Page 89 of Ice & Steel

“Well, that’s relative to what you consider actually dying,” he said. “I might have died, but the devil said fuck no, I’m not dealing with this asshole. So here I am.”

“Lucien, why are you joking at a time like this?” I whispered.

He patted the bed and I caught the weakness in the gesture. His coordination was off and that scared me down to my core. I’d never seen him so human.

I licked my lips and blinked hard. Swiping my face with the heel of my hand. He’d told me I was a woman made of steel once and I hadn’t believed him. But after everything that had happened, after everything he’d put me through, I was beginning to think he’d been right.

Maybe I was so much stronger than I’d ever been.

I sank onto the edge of the bed and slipped my hand beneath his warm, lean fingers. His blank stare fixed on me, so familiar, and it made my chest ache.

I’d been afraid of those eyes once.

Now they were everything.

“Thank you for not leaving me,” I managed, my voice shaking.

The rough pad of his thumb dragged across my knuckle. “I keep my promises. If I had to crawl out of hell on my hands and knees to make it back to my wife, I would. You deserve nothing less.”

“Oh,” I hiccuped. “Please, don’t talk like that.”

“Let’s talk about happier things,” he said agreeably. “How are our boys?”

I wiped my nose on the back of my hand. “Um…let’s see. Hugo is the same as usual, but he has more goats now. Cosimo thought it would be a good idea to get even more and he spends all his time with the horrible things. I guess we’re going to have to let him keep them.”

His mouth twitched. “I guess we will.”

I laughed weakly. “The twins are talking a lot more. Not real sentences, but it’s less…babble and more sounds that could be words.”

“And Marco?”

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “He’s not a boy anymore,” I whispered. “And I can see everything that’s happened in his eyes.”

My voice shook so badly I fell silent. Lucien’s fingers curled weakly around mine and gave them a reassuring squeeze. I exhaled slowly and took a moment to gather my thoughts.

“What is your plan, Lucien?” I asked.

His eyes flicked up to the ceiling as he thought it over. “I’m going to gather up the rest of Mezzesalma’s men and get rid of them, along with any other threats.”

“They’re already gone,” I said.

His brows flickered. “Did Duran order that?”

“I did.” I straightened my spine. Pushing my shoulders back. Tilting my chin up. “Not one single person responsible for what happened to you is getting let off the hook. Cosimo and Duran rounded everyone up because I ordered them to.”

His lips parted and the corner of his mouth twitched up. His head turned slowly. It was the most emotion I ever got in one expression from him.

“You’re my little queen,” he murmured. “Made of steel.”

“I’m not so little anymore,” I said.

“No,” he said thoughtfully. “You’re not.”

“I think I scared everyone a bit. I was very angry, Lucien.”

His grip tightened and he coughed, the sound rattling in his chest. I jumped up and he lifted his hand, but another cough made him hunch his shoulders. My stomach turned. The sound was wet, like his lungs were still saturated in river water.

“Let me call Sienna,” I said, running to the door.