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"We have all the time now. And maybe getting closer to Katya might help you." I throw the idea out and he immediately grimaces.

Daunted by facing the outside world and still getting used to freedom, Katya and Tiberius have been living at Vlad's underground compound for the past month. In the meantime, we'd been staying at Vlad's childhood home as I'd thought that fresh air and some open space would do him good.

Although I'm still not on speaking terms with my brother, Lina's assistance had been a blessing as she'd helped Katya and Tiberius accommodate to their new reality, while I'd been nursing Vlad back to health.

I'd visited them a few times, and they'd come down here often too. Vlad, though, has not been too open with his sister, barely exchanging any words, their meetings stiff and awkward.

I can't exactly blame him, though, as I know he harbors some type of guilt for what happened to her, but he can't continue like this forever.

"I'll try," he grumbles, the words barely audible.

"You better." I slap him playfully on the arm.

"Auch! Convalescent here, hell girl." He feigns a moan of pain.

"As if." I snort. "You weren't convalescent when you were trying to dig a hole in the garden. Couldn't you have asked someone to do it if it was so urgent?" I roll my eyes at him.

His reaction to pain is still the same—nonexistent. Although that makes me happy in this particular scenario as I can't imagine how much four bullets through the chest would hurt.

Truth is, Vlad's always been a very physically active person, and I can't imagine what being stuck on bed rest must be doing to him. Even so, I'm not about to endanger his health just because he's pouting at me.

"We need to get started soon, though," he complains.

After he'd come to, we'd had lengthy talks about our future and what we wanted to do next. We'd also had extremely difficult conversations about what we'd found at Miles' compound and how we were going to deal with that. But together, we'd decided to help the children we'd rescued from Miles' laboratories, and give them a new purpose in life.

"An academy?" I'd been surprised when Vlad had suggested the idea.

"They are all different. Be it by birth, or because of what was done to them. They don't know how to fit into society, and most of them have no one to turn to," he'd explained, managing to shock me with his thoughtfulness.

"We'd teach them how to adapt to the world, and we'd give them a purpose." His smile had widened, and I'd known it had to be something insane.

"An assassin academy," he'd proudly declared, making me blink in confusion.

"Think about it. They are already primed for killing. But this way, we can teach them a more ethical way of killing," he'd paused, probably realizing that doesn't exactly apply to him, "or at least some sort of honor system, so they don't become too dangerous. So they don't becomeme."

"That's not a bad idea," I'd replied. And the more I mulled over it, the more I realized the merits of the project.

"Instead of foisting some impossible standards on them like Miles had been doing, we'll foster their natural talents and make them the best damn assassins the world has ever seen."

The more he talked, the more I realized how enthusiastic he was at the prospect. And with his mental state so fragile, I knew this was the perfect thing to help him get out of his slump.

He'd have a goal, a mission. And so he wouldn't let himself succumb to the pain that is the truth of Vanya's death.

But while I'm actively supporting his new endeavor, that doesn't mean he can strain his barely healed body. He has plenty of people to work on that.

Another side effect of toppling down Miles' and Meester's business had been recruiting a lot of new people under Vlad's leadership. Most had also sought him out after news got out that he'd been the one to dispatch all the syndicate leaders, and many men had declared they wanted to work for the strongest, not the weakest.

It had been rather fortuitous, as we've recently put together the plans for the academy, and we'll needa lotof people to make Vlad's vision happen.

"I want things to go back to normal. I feel useless like this…" he groans, lifting his fingers to his temples and massaging them.

"I know," I sigh. "But Ineedyou to be healthy, Vlad. I can't have another scare like that one."

I still have nightmares of him being shot, blood pouring out of him…

I shake myself, knowing it's never helpful to dwell on that.

"You won't. I promise you." He takes my hand, tugging me toward him. "You're my one reason to get well, hell girl. So I will," he murmurs softly, his lips on my forehead as he trails small kisses all over my face. "Everything for you."