Page 41 of Depraved Royals

This woman knows that I have rough edges. She knows I have it in me to be a really fucking bad guy - I killed for her last night. But she doesn’t just accept it.

She craves the darkness in me. It makes her brightness more vivid, just as she makes me relax and lean into the freak I want to be.

I used to haunt her nightmares. Now I’m the monster in her bed, not the monster under it, and I’ll slaughter anyone who so much as offends her from here on out.

16

Dani

It’s my birthday, and Kal has a surprise for me.

The first surprise is that my father is letting him take me out. There’s no pretense that Kal is on minder’s duties - he’s taking me on a date, and my Mama and Papa are allowing it.

An Antonov has permission to escort me, the youngest Pushkin daughter, out on the town. Scandalous.

Of course, my Papa knows nothing of Kal’s less-than-professional conduct. As bodyguards go, Kal makes Kevin Costner look like a eunuch. Whitney Houston would have found a whole new octave with my man’s methods…

IsKal my man? We haven’t put a name to it. But over the last few days, something changed.

We’re still snatching opportunities to get our freak on. But my door is locked at night, and I changed the passcode. I don’t want Kal to come to me when there’s a possibility of my father catching us because I’m not sure that he wouldn’t just blow Kal’s head off with the rifle he keeps under his bed.

I’m almost ready to go. I hear Mama downstairs, trying to convince Kal to eat some of my birthday cake. He’s insisting he doesn’t like sweet stuff, but my mother is having none of it, and Mel finds the whole thing hilarious. Her hooting laughter rings through the house.

My Papa is out. It’s one of the rare evenings when he has to deal with something himself, and I hate it.

We all get twitchy and scared, worrying Mama will get the call. The one to tell us Papa is dead at the hands of some double-crossing asshole. The fear is always there that someone will take Papa’s honor and trust, only to weaponize it and hurt him in some unspeakable way.

I put in my earrings, and I’m ready.

* * *

Kal gives a low whistle as I walk into the kitchen. Mel punches him in the arm.

“Mikhail, behave!” she says. “You look wonderful, Dani. Too good for the likes of him, that’s for sure.”

Kal rolls his eyes and takes my hand. “With that, I think we’ll get going,” he says. He grins at my mother. “So you’re sure Fyodor isn’t waiting by the gate, ready to shoot the tires as I drive by?”

“He wouldn’t do something like that,” Mama says mischievously. “He loves the Alfa and wouldn’t risk damaging it. He’d just kneecap you before you got in.”

Mel snorts into her drink, coughing as the liquid goes up her nose. I giggle as she wheezes with laughter.

Kal winces. “I hope you’re kidding, but I’m not sure enough. It’s worth the risk, though.”

He grins at me, and I grin back.

On the night of the Samhain Ball, I saw several facets of Kal Antonov.

There’s still more I don’t know about Kal, but I like him.

God help me. Ireallyfucking like him.

Icouldlove him. It seems possible.

When I met him, he was just a horny, sexy bastard. Then I discovered who he was, and I didn’t think he was capable of complexity. I couldn’t see him as anything more than a messed-up, malignant force of nature.

I was wrong. He’s more than that.

And he will bring the whole world to its knees before he sees me suffer. I’m safe with him. We all are.