THE QUEEN

“He? He who?” Nora asked.

Damon grasped Nora by the upper arm and yanked her off the floor so hard he nearly dislocated her shoulder.

“You get one guess.”

Nora knew but she didn’t want to know, didn’t want to guess, didn’t want to make it real.

“I’ll give you a hint. She’s already planning the honeymoon.”

“Oh, God,” Nora whispered, bringing her cuffed hands to her face. “What’s she going to do to him?”

“I think she’s going to leave that up to you.” He pulled her into the hall and dragged her toward some destination unknown.

“Up to me? What do you mean?”

Damon didn’t answer, he only laughed, and the laugh was so cold and evil she would have clawed his eyes out if she could.

He threw open the door to the library and Nora gasped at the sight before her.

Søren knelt on the floor in the middle of the library. Andrei stood at Søren’s back. And from the serene look on Søren’s face, one would think he was a pious man kneeling for his morning prayers instead of a man with a gun to the back of his head.

“Søren!” Nora wanted to scream his name but it came out hoarse and broken. He opened his eyes and looked at her and she saw nothing in the gaze but love.

She started to run to him but Damon held her struggling in his arms. Squirming and writhing, she desperately tried to wrench herself from his iron grasp.

“Eleanor, calm down,” Søren ordered. “Don’t give them any excuse to hurt you.”

Everything within her rebelled but she did as Søren told her and forced herself to stop struggling.

“Damon, you can let her go,” came Marie-Laure’s voice from behind them. “She’s not the one who matters anymore.”

She sensed Damon hesitating but he released her. As soon as his arms left her, Nora raced forward and dropped, almost skidding on her knees to get to Søren as fast as she could. She raised her hands to his face, kissed his lips, leaned into him and breathed in the scent of him—winter even in summer.

“You lunatic,” she whispered, caressing his face, his mouth, with her still-bound hands, “why are you smiling?”

He gazed at her with new eyes, with eyes of almost-innocent wonder.

“It’s good to see you again, Little One. I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. God, I missed you so much. You shouldn’t have come.”

“I had to.”

“He didn’t have to,” Marie-Laure said as she walked to them and started to circle them on the floor like a shark. “I would have killed you and then disappeared again. He loves you for whatever reason so I would have had all the vengeance I desired. But this...killing him? This is better.”

“You f**king b—”

“Eleanor, look at me,” Søren said, his voice calm but insistent. She did as he told her. There was no one else in the world she wanted to look at more, anyway.

She nodded and rested her head against his chest.

“You shouldn’t have come.” Nora wanted so badly to wrap her arms around him but the handcuffs held her wrists tight. “You should have let them kill me.”

“You know I couldn’t do that,” he chided. “I told you there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you.”

“Goddammit,” she said, resting her forehead briefly against the center of his chest before looking up at him. “Why do you love me so much, you stupid man?”

He smiled down at her.

“Because I met you.”

“This is all very sweet,” Marie-Laure said, still circling them. “But we do need to get this over with. I’m sick of this house, tired of this game. The boys are getting bored, too. They get restless when bored.”

“What do you want?” Nora asked. “We’ll give it to you. Money, apologies, firstborn children...anything.”

Marie-Laure stopped and gazed down at Nora.

“I want you to make a choice. It seems you have a pathological fear of making any definitive choices in your life. You flit from man to man and never completely commit to anyone. Once you make a decision, you don’t stick with it. You promised yourself to him,” she said, pointing at Søren, “and then you left him. You had another man in your life and you sent him away. Then you went back to my husband but you didn’t stay with him, either. Back and forth, back and forth. You make my head spin.”

“Imagine how I feel,” Nora said.

“I can’t. I can’t imagine you feel anything. If you did, you wouldn’t spend your entire life f**king men over.”

“Marie-Laure, that’s enough,” Søren said, giving her the barest glance before looking back at Nora again. “Your argument is with me and Kingsley. Eleanor was only a child when you and I married.”

“Oh, yes, defend her. The woman who spread for half the country while you stay locked up in your church praying for her soul.”

“I’ve never prayed for her soul,” Søren said. “Only for her happiness.”

“Doesn’t she look happy now?” Marie-Laure grabbed Nora by the chin and squeezed viciously hard before letting her go.

“I am happy,” Nora said, refusing to be cowed. “Of course I’m happy.”

“Why?” Marie-Laure asked.

Nora looked at Søren. “Because he’s here.”