Page 121 of Peasants and Kings
I swiped my tongue across my dry lips. “Someone tried to kill you. I don’t know what you—”
“I meant after that,” Hadrian said as he shook his head. “When I promised you the world. What the hell did you think that meant? That I would just get tired of you one day?”
My eyes dropped to the sand.
“No. You look at me. I need you to look at me, so I know you’re listening.”
I reluctantly returned my gaze to his.
“I will not abandon you,” he stated fiercely. “I will not leave you to the mercy of your family or the Foscari. You are mine to protect. Do you hear me, Sterling? I really need you to understand how deeply I mean it.”
The burden of my secret suddenly lifted from my shoulders, and I bent my head and sobbed. I couldn’t stop the tears of relief. Relief that I wasn’t alone, that I’d finally found a man who wasn’t just strong enough to shelter me from the oncoming storm, but whochoseme.
Like I’d chosen him.
Hadrian stood and brushed the sand from his trousers. Then he reached down to grasp my hand, hauling me up into his firm embrace. Apparently that wasn’t enough for him, because he lifted me into his arms and carried me toward his home.
I rested my cheek against his chest, the wool sweater warm under my skin.
“Ingrid made meat pies. Are you hungry?” he asked.
“How can you think about food at a time like this? I just told you who I really am, and you’re sweeping it away like it’s nothing.”
He paused for a moment. “Is it surprising who you are? Of course, but in spite of what I’ve shared with you, you don’t know everything about what it is I actually do for a living. Your family…are known to me. I’ve done business with them for years.”
I lifted my head and peered at him in disbelief. “What?You have?”
We arrived at the stairs that led us back into his home. He set me down and then took my hand again as we made our ascent. “Come on. We’ll finish this conversation in a minute. I need something to drink.”
Once we were in the kitchen, I immediately went to the stove and put on the kettle for tea.
I leaned against the counter, trying to support myself with weak legs. “So, you do business with my family?”
“Aye,” he said.
“Whatkindof business?” I demanded.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
I looked at the tea kettle as I waited for it to boil. “My mother ran from the Foscari, but she made it clear that she was also running from her own family. She told me that I couldn’t go to them for help, that it would be dangerous for me.”
“You didn’t go to them for help,” he reminded me. “You came tomefor help. And I can handle your family. You have to trust me.”
I nodded absently. A part of me hated that I had handed over my problems to Hadrian. The other more rational part of me was glad that he was willing to deal with it on my behalf. My mother had fled because there hadn’t been a way out of her predicament. Maybe turning to Hadrian, confiding in him, was the right decision to end the nightmare once and for all.
I momentarily pushed thoughts of my family away to address another matter that had yet to be settled between us.
“Hadrian?”
“Aye?”
“What am I going to do about The Rex?”
“What about The Rex?” His phone buzzed in his pocket. Hadrian pulled it out, read a text, and then typed out a reply.
“I became a Rex girl. I signed on the proverbial dotted line for a year.”
“You’re not a Rex girl anymore.” He set his phone down on the counter and gave me his attention again. “It’s already been handled.”
