With This Ring

Only a few days ago he had looked so virile and indestructible, now he looked so pale and unwell.

His feet were wrapped in bandages as well as various parts of his arms and chest. Thankfully, he only had a few cuts on his face which had been stitched up, but everywhere I looked some part of his flesh was purple with bruises.

He had been hurt way too badly and it made my very soul ache. I sat on the chair by his side, and the tears began to roll silently down my cheeks.

I wanted to touch him, but there was hardly any place that did not look sore and hurting. I was worried that it might cause him some sort of discomfort. Eventually, I rested my head on the edge of his bed and softy laid my hand on top of his.

I thought of all the times we had spent with each other thus far, the arguments, the misunderstandings, the fights, all the bad blood, the twisted history, and in the end here we were. None of that mattered any longer. He was my heart. The reason I woke in the morning. The reason I breathed. I never wanted to let him go. I wanted Maxim ferociously. I wanted to care for him… bear his children. Grow old with him.

I wiped the tears from my face and wondered at the force of my emotion for him. How and when had he snuck his way this deeply into my heart? I could have sworn that I had been on guard.

Suddenly, I felt a slight movement on my palm and almost jumped out of my skin. I realized that it could have been Maxim just stirring, but with hope bursting out of my chest, I lifted my head to study him. My heart nearly fell out of my chest as I breathlessly watched his eyelids flutter and open.

He looked at me and I remained stuck and frozen in position.

And then he opened his mouth to speak. His tone was low and weak, but I watched his lips and heard every word.

“Why are you crying?” he asked.

I quickly shook my head. “I’m not crying,” I sobbed. “I’m really not.”

“I don’t want to see you cry,” he murmured, and stretched his hand towards me.

Instantly, I leaned into his touch and his bandaged hand wiped the moisture from my cheek.

I shut my eyes and basked in the pure bliss of his touch and presence, and then I lifted my gaze to stare into his eyes.

“Thanks for being here,” he said, and all I could do was smile.

“I will be fine,” he said and I nodded heartily in response.

“You don’t have a choice,” I said. “You have to recover and quickly, so I can beat you up for being so reckless.”

He smiled. “I love you, Freya Federov. My one regret while they were torturing my body was I didn’t tell you that.”

I began to howl with happiness. At the sound Levan and his guards rushed in.

“Get out,” Maxim said, his voice stronger than it had been.

Levan had tears of joy in his eyes as he ushered his men out.

“Maybe you don’t love me yet, but you will. I’ll make you fall in love with me if it’s the last thing I do.”

I leaned down and kissed his mouth. Our kiss tasted strange, of the chemicals they had given him, but I didn’t care. When I raised my head, I looked deeply into his eyes. “I’m so in love with you, I thought I would die when I saw that photo of you on the ground with a knife in your body.”

He grinned. “Was that all it took? If you had told me earlier I would have stuck a knife in myself.”

“That’s not funny, Maxim,” I complained. “You don’t know what it’s like to love someone the way I love you.”

“Are you trying to pretend you love me more than I love you?”

“Are you trying to start a fight?”

He started to laugh and then had to stop for the pain. He looked into my eyes. “Can you just be a bit clingy for once?”

“You want me to be clingy?” I asked incredulously

“I like clingy from you.”

I smiled. “You have no idea what you just signed up for.”

“I know exactly what I’ve signed up for and I can’t wait to start my life with you, my darling heart.”

“Neither can I, Maxim Ivankov. Neither can I.”

Epilogue

Six Weeks Later

Freya

I was looking for Maxim.

The store was a flurry of activity and excitement, but more than half an hour had passed since he said he would be here. I knew he had a meeting afterwards, but he had promised to make the time to stop by for my store’s launch. Maybe he got held up. Never mind, I told myself. It was not important. There will be many other launches we will celebrate together.