Page 107 of His Forced Bride

"You're not eating," Yuri observes, taking the chair across from me when Rosa vacates it and gives us some privacy.

"I'm fine," I tell him, but I don't look up at him again.

I don't know why he even cares.

"You're many things, Inessa. Fine isn't one of them."

Rosa brings him coffee without being asked, then retreats to give us more privacy.

For a while the room is silent, the way it gets when someone doesn't know what to say.

Yuri and I both lost someone that day, yet he acts like Dominic's death isn't affecting him.

Or maybe he's taking out his grief by slaughtering the Kozlovs for what they did.

I wish I were that way—able to put into my fists and fury the deep void that burrowed its way into my heart that day.

But I'm not like him.

I'm not a killer and I'm not a violent person.

I think I could be if I had to be, but I don't want to be.

And just thinking like that makes me feel nauseous.

"I need air," I tell him, and I start to stand up, but he lays his hand over mine and I pause, relaxing back into the seat.

"The air here is real enough."

"You know what I mean," I grumble, relinquishing my will to fight him.

My heart aches in ways he may never understand because I'm not sure he's capable of true love the way I am.

Yuri leans back in his chair, studying me with those penetrating eyes.

"Tell me what you really want."

The direct question catches me off guard.

I set down my fork and meet his stare.

"I want to visit Alina. She's still in the hospital recovering, and I haven't seen her since…"

I let the sentence trail off as I think about it.

She was in the critical care unit when I visited the others.

I wasn't able to get to her.

Now I feel like a bad friend for not trying harder.

"No."

"She's my best friend. She nearly died because of the chaos surrounding our families. I owe her?—"

"You owe her nothing,milaya. Her injuries were unfortunate, but they weren't your fault."

Heat flares in my chest.