Luka’s lip curled derisively as he thought again of his father's brother, and as always, a sense of shamed chagrin filled him at the thought that if only his father had been a better ruler, none of this would have happened.
But Yarek only followed where his older brother, the King led. While Luka hated to admit it about his own father, it was obvious the Tsar was power hungry.
It was only in the past three years, since Luka had taken charge of his own regiment, that he had understood just how much it cost the army to fulfil his father’s whims.
They had a slight advantage over Telluria for now, but their people were dying by the hundreds. Every dispatch from the front lines brought news of more and more wounded and killed. They were winning the war, but at what cost?
And still Uncle Yarek pressed for a more decisive victory, thinking somehow that the army wasn't doing enough.
Luka suppressed a low, angry growl as he shook his head, his hands fists on the armrests of his chair. What more did his uncle expect the army to do?
And if he expected his army to win the war for him, why was he disbanding Maya’s team? It made no sense.
Be that as it may…
“Where are you staying now?”
“I’m currently living at Rakhmonov. My brother has been kind enough to arrange for a lab there, but,” she shrugged uncomfortably, “you know my father.”
And Luka nodded, because he did know her father. He well remembered the Baron’s views on women’s place in the world.
It was close to what most of the nobles thought of their women, that they were pretty decorations made to fill their estates with children and run their households so that they didn’t have to think about it anymore.
“Well, you can stay with my mother until you make other arrangementsthi, I’m sure. I can write to her—”
“Queen Inessa was the one who suggested I stayhere,” Maya said quickly, interrupting him. She sighed, “If I stayed in Rakhmonov, my father would have—” She stops, hesitates.
“The Baron would have?” Luka shot her an annoyed glare, imagining a cut in her allowance, being forced to move to a smaller lab—
“My father would have forced me into an arranged marriage.”
“What?”
Luka shot to his feet, forgetting the pain of his shattered foot. Immediately, he stumbled, catching himself against his desk. He reached out for his cane, which tumbled to the ground as his grasping hand knocked it aside.
Maya had jumped closer as soon as he had stumbled, her hands tight on his as she stared down at him. Luka’s eyes slid closed, resignation warring with anger within himself. This was what he’d wanted to avoid. He hadn’t wanted Maya to look at him and see a damaged man, someone lesser than he had always been.
He looked up, expecting pity, scorn, maybe even sadness—
But Maya looked as stricken as he felt, and the horror on her face made him draw away from her and slump back into his chair.
“Please leave.” He couldn’t bear to see that look on her face anymore, to know that she looked at him and was remembering him as he was before, the Prince who had been happy and proud and whole.
“Luka—”
“Go!” He boomed; his voice overly loud in the hush that had fallen between them.
She retreated without another word, and he didn’t look back at her, even when he heard the door click shut behind him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Luka didn’t turn up for dinner that night, opting instead to stay in his study.
Maya slept restlessly that night, but she had no idea what to do. She didn’t know how to talk to Luka, what to say to him, now that she knew why he had pushed everyone away.
His wound was grievous, and Maya knew it would take Luka some time to come to grips with it. And of course, having her around was a reminder of the past, when he had been uninjured.
In the morning, she rose early and went walking around the estates. She’d never visited Kamenev before, and everything was new to her. This was where Luka had spent the off-season, when he was away from court. This was where he’d grown up, before she’d known him.
