My dark horse prince, p.22
My Dark Horse Prince, page 22
I don’t like her appraising look.
He probably is worth quite a lot, but I can’t sell him so it hardly matters. Kris is pinning his bizarre behavior on me, but I don’t even really own him. I suppose I don’t blame her—it’s not like she should have to make up lies to tell my pain-in-the-rear sister.
“Look,” I say. “I’ll explain everything in a minute. Let me get him cooled down and put away, and I’ll meet you in the old barn.”
“Can you handle that alone?” Adriana’s looking at Charlemagne sideways, and I know that look. It’s the one that says she thinks a horse needs a good lunging and a lot of tough-love training. “He doesn’t look very broke to me.”
“Nothing you ride is broke,” I say.
She shrugs. “That’s part of the job. You don’t want racers to be too broke, but you do want the show jumpers to listen to you. Right?” She looks at me with her face kind of squinched up.
“Just leave it be. I’ll see you at the apartment in five minutes.”
“If you say so,” she says. “But this can’t wait, so hurry.”
My pulse picks up. “Can’t wait?”
“It’s Mom,” she says. “We need to get her out of there. Today.”
I’m a little preoccupied as I walk Charlemagne around and around, and then ask him to turn into the old barn. I can’t help wondering what’s wrong with Mom. There’s no way it isn’t Mārtinš’s fault. It has to be.
I really ought to hose Grigoriy off, but maybe if I change him, he can just shower himself. I yank the saddle off and put it away quickly, and then I point at the stall he goes into before I change him. The latch doesn’t work right and he can open it, so he never argues about going in there.
Once I’ve shifted him, I waste no time telling him what I need. “I’ll give you extra time today,” I say.
The pants that hang over the side of the stall disappear, so at least I know he’ll be decent when he emerges.
“Can you shower while I’m gone? I’m not sure what’s wrong with my mom, but I can’t—”
“I’m coming.” His gaze is intent as he walks out of the stall.
“No way,” I say. “This is a weird family thing and—”
“Your stepdad beat you.” His words are curt, the vowels clipped, the tone abrupt. “I overheard Kris telling Aleks. There’s no way you’re dealing with him alone.”
I grit my teeth. “I won’t be alone. Adriana will be with me, and—”
“No.” He stares me down.
“You’re the last person I would take with me.” I cross my arms. “You know why.”
“Because if someone tries to hurt you, I’ll kill them.”
A chill runs down my spine. Because for most people, that would be a figure of speech.
For Grigoriy, it’s not.
“This is why I can’t be around you,” I say. “You don’t respect my boundaries or my rules.”
“Not when you’re in danger, no. I don’t.” He steps closer.
His pecs are glistening, and the muscles in his shoulders and arms bulge heavily. He may have pants on, but it’s not nearly enough.
I look at the ground. “You should get the rest of your clothes on.”
He grunts. “I need to shower first.” He steps closer still, his half-naked body so close that I can smell him. Sweat. Pine shavings. Man.
I can’t think when he’s this close, but this time, it’s different. It’s more like it was before. I no longer feel like I need to vomit. Now I feel. . .jittery and unsteady and hungry.
I hate it.
“What’s gotten into you?” I point with one hand. “Go shower, and we can talk when you’re done.”
He laughs. “How stupid do you think I am?” His hand wraps around my wrist and gently drags me closer. “You come with me into the room, and I’ll put on some clothes. How’s that for a compromise?”
“But you stink,” I lie. I mean, he smells sweaty and a bit like a horse, but then, so do I.
He snorts. “If I go shower, you’ll disappear, and I’ll be left wandering around like an idiot while you’re in danger.”
“Just let go.” I hate the note of pleading in my tone.
He drags me even closer, until the side of my body is touching his. As ripped as he was before, the month of non-stop training has only made the lines on his body even tighter, leaner, and larger.
“Whoa,” Adriana says from the entrance to the barn. “What happened that stallio—uh.” Her nervous giggle is new. “Who on earth is this?”
I drop my hand and stare at her in horror.
Grigoriy straightens. Honest-to-goodness, we’re caught standing in a barn, all sweaty, with his hand around my wrist, and he straightens and smiles. “Grigoriy Khilkov, Prince of Dolgovo.”
“I should have known,” Adriana says. “He’s gorgeous, he’s naked, and he’s insane.”
“Actually, only two of those three,” I say. “He really is a freaking prince. You should see his house. It’s actually a palace.”
Adriana blinks.
“So you think I’m gorgeous?” He’s no longer looking at my sister. He’s smiling down at me.
I spring away from him as if he might burn me.
But now my sister’s view of him is entirely unobscured.
“Why’s he wearing nothing but jeans?” she asks. “Not that I’m complaining.” Her appraising once-over is the dirtiest thing I’ve ever seen her do.
I ignore her, focusing on the idiotic prince in front of me. One thing at a time, after all. “Go change. Now.”
“I’m going with you,” he says.
“No,” I say. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Why’s a Russian Prince living in Kris’s barn?” Adriana asks.
As if he’s counting on her to keep me here, Grigoriy glares pointedly at Adriana, and then pivots and heads upstairs.
“It’s a long story,” I say. “But it turns out, her super hot fiancé Aleksandr is also a prince, and he has a few high maintenance friends.”
“Wow, well, you know that I never date, but if I was ever going to break my rule.” She whistles.
“Stop,” I say, terribly worried that he might be able to hear.
“I’m actually really proud of you.” She winks. “I thought you’d never date again. I mean, two or three dates a time or two in the ten years since Danils.” She grimaces. “And if you ever did find someone, I assumed he’d be weak. You know, someone you could boss around.” She chuckles. “Boy was I wrong.”
I march toward her, ready to strangle her if she doesn’t shut up. “Stop. We aren’t dating.”
She waves me off. “Fine. Fine. Look, I wasn’t kidding. I came after you here because we don’t have long.” She looks around a little distractedly. “But where did that big horse go?”
“I put him out in the pasture. Why don’t we have much time?”
“That was a short cool down.” She shrugs. “But listen, I have a big favor to ask.”
“I’m still broke,” I say. “And you can’t keep all that money Kristiana sent. You have to pay her back.”
Adriana cringes a bit. “Yeah, I mean, I definitely will. I can’t right now, precisely, but soon.”
“What happened to it?”
“That bast—”
“Never mind. I don’t actually want to know. Look, what’s up with Mom?”
“He made a mistake.” She smiles. A genuine smile. “And she wants to leave.”
I look her over, head-to-toe, searching for more information. He’s done nothing but make mistakes as far as I know, and she’s never left.
The shower kicks on, distracting me a bit. He must have the door open, or I wouldn’t be able to hear it.
“We should go,” I say. “You can explain the details on the way.” I grab her arm and head for the exit.
“No way.” Pulling on her is like pulling on a brick wall. Which is nuts, because she’s not very big. She can really set her feet, apparently.
“What?”
“I want that big, scary guy to come with us.”
“Why?” I shake my head. “That’s a mistake, believe me. He’s worse than Mā—” I can’t quite bring myself to say that. “But he’s worse than Danils. Trust me on this. We are not dating, and you do not want him to tag along.”
“But I do.” Adriana’s voice is small. “No one is worse than our stepdad, and I think your prince might intimidate him.”
“Why does Mom want to leave now?” I almost don’t want to know. When he beat me into jelly with the very lamp I tried to use to attack him, she defended him. She chose him over me. What on earth would make her leave him now? Out of the blue?
“He cheated on her,” Adriana says.
I didn’t think I could despise my mother more than I do. I mean, I also love her. She gave birth to me. She cared for me. She cleaned homes for me. She fed me and rocked me to sleep and sang to me. But she also picked the worst possible man to remarry, and then she chose him over her girls repeatedly. Even when he attacked us.
What kind of person does that?
But, then what? She’ll leave him because he cheated on her? Isn’t beating her so much worse than that?
I do not get it.
“I’m ready.” Grigoriy jogs down the stairs, until he hits the landing in the middle. Then he vaults the rail and drops the last three feet to the floor.
“Oh yes, he’s coming with us.” Adriana’s actually smiling at him. . .in a very flirty way.
That makes me want to puke again.
“No.” I glare at him. “We already talked about this. You will stay here.”
Adriana grabs his wrist just like he took mine. “He’s coming with me, then. You can stay here if you feel so strongly about it.”
Before I can even argue, she’s marching out the door, dragging Grigoriy with her. He could easily stop her, but he doesn’t. And when I catch his eye, he’s laughing.
Fine. You win this round, you jerk, but you will pay for it later.
“You need my truck?” Kris is dangling keys from one finger when I reach the front driveway of Liepašeta. “It might make things easier.”
“Wait, what things?” I ask.
“Your mom’s moving out of her place, right?” She looks practically giddy, which is probably how I’d feel if I weren’t too nervous to really hope for it.
Mom’s never even agreed to leave before, so it’s hard to imagine she’ll really go through with it. It’s likely to be a threat to bring the world’s nastiest guy running back to her.
I struggle to understand my mom. She’s like someone who wants a hairless cat as a pet. I don’t even begin to get it, but those people exist.
I take the keys, though. “Thanks.”
I climb into the driver’s seat of Kristiana’s truck, and there’s a bit of an awkward moment when both Grigoriy and Adriana head for the passenger side, but to my shock and horror, Adriana gives way with a smirk.
“No,” I say. “You can sit up front.”
“It’s fine,” Adriana says, climbing into the back seat and moving Kristiana’s piles of vet supplies and paperwork over to clear a spot to sit. “I was just surprised for a moment, that’s all.”
“I’d be happy to drive,” Grigoriy says, “but I don’t know where we’re going.”
“You’re along strictly for moral support,” I say. “You don’t need to drive, talk, or even come inside.”
Adriana laughs.
I glare at her before backing out and turning down the driveway. As we approach Mom and Mārtinš’s place, my hands grip the steering wheel tighter and tighter, and I realize that it’s not Grigoriy who’s making me uncomfortable. Somehow, after my experience with that horrible Russian mafia guy, I’m even more nervous about being anywhere Mārtinš might be.
“Don’t worry,” Grigoriy says. “No one can hurt you when I’m here.”
I ought to punch him. I definitely don’t want him along, and I don’t need his help. But at least he’s making me angry instead of sick to my stomach.
Is that progress?
Probably not the point right now.
When we arrive, I park, but even after Adriana hops out, I’m still gripping the steering wheel. “You can stay here,” Grigoriy says. “I can go inside and help move anything your mother wants.”
“She won’t want to take much,” I say. “But I doubt she’ll even come. I bet he shows up and begs her to forgive him. Then she’ll make a big production out of it, and he’ll ratchet it up a notch or two, and then she’ll decide to stay.”
“You said he’s horrible,” Grigoriy says. “Why would she stay?”
I turn on him. “What reason has she ever had to stay before? Did you think before you came into my life, it never occurred to me to tell her to leave him? This isn’t our first time trying to get her away.”
“But it’s her first time wanting to leave,” he says quietly. “I heard that much.”
“Because she thinks he’s cheating on her.” And suddenly I’m sobbing, my forehead leaning against the steering wheel, and big, ugly tears rolling down my face.
“She should have left him for you.” Grigoriy strokes the back of my head. “She’s a terrible mother, but she’s still your mother.”
“Hey.” I lift my head. “She’s not a terrible mother.”
He keeps stroking my head. “She’s not a terrible mother.”
“Actually, she is.” I sigh and drop my head back onto the steering wheel.
He keeps stroking my hair like nothing crazy is happening at all. “She’s a terrible mother.”
I laugh then, but it doesn’t sound happy at all. “I’m a crazy person.”
“You’re not crazy. You’re complex, and that’s one of the things I like the most about you.” He’s quiet for a moment, and then he continues. “My life hasn’t been simple, either. My parents died in front of me when I was sixteen, and I couldn’t save them. I had to learn how to master my magic and step into my role of ruling our people from my uncle, who wasn’t magical. Shortly after I felt like I had a handle on things, I was cursed and stuck in an uneasy sleep-that-wasn’t-sleep for more than a hundred years.”
“That’s nothing like my life.”
“But you understand that things can be very black and white.”
“Everyone understands that,” I say.
“At the same time.”
“That’s just grey.”
“Not quite, no. Your mom’s terrible, and she isn’t terrible. The world is good, and it isn’t good. The light is bright, and it also creates shadows. Dark only exists because light also does. You probably appreciate your leg more because it doesn’t work quite right. You understand the complexities and confusions of the world that most girls never will.”
Before I can reply, there’s a loud crash from somewhere inside the apartment. I don’t even think. My hand just yanks the handle open, and I’m rushing inside, my heart galloping at a dead sprint as my legs desperately try to catch up. Grigoriy reaches the door before me, and as I push it open, he takes my hand.
I know why, and I should pull away.
But I don’t.
“What was that?” I ask.
“Why is she here?” Mārtinš asks.
“My mother’s moving in with me,” I say. “Didn’t you hear?”
He frowns. “That was a misunderstanding. She’s decided to stay.”
My heart sinks even though I knew this would happen.
Only, behind him, Adriana’s still gathering up Mom’s things as if she doesn’t know it’s not happening. And then Mom’s head pops out from behind the back door. She looks. . .resolved.
“Where are you going?” Mārtinš asks. “I told you. I already went to the store.”
“I’m moving in with Mirdza,” she says, her chin lifted. “She needs help, since she just had surgery.”
“She ran in here without crutches or a brace,” Mārtinš says. “She’s clearly fine.”
“You’re supposed to pretend to believe them,” Grigoriy says. “It’s the only way for you to keep a scrap of pride.” He’s staring at Mārtinš like he’s a particularly vile bug.
“Who are you?” Mārtinš spits on the floor. The floor that, if my mom doesn’t come with us, she’ll have to mop up later.
“Does it matter?” Grigoriy asks. “I doubt we’ll have much to do with one another after today.”
Mārtinš straightens up, his brows drawing together. “You’re standing in the doorway of my place. Tell me your name.”
“I’m your step-daughter’s fiancé, if you must know. I’m Grigoriy Khilkov, Prince of Dolgovo.”
Mom gasps.
“That sounds just as cool the second time,” Adriana says. “Especially since now I know it’s actually true.”
“A filthy Russian,” Mārtinš says.
“Wait, he’s a prince?” Mom asks.
“I was more surprised by the fiancé part, honestly,” Adriana says. “My own sister didn’t even tell me.”
I don’t know how to respond to his ridiculous claim. He hasn’t said anything that stupid since the day after we first met. Although, he has spent most of his time since then with four hooves and no powers of speech.
“Mom, are you coming?” I ask, ignoring all of them. “I brought Kristiana’s truck.”
“No,” Mārtinš says. “She’s staying.”
Grigoriy steps closer, still clasping my hand in his. “You will sit down.” A blast of air punctuates his command, and my step-dad flies backward into his weathered armchair with a whump.
“What was that?” Mārtinš leaps to his feet. “What did you do?”
“He’s standing right by me,” I say. “What could he possibly have done?” I squeeze Grigoriy’s hand and shake my head slightly, in case he wasn’t sure what to do.
“I’m just here to make sure you stay polite and calm while we remove your wife from this miserable little apartment.” Grigoriy smiles. “Though, I must admit.” He drops his voice and shifts a little closer. “I’m secretly hoping that you do something very, very stupid. Ever since I found out how you damaged my Mirdza, I’ve been fantasizing most every night about beating you to death.” His smile’s terrifying.
