Page 80 of Fall into Savagery

He wanted to give whoever happened to be my future husband irrefutable proof that I was his ‘greatest treasure.’

Only, it didn’t come out as planned.

And it's one more thing he used against me.

One more thing for him to add to a very long list of things in which he considered me worthless. Perhaps that was why he had such a hard time finding me a husband.

Most women in my position would have married as soon as they turned eighteen. Angelo didn’t find Henry until I was twenty-two. And I knew why he picked Henry.

He was older than me—hell, I thought he was older than Angelo. And Henry didn’t have an empire to run. He didn’t care about an heir.

I didn’t know what it was that Henry did exactly, but I knew Angelo would have never picked someone he deemed potential competition over the Southern territory.

It wasn’t until Nikolay mentioned wanting kids with me that I fully comprehended my situation.

I would never have kids with them.

Never see my child with Mikhail’s eyes, Damien’s strength, or Nikolay’s smile.

And I wanted that so bad.

My eyes moved over Konstantin and Dmitry.

But looking at them now … it felt like … like it was okay that I couldn’t have children.

If God existed, then he gave me wonderful boys to love.

And I loved them so much.

I blinked and took them in once more. I could feel my lips curving upwards in a small smile.

It would be okay if it were just the six of us for the rest of my life.

I was content.

I was—

“Hello, princess. Ready to play?”

I jumped and looked back at Nikolay with wide eyes. Oh, God. I didn’t even hear him come in.

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I could only look at him helplessly.

His smile widened. Before I knew what was happening, I was being carried away from the bed. He kept the door open just a crack and walked away. I didn’t know where we were heading, and I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around his neck and took in his expression.

“Play?”

He laughed. “Is that what we’re doing now? Role-playing? You can play the innocent schoolgirl, sweetheart, not knowing what I’m talking about, and I’ll be the older, authoritative, sexy, and perverted teacher, yeah?”

I didn’t know if I should laugh or play along.

“Nikolay,” I said.

He let his eyes slowly move up and down my body, taking me in. “Baby, why are you dressed like this?”

“Like what?” I asked with a frown. I looked down at myself. I wasn’t dressed at night like I usually did, only because I was sleeping with the boys, but I didn’t think there was something wrong with how I dressed.

I had on a nightdress that flowed down past my knees. It made me feel like a fairytale princess, not that I would ever say that out loud, especially not to Nikolay. I blushed just thinking about his response.

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