no explanation because every second counted. We were up in the air and moving while I tried to keep Vanya calm.

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