Page 139 of Axel

“No.” Roman sags against his cross. “He treats him like a princess, not his prince. Not like we were raised. Our father is weak with age and disease. He dotes on his grandson. At least,” he exhales, “the last time I saw him.”

“What’s his name?” Mom clenches her teeth. “What is my grandson’s name?”

Roman looks at me, answering, “Lev. His name is Lev.”

“Lion,” I mutter, though my heart pounds. “Of course, he named himlion.”

“But how?” Ruby questions, “How did Katya find Axel?”

“I don’t know.” Roman tugs at his wrists. It strikes me how he barely speaks with an accent. “Just…” He yanks at his chains again. “I hate him as much as you do. Just let me sit down and explain.”

Mom looks at me, and I pull the gun from my backholster. “Wildfire,” I order her, “step back.” I keep my aim on him, not wanting Ruby near while my mom unfastens the buckles and leather straps restraining Roman.

“Sit.” She points to his bed, and limping with a bandage on the back of his thigh, he obeys.

“Tell us everything from the beginning,” The Queen demands, “or today is your last.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

RUBY

I can’t takemy eyes off Axel while tears spill from mine.

He has a son.

And he didn’t know about him.

God, it would break my heart into a million pieces if that happened to me. Of course, it’s a virtual impossibility for a woman. But for a man?

What a cruel punishment.

All Axel wants is marriage and kids. He’d be a great father.

But now, all I can see is his focused rage and pain, the muzzle of his gun aimed at his half-brother, while Roman explains, “My mom was your maid’s daughter.” He looks at Nadine. “Remember her?”

“Polina, my lady-in-waiting?” Nadine looks appalled. “Her little girl, Eva? She’s your mother? Oh my god, she’s too young.”

“She was,” Roman snarls. “She was fourteen, just as you were when you had Sergei.”

Sergei?

Oh, he meansSire, Axel’s oldest brother.

“I grew up hearing about you,” Roman continues. “All of you. You’re mythical back home. The six lion princes who escaped with their mother, the lioness. The mother who’d rather be free and die with her sons than live as Ruslan Kholodov’s captives. The queen who escaped with the love of her second king. You’re legends.”

“So what?” Axel fumes. “Our father sent you to kill us?”

Roman shrugs. “That’s how he raised me. American English. Martial arts. Tactical and weapons training. He tried to make me into hisboyevik.” Roman looks at me, translating. “His warrior, but he neglected one thing.”

Nadine nods. “How much you hated him, too.”

“For what he did to my mother?” Roman answers, “What he wouldn’t stop doing to her? Yes. Then, I got older, and fell in love with hisSovietnik’sdaughter and?—”

“What’s a Soviet Nick?” I ask.

“Like aconsigliere.” Axel glares at Roman, but answers me, “His advisor.”

“Oh my God.” Nadine shakes her head. “Viktor’s daughter? Katerina? I hadn’t seen her since she was a baby, but I see it now. She was Katya?”

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