Page 161 of Onyx Cage: Volume II

Being a parent was a subject I had always been staunchly neutral on, if not slightly averse to. Until I met her.

Now it filled me with an unanticipated sort of hope, a life where I could carve out a small space of peace and normality with the only person who had ever given me either of those things.

She wasn’t wrong about the danger, but just as I would destroy anyone who threatened her safety, I would likewise slowly eviscerate the first person to look askance at her child.Ourchild. To say nothing of the savagery I had witnessed from her.

“Well,” I reasoned aloud, “we’ve never shied away from a challenge before. As long as we wait until things are in order here, I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

And even if, for some reason, we didn’t wait, our children would be safe. We would both make sure of it.

She melted into me, the tension leaving her body ostensibly enough to bely how important my response had been. She had rarely weighed in on the concept of motherhood, but I could see that it mattered to her now, that she wanted our family to grow as much as I was beginning to realize I did.

I took a breath, forcing myself to give her one last reassurance.

“I won’t pretend to know anything about having a real family, Lemmikki, but never doubt that I want that with you, in whatever capacity you are willing. If you wanted our family to stay a family of two, that would be all right.” If not more disappointing than I might have previously understood. “But if you want to be like your parents and have a whole brood, we can do that, too.”

She laughed, squeezing her hand over mine. “Let’s just start with one, once things calm down. Or two,” she added thoughtfully. “Since twins run in the family.”

Der’mo. Two children at once with her mischievous smirk and endless penchant for recklessness? “Storms help us all if we have two of you.”

“Oh, but two ofyouwould be a picnic?” She jabbed her elbow into my abdomen, which I only raised an eyebrow at.

Then she leaned back against the pillow, her expression shadowing behind her eyes.

I didn’t have to ask why. It was easy to imagine what kind of future we might have when we were tucked away in the relative safety of our suites. But we both knew that wasn’t our lives. At least, not right now.

Not with my father and Iiro endlessly poised to destroy everything that mattered to me.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

We were one of the last couples to enter the dining hall. The less time my wife was forced to endure the presence of my father and Ava, the better. Especially since, though she was trying, her ability to put her dainty foot in her mouth on any given occasion wasn’t something I wanted to risk more than we needed to. Not tonight.

Each table was filled with courtiers and high-ranking soldiers, strategically placed far enough from my father to miss his dinner conversation. Every one of them stopped to stare at Rowan as we swept through the room.

She more than looked the part of the Clan Wife tonight. Her gown was a deep shade of black, the crushed velvet somehow drawing all the light from the room and hiding it in the folds of her skirt. Lace sleeves connected to a modest neckline where a large tear-shaped diamond dripped from a delicate silver chain.

Her riotous curls were braided and smoothed to perfection, tucked beneath a simple silk ribbon.

Everything about her was regal, cut from the finest glass; from her gown to her hardened expression to her poised countenance, all of it said that she belonged here. To me.

The closer we drew to my father’s table, the more he beamed.

“My dear,” he said, standing and staring at my wife in a way that made me want to reach for the dagger stashed in my boot.

Ava blanched as he gestured to her chair in invitation. When his gaze landed on his own wife, a woman who, in her prime, couldn't have held a candle to my lemmikki, his expression twisted. His brow furrowed and the corners of his mouth turned downward.

Shaking away the cobwebs of confusion, he met my gaze once again. His mind hadn’t yet caught up to reality, and he gestured toward Rowan.

“Konstantin. Have you met my new bride?” he asked, though his tone was less confident than it had been before.

I blinked slowly, my eyes sliding between my wife and the woman I hated more than anyone else in this world.

“I have not.” I forced the words past my lips.

Playing the role of his long-dead brother was something I had grown used to through the years, but that was before any part of his consciousness felt ownership over the woman at my side.

Still, I inclined my head to my wife, who did the same in return as if we were just meeting for the first time.

Ava cleared her throat, pulling my father’s attention back to her chair once again. He sat down a moment later, his expression hardening into something much more serious.