Page 120 of Jace
With that news, she turns her tender focus to Vivian. “My dear, is this true? You’re ready to be his queen?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Vivian softly squeezes my hand. “And I want to do it soon. Jace has waited long enough.”
“And I’ll proudly vow to be her second king,” Nick proclaims. But Mom furrows her brows, never agreeing to anything coercive, so Nick clarifies. “Zar will initiate Vivian as my proxy.”
Zar’s quick to add, “With your permission, our Queen, of course.”
“What isproxy?”
Sasha’s so cute with her language questions. I introduced her to Vivian when we arrived, and they’re already thick as thieves.
Vivian smiles warmly at her. “Proxy means to act for someone. So Zar will act for Nick and um…initiateme.”
Sasha nods. “This is fuck, right?”
Nick snorts, and Mom interjects, “Please stop listening to your brothers. Their brains hang between their legs. An initiation is more than sex. It is sacred.”
“She meanssacredsex,” Zar whispers conspiratorially to Sasha,
“You have a death wish,” Nick murmurs to his husband.
They make Sasha stifle her giggle. Vivian as well.
But I’m determined. “Please, our Queen, do you agree? Can Zar act as Nick’s proxy for Vivian’s initiation, and can we do it soon?”
“Next week,” Vivian blurts out before she turns to me, blushing. “Before Aunt Flo comes.”
Sasha’s brows fly up, excited for Vivian. “Your aunt is coming?”
Nick can’t resist. “Yes, her Aunt Flo is flying here on Red Wings Airlines.”
Nick makes me laugh, Zar too, while Mom is not amused, Vivian is pink faced, but Sasha is pissed, sensing a joke she can’t understand.
Jumping to her feet, she points at us. “I love my brothers, but joke me, and I jerk your dick!”
Vivian reaches over, softly grabbing Sasha’s hand. “No, don’t say, ‘Jerk your dick,’ not to your brothers. Say, ‘Punch your dick’ or better, ‘Shoot your dicks.’”
Sasha lifts her dainty chin. “I shoot dicks.”
“That’s my daughter.” Mom’s proud, and so am I.
Sasha has survived hell.
She reminds me of a Russian-cut rose. Like her, they bloom later and more vibrantly. Prized for their resilience. Sasha is beautiful too. With dark hair and aqua eyes like her twin, Loch, she doesn’t share his size. Guess Loch stole it from her in the womb, but it’s obvious Sasha got most of the strength.
She needed it to survive Sheremetev.
And he’ll need it when she gets her revenge.
“‘Aunt Flo’ means I’m going to bleed.” And Vivian shows her all about grace. “To menstruate. To get my period.” She doesn’t want Sasha to feel foolish while learning a new language. “And ‘red wings’ means a woman is bleeding. It is all slang. Understand?”
Sasha nods, plopping down beside Vivian, while I notice Vivian suddenly flinch with a scared look in her eyes.
I open my mouth to ask her what’s wrong, but Nick takes control. “We’re sorry, Sasha. Women proudly bleed every month, and good men, like your brothers, respect it. And…”—he grins—“we love you, and are sorry we’re fucking idiots.”
“Agreed and settled.” Mom slaps her palm on the desk again. “I’ll make the calls. In one week, we complete the circle. We get our final queen and you…” She points her French manicured fingertip at me. “You need a ritual to be sure this is what your queen wants.”
Wants?
