Page 36 of Love Is A Draw (Check Mates #2)

V ictor stood apart from the others near the edge of the dock, where the wind smelled of salt and coal and change. His posture held rigid, but his hands trembled. He hadn’t dared move.

Dmitry’s gaze found him—and held. The years melted away in that moment, and Victor was the boy before his master again.

Yes, I lost at the tournament. I kissed your granddaughter. And let her fall from a hot air balloon.

Greg gave a subtle nod and turned away, granting them space.

Victor moved into it, slow and deliberate, as though every inch carried the weight of a lifetime.

When he reached Dmitry, he bowed—not from obligation, but because he couldn’t stand tall before him, not yet. “ Gospodin .” Sir.

“You share the Black Knight title, I hear.” Dmitry folded his hands before him.

So he knew, and with his mind, he’d put the pieces together. There was nowhere for Victor to hide and nothing to hold back anymore.

Victor drew a breath. His voice, when it came, was rough.

“There’s something I have to say. Not just as your student.

As the man who’s loved her… longer than he should have.

” He lifted his shining eyes. “I didn’t know her name at first. Only that she sat on the other side of a wall and played like fire and thunder and grace.

At seventeen, I listened to the way she moved the pieces, and I fell in love with her mind before I met her. ”

His voice broke.

Dmitry didn’t look away.

“I’ve loved her through walls and tournaments, through countries and silences. I never dared ask for her hand because I thought I had to win first. That I had to prove something, but she’s the one who wins, always. She plays not for glory—but for those she loves.”

Victor’s hands fisted at his sides. “I would give her everything. All I am. Not because she needs it—but because I do.”

A long silence stretched between them.

Dmitry’s eyes softened. “Victor and Victoria, the winners. Did you know that’s what the name meant in Latin?”

Victor nodded.

“Why do you think I kept you apart?” Dmitry asked.

Victor blinked.

“I knew,” Dmitry said quietly. “Not at first, but as you grew. As she did. I saw how your minds moved. I needed you both to become who you were meant to be separately. I feared that if I let you reach for each other too soon, you’d mirror each other instead of sharpening one another. Competition too early dulls the mind.”

Victor couldn’t speak.

“But she was always going to find you,” Dmitry added. “She was always the better strategist. And I made sure you both read the Chessman’s Chronicles .”

Victor’s breath caught.

Dmitry came closer and, for the first time, rested a hand on Victor’s shoulder. “You already play like family. Make it official.”

Victor’s eyes burned. He bowed his head again. Not just to a master. But to a grandfather. Family. “I will never leave her. Not again.”

“Good,” Dmitry said. “Because if you do, you will answer to me.”

Victor let out a breathless laugh—and then Gail was there. Watching. Waiting.

Dmitry turned to her, extended his hand, and she took it with a smile that trembled on her lips.

Victor offered his arm. She accepted it. And in that quiet space between sea and sky, with the fog lifting like a curtain, Gail and Victor stood side by side—seen, chosen, and loved.

At last.