Page 69 of Maksym

“He all but accused me of harboring you. Of course, I told him that was preposterous and that he needed to be very careful about accusing his king.”

“We learned that he’ll try to have an out using donor consent fraud,” Remy said. “He has likely prepared paperwork for every human he holds.”

“Of course he has,” I said. “Men like Lucian do not keep cages without also keeping documents that say the cages are voluntary.”

Maksym’s face hardened.

I turned toward him fully. “If I stay hidden, I am a secret. Secrets are useful in investigations until they become liabilities. I am already a liability because he knows I exist. What he does not know is whether I reached you alive, whether I can speak, whether I remember enough to hurt him, and whether you have claimed me in a way that raises the cost of touching me.”

Maksym’s gaze sharpened. “Claimed.”

I sighed. “Do not get distracted by vocabulary.”

“I am focused.”

“You are absolutely not focused. Your mate bond has opinions about the word claimed, and I can feel them from here.”

Remy put a hand over her mouth.

Taras turned slightly toward the fire, which fooled no one.

Maksym stared at me for a long second. Then something dry moved through his expression and vanished. “Continue.”

I pointed at him. “That. Do that. Less brooding. More listening.”

Remy lost the battle and laughed under her breath.

“Grace,” Maksym said, voice low.

I felt the warning in it. Not anger. Something closer to the strain of a man whose self-control was being asked to perform in public while the universe kicked it in the ribs.

“If I appear publicly,” I said, “under Kozlov protection, preferably in a setting where Lucian’s peers and enemies are forced to observe the fact of me, then he has a different problem. He cannot quietly retrieve me. He cannot accuse you of kidnapping me without inviting inquiry into why he had me. He cannot move openly without challenging the Western Crown, your father’s law, and whatever political equilibrium keeps monsters from eating one another in the streets.”

Remy nodded slowly. “She is right.”

“I usually am,” I said, and then realized I had said it exactly as I used to say it to younger AUSAs who came into my office with half-built theories and too much confidence.

The familiarity hurt. Just for a second. Then it steadied me.

Remy leaned forward, her bracelets whispering softly at her wrists. “There are protocols. If you are presented as his mate, no vampire with sense touches you without understanding it as a strike against Maksym directly. If you are presented as a witness under crown protection, Council law comes into play. If you are presented as both—”

“Then Lucian has to decide whether his appetite is worth declaring war on multiple fronts,” I finished.

“Exactly.”

Taras’s mouth tightened. “He may still decide yes.”

“Then we make sure he decides in front of witnesses,” I said.

Maksym’s eyes remained on mine.

I hated how much I liked that he was not trying to soften the facts for me.

“There is risk,” he said.

“There is always risk.”

“This risk is yours.”