Page 159 of The Wrong Monster

“No.”

“Vasily. Go to bed.”

“I will.”

I look down at my daughter again. Her tiny fingers curl around mine. For most of my life, sleep meant putting down my guard and trusting someone else to protect what belonged to me.

Now I wake twice every night willingly, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I tell Timur.

“I’m going to hold you to that. Nine a.m., how about I give you some time to sleep in?”

I hang up, still smiling. Then I kiss my daughter’s head and carry her upstairs to Matilda, who is rummaging around in the walk-in.

I settle Eloise on her back in the bassinet beside our bed, ease my hand out from beneath her, and wait until she stops stirring.

My life has never been quieter. It has never been better.

The door opens, and Matilda slips into the room. She looks at Eloise first, content in the bassinet, then at me.

“Still staring?”

“I’m allowed.”

She smiles and comes over, brushing a kiss against my cheek before looking down at the baby.

“How was Timur?”

“Worried.”

“About the empire?”

“About himself.”

She laughs softly. We talk for another few minutes, mostly about the wedding. The invitations. The guest list. All the details that somehow keep multiplying. My thumb brushes over and over her bare knee, just where the hem of the towel she’s wrapped in starts.

“I sent Emma and Ruslan their invitations,” she says quietly.

“After I called Emma,” she adds. “I told her I was sorry for how I treated her and Ruslan. I didn’t ask her to pretend it hadn’t happened. I just wanted her to hear it from me before an invitation arrived.”

I look at her, trying to gauge how she feels with the mix of emotions that comes when she talks about her family.

“Good.”

“They haven’t responded.”

“They will.”

She nods, but I can see the uncertainty in her eyes. “It’s been a long time.”

“I know.” I reach for her hand. “It will be fine, Zvezda.”

She squeezes my fingers. “I hope so.”

“You owned what you did. Give her time to decide what she wants next.”

Her shoulders relax slightly. Then she looks down at Eloise. Her gaze slowly returns to me.