Lena
The first thing I feel isn’t the pain. It’s the cold.
It’s a hollow, ringing chill that starts at my fingertips and rushes inward, turning my blood to slush.
The grand ceiling of the council chamber is spinning, a blurred mosaic of gold leaf and ancient wood that feels like it’s falling toward me.
I try to breathe, but my lungs feel like they’ve been filled with wet sand.
The voice is a roar. It vibrates through the floorboards and into my spine, more a force of nature than a human sound. I feel hands on me, huge, trembling hands that snatch me up. Razvan. I can’t see his face clearly, just the dark smudge of his hair and the frantic, terrifying glint of his eyes.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Zayka. Stay with me. Look at me!”
I try. I really do. I want to tell him I’m okay, but when I open my mouth, only a soft, wet wheeze comes out.
I look down and see his hands pressed against my side.
The white of his cuffs is gone, replaced by a deep, pulsing crimson that looks black under the chandelier light.
It’s my blood. It’s everywhere. It’s soaking into his shirt, coating his rings, dripping onto the floor.
The room starts to fragment.
Flash. I’m moving. The world is a series of strobe lights and shouting. I see the council members backing away like ghosts. I see Dmitri’s face, pale and tight, as he barks orders into a radio.
Flash. The hallway. The ceiling tiles are a blur of white.
I feel the rhythmic jolt of a gurney, but I’m not on it.
I’m still in his arms. He won’t put me down.
The medics are hovering, their hands reaching for me, but Razvan is a wall of muscle and fury.
He’s snarling at them, a wounded animal protecting its mate.
“Put her down, Pakhan! We need to move!”
“I am not leaving her!” he bellows.
The air smells like iron and antiseptic.
I feel a sharp prick in my arm, then the cold starts to turn into a heavy, velvet darkness.
The last thing I see before the world vanishes is Razvan’s face.
He looks undone. Not the Pakhan. Not the monster.
Just a man whose soul is leaking through his fingers.
“Don’t go,” he whispers, his forehead dropping against mine for a split second. “Don’t you dare leave me, Lena.”
The light goes out.
The darkness is long. It’s a quiet, empty place where the pain can’t find me. But eventually, the world starts to pull me back.
It starts with a sound. A rhythmic, annoying beep-beep-beep.
It’s steady. Constant. I try to move my hand, but it feels like it’s made of lead.
My side throbs, a dull, heavy ache that reminds me I’m still tethered to a body.
I force my eyelids open, and the dim, blue light of a hospital room spills in.
I’m not alone.
Razvan is here. He isn’t sitting in a chair.
He’s perched on the edge of the bed, leaning forward so far his chest is almost touching my arm.
He looks terrible. He hasn’t changed his clothes.
The black suit jacket is gone, and his white shirt is a map of dried, brown bloodstains.
His hair is a mess, standing up in jagged peaks where he’s clearly been running his hands through it.
He’s holding my hand.
It’s not the possessive, crushing grip I’ve grown used to.
It’s light. His fingers are laced through mine, his thumb tracing small, slow circles over my knuckles.
He’s staring at our joined hands with an intensity that makes my throat tighten.
He’s not performing. There’s no audience here, no council to impress.
He’s just a man holding onto the only thing that matters.
“Razvan,” I croak. My voice sounds like I’ve been swallowing glass.
He flinches, his head snapping up so fast I hear his neck crack. The look in his eyes…I’ve never seen it before. It’s raw. It’s wide-open and bleeding. For a second, he just stares at me, his chest heaving as if he’s forgotten how to breathe.
“Lena,” he whispers. He doesn’t move at first, as if he’s afraid I’m a hallucination. Then, he leans down and presses his forehead against the back of my hand. I feel a hot, wet drop hit my skin.
The Great Pakhan is crying. He reaches out with his free hand, his fingers trembling as he brushes a stray hair away from my forehead. His touch is so soft, so tentative.
“I saw the knife,” I say, the words coming out in a slow, painful crawl. “I couldn’t let him… I couldn’t let him take you.”
He looks up, his eyes bloodshot and haunted. “You saved me,” he says, the realization sounding like a confession. “After everything I did to you. After the dungeon…the threats…you stepped in front of a blade for me. Why?”
I look at him, really look at him. I see the scars on his knuckles and the devastating love he’s been trying to hide. I think of Theo calling him Dad.
“Because you’re my family, Razvan,” I whisper. “And we don’t let family stand alone.”
He closes his eyes, a broken sound escaping his throat. Before he can respond, the heavy door to the room creaks open. Dmitri and Lyosha step inside. Both of them look exhausted, their suits rumpled and their faces grim.
Dmitri clears his throat, holding a tablet. “Razvan. The council is losing their minds. The other families have been waiting at the estate for six hours. They need orders. They need to know the Pakhan is still in control.”
Razvan doesn’t even look at them. He doesn’t let go of my hand. “Let them wait,” he growls, his voice low and dangerous.
“They’ve been waiting since yesterday, boss,” Lyosha adds, a small, tired smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth as he looks at me.
“He hasn’t moved an inch, Lena. We tried to bring him food, but he threatened to break Dmitri’s arm if he touched the door handle again.
He hasn’t even let the nurses in to check his own shoulder. ”
“Shut up,” Razvan snaps, though there’s no real heat in it. His grip on my hand tightens just a fraction.
“He told us the world could burn down for all he cared as long as you opened your eyes,” Dmitri says, ignoring Razvan’s glare. He looks at me with a nod of genuine respect. “It’s good to see you awake, Lena. Maybe now he’ll finally let the doctor look at that graze on his arm.”
“Out,” Razvan rumbles, his eyes finally flicking toward them. “Both of you. Now.”
Lyosha chuckles, shaking his head. “He’s a romantic when he’s terrified. Who knew?”
The two of them slip out of the room, leaving us in the quiet blue light again. Razvan settles back into the chair, but he doesn’t let go of my hand. He pulls it up and rests it on his chest, right over his heart. I can feel the rhythm of it—strong, steady, and entirely mine.
“Is it true?” I ask softly. “You haven’t left?”
He looks down, a faint trace of color hitting his cheekbones. “I couldn’t. Every time I thought about standing up, I felt like the floor was going to open up. I needed to hear your heart beating, Lena. I needed to know I hadn’t lost the only good thing I ever found.”
I see it then. The change in him. He isn’t playing the part of the brooding king anymore. He’s just my husband.
“Theo?” I ask after a moment.
“He’s safe,” Razvan says quickly. “He’s at the secondary estate with Lyosha’s best men. He thinks you’re just sleeping. He wants to show you a drawing he made of ‘The Queen.’”
I smile, though it hurts my side. “The Queen?”
“His words,” Razvan says. He reaches for a cup of water, holding the straw to my lips with a steady hand. He watches me drink, his eyes never leaving mine. Every movement is deliberate, focused entirely on me.
“I’m going to take you home,” he says, his voice low and solemn. “Not to a cage. We’re going to bury the ghosts, Lena. Mike, your father, they’ll have their peace. And Viktor…he will never hurt anyone again.”
“I saw what you did to him,” I say.
“He deserved worse,” Razvan growls, his eyes darkening for a split second before the softness returns. “But he is gone. From now on, it’s just us. I’m going to spend the rest of my life earning that look you gave me before you fell.”
“You already are,” I whisper.
I feel the exhaustion creeping back in. But the fear is gone. Razvan is here. He’s the shield now.
He notices my eyes drooping and leans in, kissing my knuckles one more time. “Sleep, zayka. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise?”
“On my soul,” he says.
I close my eyes, lulled by the steady beat of his heart under my palm. The debt is paid. The lie is dead. And as I drift back into a peaceful sleep, I know that for the first time in five years, we are finally awake.