Page 62 of Jace
“Your mom? Doesn’t she live nearby?”
I nod. “She’s been right under your nose. She’s the owner of Elysium.”
Vivian jolts up beside me as I fall back onto the pillow. “Your mom is Nadine Faye! Talk about a living legend. A sex goddess. I’ve shot private shows at her club.”
“And I gag at the words ‘Mom’ and ‘sex goddess’ in the same breath.”
She laughs. “You know what I mean. Your mom is iconic.”
“My mom is actually Nadia Pavlovna Kholodova and Russian nobility.”
“Kholodova? Or Kholodov; that’s your last name, right?”
“Yes, it was Kholodov. But when a Russian woman marries, she takes her husband’s surname and adds anA. My father kidnapped her at fourteen and made her his child bride, and she took far more than his name. She took his hell for years. It’s another reason why I’m gonna kill him.”
Vivian blinks, taking it in. “Sounds like youallwent through hell.”
“We did. It’s one of the three rings that form our band of brothers.” She waits for me to explain. “We’re branded by ourfather’s abuse, bled like brothers together, and bonded as kings to our queens.”
“Queens?” I watch the wheels behind her eyes spin lightning fast. “Queens like Vale and Delphine. Ruby and Wren. Even Zar and… who am I missing?”
You.
“Alena. She’s Nash’s daughter and Loch’s soon-to-be queen.”
“Soon to be? Like married? And why the royal titles? Is that a Bratva thing?”
I exhale, dragging my hand down my face, flooded with worry and relief to finally tell her this. It can go two ways: it’ll either make her run or make her mine forever.
“Jace? Why do you look so worried?”
Vivian’s sitting cross-legged beside me. A wild mane of golden hair. Glowing bronze skin. Pink perky nipples. Spellbinding eyes.
Goddamn, she’s my lioness. My mate. My pride.
My territory to defend.
“The same reason you don’t want to tell me what’s on that video,” I divulge, “is the same reason I’m worried to tell you about the kings and queens.”
She clams up, rolling her lips.I knew it.She still fears I’ll judge her, so one of us has to do this first.
“When I told you about group sex, that I’ve had it too?” I watch her eyes. They don’t flinch. “It was with the kings and queens. It’s a ritual from our royal culture and our criminal past.”
She takes a deep breath, and I get it over with. “In our tradition, every queen takes two kings. One as her, orhis,partner forever: the one they love. And the other as her guard, her second king. Should something happen to her first king, her second king vows to defend her.”
“Takes?”
“Receives. Unites. Makes a vow. Bonds with.”
She lowers her brows. “You meanfucks.”
“That too.”
Again, with those beautiful spinning wheels in her eyes. Slowly, she nods. “Nash and Vale. You’re already…boundto them.”
Fuck, it’s scary how smart she is. How her mind is going past logic to assumptions.
I sit up beside her, taking her hand. “Viv, let me be clear. Nash and Vale love each other. So damn much, it’s powerful. Nash will kill anyone who hurts Vale; he already has. And she’ll annihilate anyone who threatens Nash; the poor fuckers. But?—”
