Chapter 4

Nikolai:

“Get out,” I said.

Valeria looked at me as if she were weighing whether I meant it, and for a moment I expected her to argue; she had argued since she arrived, every sentence a blade. Instead she laughed, a small, bitter sound that held no humor.

“Gladly,” she answered.

She slid the ring back onto her finger, tightened the robe around her shoulders, and walked to the door with the same steady control she used for everything.

I didn’t move… I simply watched as she stepped out into the corridor without looking back. The door closed behind her with a soft final click, and the silence that followed felt heavier than the argument itself.

I crossed the room and picked up the glass I had abandoned. The whiskey burned down my throat and did nothing to dull the ache under my ribs. Her scent lingered in the curtains and on the air where she had stood, and every breath tasted of pine and smoke and something softer that made my jaw clench.

The door opened behind me. Viktor entered without knocking and closed it behind him. He stood a few feet away and watched me with the patience of a man who had seen me make the same choices and the same mistakes for years.

“You sent her away,” he said. “I passed her in the corridor,” he continued. “She looked furious. And the servants looked amongst themselves, wondering what had happened given the fact that she barely just entered your room.”

“Fury suits her, and if anyone thinks of questioning me, be sure to cut their tongues if you have to.” I said, looking at him over my shoulder.

Viktor gave a low laugh. “I am beginning to understand why fate chose her for you. It seems that she is going to be the one person who stand against you?”

“Careful, Viktor.” I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

His smile fell. “So, I can assume that the marriage was not consummated.”

“No, it wasn’t.” I said, glaring at him.

“Nikolai.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “The council is going to ask questions, and for her to carry your heir, you are going to need to sleep with her.”

My head snapped toward him. He watched me with the steady attention of a man who had carried my father from a room of grief. “You know that I am right. You are angry that she was chosen by fate, but if you chose to go through with the agreement of marrying her, you are going to need to play your part.”

I said nothing.

“I can see it on your face,” he went on. “You are becoming irritated, but…”

“You are becoming presumptuous,” I said, stopping him.

He shrugged. “I have known you since you were a child. Irritating you is one of the few privileges I have left. And I think that you know as much as I do what this means and the importance of it.”

I set the glass down. “My wolf was too close, and with her challenging me, I didn’t want things to end up going in an opposite direction that we can’t step back from.”

“And you still believe rejecting her solved the problem.” Viktor asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It broke the claim.” I said, shrugging, hating how angry my wolf was becoming.

“Did it?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

“Then why were you concerned about your wolf being too close?” Viktor asked.

I had no answer for him because I had none for myself.

Rejecting Valeria should have weakened the instinct. Instead, the bond sat beneath my skin like a wound that refused to close. Her scent still affected me, and her presence still pulled at something primitive. When she had been close enough that I could see the pulse beating beneath the skin of her neck, my wolf had wanted nothing except to take what fate claimed was ours.

Viktor exhaled. “This is exactly what I warned you about… you cannot continue pretending this is an ordinary arrangement.”

“It is a contract,” I said. “And I am not going to simply step back from it because my fate decided to play a funny game against me.”

“She is your mate.” He said, looking me in the eye.

“She is my wife,” I corrected. “And that is what she is going to be.”

My expression darkened. He ignored it. “You sent her away because you were afraid of marking her. Her being your wife does not change the reality of how dangerous this is going to be for the two of you, Nikolai.”

“I sent her away because I was in control.” I said angrily. “And I refuse to allow her to think that she is going to be the one to dictate this marriage.”

“You sent her away because you almost lost it.” He snapped.

The truth irritated me enough that I wanted him gone. Instead, I walked to the window and looked out. Snow covered the grounds beyond the estate walls. Guards moved along the perimeter. Lights burned across the lower buildings. Everything outside these walls was controlled, ordered, predictable.

Valeria Morozova had been inside my territory for less than a day and somehow nothing felt predictable anymore. “She will have separate rooms,” I said. “She will be staying in them.”

Viktor frowned. “Permanently? Have you lost your damn mind? The council expected…”

“I do not care what they expected.” I snapped. “Each household has their ways and this is going to be mine.”

“They will ask how you intend to produce an heir if you refuse to share a room with your wife.”

“I did not say I would never touch her.” I said, looking away from him. “But it is only going to happen when it is necessary.” His expression told me exactly what he thought of that plan. I ignored it. “She remains in the eastern wing. No one enters her rooms without permission unless security requires it.”

“And if she wants to leave the estate?” He asked, “what are the ground rules to that? I assume that you thought of that?”

“She is accompanied.” I said calmly. “She is going to be treated like any other Romanov wife, and I don’t give two fucks whether or not she likes it.”

Viktor’s mouth twitched. “She has known you less than a day, do you really think that this is going to be the right thing to do?”

“She is efficient,” I said. The admission surprised me as much as it surprised him. “And I expect her to be staying that way.”

He grew serious. “What happens when the council starts asking why there is no heir?”

“I will handle the council.” I said calmly. “As for her, she is going to fulfill her agreement. She came here because her family needed the money for their name to be restored, and she will play her own cards according to her own benefit of the deal…”

“And if your wolf disagrees?” Viktor asked the one question that I’ve been dreading.

“He will learn to fucking adapt…”

“Very well,” Viktor said, realizing that there was no talking me out of this. “For what it is worth, Nikolai, I don't think keeping her away is going to make any of this easier.”