Page 39 of Vows of Blood
“So? Both our families have a lot of enemies and I happen to be a very big target.”
“I’m telling you this was him. He lured us down there and he took a shot at you,” Pavel snarls. “He will pay for this.”
I blink at him. “What reason could he possibly have for doing this? Our alliance benefits him the most. It would be asinine of him to attack me.”
“I don’t know. But when I got there, I found this near your body.” He hands over a card. On it is writtenAbasso il rein red ink. ‘Down with the king’ in Italian.
I turn the card over in my hand. So… whoever did this was trying to send a message. If he got this close to put down the card, I wonder why he didn’t just finish the job.
“You don’t have to worry about anything,” Pavel went on. “I’ve told Father and we’re going to find whichever man from his camp did this.”
“Wait,” I tell Pavel. “You know if this was Pecora, then that will kill our alliance. It’ll mean war, Pavel.”
He scoffs. “So it will. But that’s not our fault, is it? He tried to kill you, Alex. No one tries to kill you and walks away from it clean. The one who did thiswillbe found. And then we will makePecora pay. All we’ve truly got is each other, big brother. No matter what happens.”
Pavel, when he gets like this, there’s no talking him out of it. His anger is like a runaway train sometimes. I hope Father will talk some sense into him about this whole thing once he’s had a chance to cool off.
Until then, however… At least Isabella will be happy that she doesn’t have to be married to me anymore.
Why does that make me sad? She’s been a pain in my ass this whole time. I should be happy to potentially be rid of her once and for all.
“I’m ready to go,” I tell him. “Take me home.”
I don’t saymuch to Pavel in the car on the way home. I just can’t seem to stop thinking about Isabella.
God, what iswrongwith me? That girl has driven me to distraction like no one has since… well, since Kira. I don’t really understand it either. She’s beautiful, certainly, but beautiful women come and go. I’ve never been very interested in just tits and ass. What does Isabella have that has me so drawn to her?
“How are you doing over there?” Pavel asks.
I glance over at him and I want to shrug, but the dulled pain in my shoulder prevents it. “I’m sore.”
He nods. “Thank God Dok was up when I called him. I don’t know what I would have done?—”
“It’s just a shoulder wound,” I say. “Dmitri gave you worse injuries when we were teenagers.”
He smirks and answers, “He wishes.” Another bit of silence falls between us, then he asks, “How are you and the alley cat doing?”
“Don’t call her that,” I say reflexively.
“Okay. How are you doing, though?”
I sigh. “As expected, I guess. She doesn’t want to be married to me and I don’t want to be married to her.”
“Well, yours will be the shortest marriage in our history soon. No need to worry about that. Once this war starts, she’ll be able to run back home to her traitorous father.”
I don’t respond to that, thinking it was better than what was on my mind. I feel his eyes on me.
“Alexei, you’re not worried about that, are you?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. I mean, you’re right. I should be happy that this farce might actually be over… but I’m not happy about it, surprisingly. I can’t stop thinking about her.”
He doesn’t say anything. I look over at him and see him frowning as he watches the road. “What are you saying?” he finally asks.
“I’m not saying anything. I’m… confused about her. We had only one night together to consummate this marriage and ever since, she’s been on my mind.” He opened his mouth to comment and I stopped him, already hearing the disparaging remarks about her whirring in his mind. “It’s not about the sex, Pavel.”
“How do you know? Add your four-year-long celibacy with a girl with that kind of experience?—”
“It’s still just sex. By that logic, I could be swayed by any of the escorts at one of my strip clubs. Good sex is like a good steak. You might crave more of it every once in a while, but it shouldn’t dominate your thoughts constantly.”
