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“It’s far too dangerous,” Aleks says. “No way.”

“But I’ll be there,” Alexei says.

“Which is meaningless without Adriana,” Aleks says. “You won’t be able to do a thing.”

“But it could draw them out,” Grigoriy says. “And sitting around, waiting for them to attack, is even worse.”

“I can keep Kris safe,” Aleks says.

“What about when you have children?” Mirdza’s voice is small, nervous. “Will you keep them all inside all the time? Never let them leave your warded estate?”

I stand up again. “I can’t really speak to whether it’s a good plan or not,” I say. “But this isn’t my war. I’m not trying to be a jerk, but I’ve already been a captive once. I don’t want anything to do with it from here on out.” It’s above my paygrade, for sure.

I square my shoulders and walk out the door, around the corner, and down the hall to my room. I refuse to change my mind or let guilt creep in. What I said is true. I’ve already been caught, starved, tortured, and threatened. I’ve had to run for my life twice, and this isn’t something that really impacts me.

It doesn’t even impact Mirdza. No one wants to capture or kill her.

At least, not now that they failed in forcing her to lure Kris out.

I care about Kris, of course I do, but as Aleks said, he can keep her safe. Whether they choose to risk her now isn’t my problem. I didn’t create Leonid. I didn’t ask for them to be cursed. It has nothing to do with me, and unlike my mother, I do know how to walk away from things that threaten my life.

Only, as I’m changing into pajamas I borrowed from Kris—I didn’t even think of buying any today—something keeps bugging me. That clothespin. The magical horse. The terrible plan I concocted that actually worked. It shouldn’t have worked.

I should have died.

And I promised God to do three good things. So far, I haven’t really done anything. I even failed at advising Alexei on polos. At the very least I should help friends who are specifically asking me. I don’t really have a risky role. Sure, Leonid knows who I am, but he never wanted me.

Kris is offering herself up as bait—on her wedding day.

All I have to do is hold Alexei’s hand. Is that really so bad?

That’s when the truth stares me in the face. I’m afraid to do that, because I’m worried my resolve will crumble. The dressing room today. The time he showed me his powers.

Thinking of his hand on mine still makes me tremble, hours later.

I believe that those three lunatics in there, those magical stallion shifters, can protect us. I believe that they’re the light to Leonid’s darkness. I’m just not sure whether, if I keep seeing Alexei Romanov every single day, touching him, sitting next to him while he gives me anything he thinks I want. . .

I’m not sure I can continue to resist him.

And I know I need to.

After Martinš, after my dad’s death, and after watching what Danils did to Mirdza, I know better than anyone that most guys are not Aleksandrs. Most guys aren’t Grigoriys, either.

Most guys are trash, and I don’t want that. I can’t risk it.

Maybe the scariest thing of all is that, even if Alexei is one of the good ones, there’s no way I’m a good match for that. The kind of person I am, the kind of life I’ve led, I’d be lucky to score a Danils. There’s no way a truly good guy—the only one I’d want—would like me for very long. Once he truly got to know me, he’d split, and I wouldn’t even blame him.

So Alexei is right out.

But for once in my life, I need to do the selfless thing. I need to be brave in a way I never am. I need to support the only two people in this world I really trust. I pulled an Adriana in there, and it’s time to eat a little crow and try to make it right.

I snatch the robe Kris left hanging off the back of my chair and wrap it around her ridiculous silk pajamas and knot the tie around my waist, and then I head back to the dining room.

Only, no one’s there.

I pad in little circles all around the house, and I don’t see any of them anywhere. The stranger thing is that there aren’t any support staff out and about either. Did they all go home? How did we go from the five of them all eating and chatting to no sound or people anywhere?

Then it hits me.