Page 107 of His Forced Bride
"You're not eating," Yuri observes, taking the chair across from me when Rosa vacates it and gives us some privacy.
"I'm fine," I tell him, but I don't look up at him again.
I don't know why he even cares.
"You're many things, Inessa. Fine isn't one of them."
Rosa brings him coffee without being asked, then retreats to give us more privacy.
For a while the room is silent, the way it gets when someone doesn't know what to say.
Yuri and I both lost someone that day, yet he acts like Dominic's death isn't affecting him.
Or maybe he's taking out his grief by slaughtering the Kozlovs for what they did.
I wish I were that way—able to put into my fists and fury the deep void that burrowed its way into my heart that day.
But I'm not like him.
I'm not a killer and I'm not a violent person.
I think I could be if I had to be, but I don't want to be.
And just thinking like that makes me feel nauseous.
"I need air," I tell him, and I start to stand up, but he lays his hand over mine and I pause, relaxing back into the seat.
"The air here is real enough."
"You know what I mean," I grumble, relinquishing my will to fight him.
My heart aches in ways he may never understand because I'm not sure he's capable of true love the way I am.
Yuri leans back in his chair, studying me with those penetrating eyes.
"Tell me what you really want."
The direct question catches me off guard.
I set down my fork and meet his stare.
"I want to visit Alina. She's still in the hospital recovering, and I haven't seen her since…"
I let the sentence trail off as I think about it.
She was in the critical care unit when I visited the others.
I wasn't able to get to her.
Now I feel like a bad friend for not trying harder.
"No."
"She's my best friend. She nearly died because of the chaos surrounding our families. I owe her?—"
"You owe her nothing,milaya. Her injuries were unfortunate, but they weren't your fault."
Heat flares in my chest.
