Page 104 of His Prince

But I’m too angry to laugh.

“You need to tell him. Before he leaves. His father goes tomorrow, and I overheard him saying that he’s going to leave once they’re gone. You have one chance, Mikhail. Don’t be dumb.”

I stare at her as she turns on her heel and leaves me alone, my stomach clenching almost painfully.

There’s no point in talking to him.

He doesn’t want this. I just need to let him go. It’s been two days of nothing—cold shoulders, averted eyes, and sleeping alone.

I know where I stand. He’s made his mind up about me.

I’m going to let him leave and I’ll continue about my life.

All of those stolen moments will be buried with me, with us. The end of who we could have been.

I sink to the bed and stare at the wall, my vision blurring.

It’s dusty in here. I’m going to have to get on Nina about doing a better job at cleaning up.

I sniff and school my face. I won’t let him see. Not when he’s leaving.

Leaving me.

I’m avoiding him, avoiding my feelings about all of it. I don’t even say goodbye to his father or Tatum as they leave the following afternoon, just wander into the forest surrounding my house and find myself at Georgiy’s home. A small house that abuts my estate, quaint and quiet, with a stone exterior and lush wildflowers surrounding the gardens. It’s peaceful out here, so wildly different from what happens in his basement.

A rustling in the trees outside the fence has me freezing, and I peer over, but I don’t see anything, dismissing it as an animal in the woods. But then again, I have been wrong before. I’ll have one of the guards go and check it.

“What are you doing, my friend?” Georgiy asks when he opens the door to me standing there. I glance around and meet his gaze.

“What’s on your face?” he asks, and I swipe at my cheeks.

“It was raining.”

He glances up at the clear blue sky and opens the door further.

“Hm, you better come in before you get wet.”

I step inside the cozy house, inhaling the scent of incense. Something to mask the smell of death, I’m sure. And yet, I’m not bothered by it. I have so much more I need to fear.

Katarina, her ghost, and my husband.

The one who wants to leave.

Georgiy gestures for me to take a seat on his couch, and I do, lowering myself onto it, the leather squeaking as I sit. He pulls a cigarette from his shirt pocket and hands it to me. I slide it between my lips and he lights it.

“Tell me,” he says.

I inhale deeply, the smoke billowing around my face as I let it all out. “You’ve not been around.”

“I’ve been avoiding the mole rat.”

I huff a laugh, inhaling again, the nicotine settling a craving deep inside of me.

“Where is he? He’s been absent.”

Georgiy lights up a cigarette too and leans back in his chair. “That’s for me to know and no one to find out.”

I eye him, and he glances away, unwilling to give me any details. Fine by me. Whatever Bane’s gotten himself into, he did it to himself. I’m sure he deserves it, either way.