Bonus epilogue

The Strategist - five years later

  Trigger warnings: Talk of infertility, orgasm control, painful biting, degradation, begging

“Daddy?”

I face my daughter who is tugging at my sleeve eyes wide with wonder.

“Yeah, baby?”

“What does it mean when a boy says a girl has a good head?” Masha asks, her voice so pure and innocent, she has no idea what she really said right now.

But I nearly choke. What the fuck? How does my four-year-old ask me things like that?

Rina chuckles in the corner of the bathroom, braiding Alexija’s hair. I glare at her while lifting my eyebrows in question simultaneously. She shrugs innocently but I know she’s the culprit.

“Why do you want to know?” I ask preparing her toothbrush.

“Mommy put on a song while we danced today, and he sang that. Mommy said it’s a compliment.”

My little traitor of a wife. She is so going to pay for that. I press my lips into a fine line and grind my teeth together until my jaw hurts.

“Because it is, baby,” I grit out. “He probably thinks she’s really smart.”

Rina laughs securing the hair tie around the braid and lifting Alexija onto her lap.

Oh, she is such a little coward using our daughter as a human shield!

“I am really smart, aren’t I?” Alexija asks and grins from ear to ear.

“Yes, you are. But for the love of God, no one is going to use that compliment in this household.”

“Really?” Rina taunts and smirks at me. “No one is ever saying it in this household?”

I hand Masha her toothbrush and lean down to Rina’s face. Letting her feel one—two of my furious exhales, I finally nod.

“No one,” I deadpan and jolt back upright to watch Masha brush her teeth correctly.

“That’s a shame,” my wife coos from the edge of the bathtub. “Without a little compliment I might not be enticed to use my head anymore.”

“What are you doing?” I mouth towards her, while taking the toothbrush from Masha’s hand and continue brushing her teeth. She sputters toothpaste all over me, but I ignore it for now. My eyes are trained on Rina who grins wildly while taking off Alexija’s socks to throw them into the hamper.

“Having fun,” she mouths back and winks at me. I groan.

“Off you go, Alexija,” I say as I let Masha spit out the toothpaste. “Pick a book to read and cuddle into bed. We’ll be right behind you.”

The girls still share a bedroom because they want to. But we alternate who gets to pick the bedtime story every night. Now Alexija jumps from Rina’s lap and bolts through the door. She has so much energy, that little girl. It’s no surprise she complains every morning how Masha fell right asleep, and she had no one to talk to except for her stuffed lion. She is never impressed when I tell her she’s supposed to sleep as well.

Masha makes her way over to Rina, taking her sister’s place while her mother braids her hair as well. My girl throws her socks into the hamper herself and follows Alexija out of the room. Rina gets up from the edge of the bathtub and is about to follow our twins, when I grab her by the neck and press her against the door of the bathroom, locking us in and the girls out. We’re alone. She gasps eyes wide as she stares up at me.

“Careful with the sass, Mrs. Ković, or it’s going to get you in trouble,” I hiss against her face, and she shudders in my hold. But she wraps her arms around my waist and pulls me closer to her until our bodies are flush together.

“Maybe I wanna get into trouble,” she purrs sinfully sweet and I almost fucking loose it. If I didn’t know the girls would be looking for us if we didn’t show up in five minutes, I would take my sweet time devouring her right here.

“After all these years, you still haven’t learned your lesson about provoking me, have you, love?”

She smirks eyes full of sinful promises. “Never. After all, you haven’t learned to leave me alone yet.”

“You don’t want me to leave you alone, Katharina, and you know it.”

“I want you to…” Her voice trails off and she slides her fingers up my back, digging her nails into my flesh through the shirt.

“What do you want, love? Ask me nicely, and I might give it to you soft and sweet tonight,” I croon and press a kiss to her forehead.

“I don’t want soft and sweet.”

I chuckle. “I know. But what if I teased you with it. Made love to you so gently you almost couldn’t take it anymore, just to turn you around and fuck you from behind until you almost came. But I’d pull out at the last second and make you beg me to let you come. And maybe, if you found the right words, I’d give you the best head of your goddamn life. Because I’m smart like that.”

She gasps in front of me, her chest heaving against mine, as her eyes go wide as saucers and a delicious little shade of pink creeps up her cheeks. I trail my nose up her hairline and lick her face possessively.

“You like that, huh?” I croon and she nods against me. My hand wanders up her thigh, cupping her pussy and pushing two fingers against her entrance through the leggings.

“Are you wet for me, love?”

“Yes,” she gasps and arches her back, giving me better access.

“Good.”

But instead of giving her more, I pull back leaving her panting and slanting weakly against the door.

“You can’t be serious,” she grunts, and a deep scowl forms on her face. I chuckle.

“Oh, but I am. This is only step one in getting you to beg for me. Now be a good little wife and read our daughters their bedtime story. Once they’re asleep join me for step two.”

She blinks up at me, eyes clouded with lust, cheeks stained pink and mouth slightly ajar. I have to adjust myself in my slacks to hide my otherwise obvious erection. But she notices and smiles smugly.

“Are you sure you can hold out for that long?”

I advance towards her once more, pinning her against the door with one hand around her throat. But this time I don’t let her pull me against her.

“Don’t test me, wife. I can just as well get what I want without granting you an orgasm. If that’s what you want, go ahead keep acting like a naughty little brat, and you’ll get your wish.”

She shakes her head immediately.

“Thought so,” I hiss and narrow my eyes at her. “What do you say then?”

“I’m sorry. Please let me come tonight.”

A cruel chuckle rumbles up my chest as I press my forehead to hers. Carefully, I trail a finger down her nose, over her lips and onto her chin. There I grab her with two and forcefully jerk her head up until she has to look into my eyes, void of any kind of sympathy.

“You can do much better than that, love,” I snarl viciously and press my nose to her hair. “But I’m not a monster, Katharina. You have all night to redeem yourself and show me how I taught my wife to beg for me.”

“Yes. Thank you, Mihal,” she whispers timidly, and I smile in satisfaction.

“So good for me,” I praise. “Off you go now.” I tap her hip gently while I push away from her, and she jumps to follow my orders. It’s gotten hard to find the time to treat my wife the way she wants to be treated. Sexually, that is. Our family dynamic is entirely different from it. Which is what makes it hard. Rina and I used to have so much time alone together, fooling around, testing the push and pull between us. It’s all we ever did. She flourished under my dominance, and I exerted it until she gave me what I wanted, and what she needed. It’s how we work. But now that I have daughters myself, I never want them to fall to their knees in front of a man. They’ll never have sex, if I can have it my way (and I always have it my way), but I want them independent and dominant in every other part of their lives as well. Which is why we confined our dynamic to the privacy of nighttime and our bedroom, when the girls aren’t present.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it, though. Rina challenges me in the best way possible, and I love how she finds ways to tease me throughout the day, even when she knows I can’t react the way I’d like to. But it gives me just enough to wait for when we’re alone.

“Just so you know,” Rina murmurs before she slips out of the bathroom. “It was an accident. The song was still queued up and just started playing. I’d never expose them to something so overtly sexual on purpose.”

I grin to myself imaging my wife sprinting towards her phone in a panic to change the music. It amuses me greatly, even if it makes her feel guilty. But I’ll have to ease her mind, because I don’t want to risk never walking in on one of her little family dance parties she occasionally has with the girls. I love seeing those: music blaring, little voices singing, my family holding hands spinning in circles and laughing without a care in the world. I did that. I gave them a home, safety, an environment carefree enough to have dance parties, and I never want them to stop again.

“Don’t worry about it, love,” I whisper, smiling softly. “It happens, and they don’t know what it means.”

My reaction makes her grin widely, her shoulders sagging in relief. “Yeah. Great safe by the way. You must be really smart.”

I chuckle at her words and let her slip out of the bathroom first giving her time to settle into our bedtime routine with the twins before following her. From the other end of the hallway, I can hear Rina’s soft voice as she reads Alexija’s favorite book. I peak through the open door of the girls’ room and find her cross-legged on the floor in front of the nightlight so she can see the words in the book. God, I might love this side of her even more. The side that gave me children, the side that cares for them, the side that loves our family unconditionally and would do anything to keep our peace, love, and serenity alive. We have built something perfect here. And the more I experience it myself the more I realize that what I did to Karol all those years ago was infinitely more cruel than what I did to Uncle Yuri. Torture me, dissect me limb for limb, kill me agonizingly slowly, but the thought of someone taking my wife and my girls from me is a kind of pain I’d never survive. I won’t let anything in this world ever fuck with my family.

Finally, Rina finishes the book and slowly walks back to the door. We close it quietly behind us and she follows me to the bedroom without a word.

“You wanna play, love?” I ask, shutting the door behind us and locking it. I advance towards her while I open the buttons of my sleeves and neatly roll them up my forearms. She nods.

“You know what to say then.”

“Please, Mihal.”

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” I scoff. After all these years she should know which words get me higher than a fucking kite, ready to give her everything she’ll ever ask for. She stares up at me with wide eyes glistening with arousal as she rubs her thighs together, desperate for some friction.

“Please, Mihal. I am so wet for you right now. I need whatever you’ll give me. Make me come on your tongue, on your fingers, on your cock. I don’t care. Just please touch me. I’m desperate for you.”

“Hmmm,” I hum as my dick jumps in my pants. I close my eyes and swallow thickly. That’s it, love. Those are the words. “Great step two, Rini. I can’t wait for what you bring to the table for step three and four.”

She shudders as I lift her chin up, connecting her eyes to mine. I plan to give her all three things she asked for tonight. It’s been so long since I had the opportunity to take my time with her, and I want to make her come so many times she forgets her own name.

“God, I can’t wait to taste you, love,” I groan as I bury my face in her hair kissing the side of her head before sliding my lips along her soft skin. She hums arching her back to give me better access to her body. Wrapping my hand around her throat, I tug her closer covering her lips with mine. With a quiet whine she opens her mouth inviting me in, and she meets my tongue with hers.

Kissing her is still intoxicating, my one and only drug I will ever need on this planet, and I groan against her as my hands make their way underneath her shirt. As soon as I touch bare skin it’s impossible to hold me back anymore. No physical force could ever stop me. So I push Rina towards our bed and press her against the frame until she has no choice but to lay down onto the mattress.

“Take off your clothes, love. Nice and slow.”

“You want me to stay on the bed?” she murmurs and arches her brows in question.

I smirk. “I want you to stay right where I put you.”

She shudders from my words but doesn’t respond anymore. Rina follows my orders without hesitation, slowly peeling the soft fabric of her shirt over her head before she slips out of her leggings leaving her only in her underwear. Her preference for lace and pastels has never changed over the years, and I adore her body in her lingerie. She looks absolutely divine wearing the marks of her pregnancy. Carrying twins hasn’t been easy on her and her body fought her hard. For most of her pregnancy she has been miserable, and when the doctors suggested hospitalizing her for the last three months she refused until I hired a live-in doctor to stay with us.

The birth wasn’t less complicated and left her unable to conceive any more children. I know she struggled with the fact, and after countless doctor’s appointments we found out that whatever caused her mother’s complications was hereditary, and she wasn’t spared of the same fate.

It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I would have taken an abundance of children with her, or none at all. Having the twins is already more than I ever expected her to give me. The girls and Rina are my entire world. But of course, for a while she worried that she couldn’t give me a son until I told her that I don’t give two shits about my successor’s gender, and I’m raising my girls to one day take over the Ković empire if they want it. Honestly, I can see Alexija taking over for me. She’s my firstborn—a few minutes older than her much calmer sister—and she’s fierce, unapologetically herself, and possess a confidence that borders cockiness. She’s my little me, while Masha takes after her mother—timid, kind, and caring.

“Mihal, please,” Rina whimpers desperately, and I realize I was stuck in my head while she undressed herself all the way. For a moment I’m mad that I missed the show, but she’s mine and I have the rest of our lives to make her strip for me.

“God, you’re stunning. Who does this gorgeous body belong to, Rini? Tell me.”

“It’s yours, Misha. Everything I have is yours,” she breathes and casts her eyes downward blushing softly.

“Look at me, love,” I demand, and she obeys instantly. I nod in approval and join her on the bed. “I’m going to give you my fingers first, and you will keep your eyes on me the entire time. I want you to come while you look into the eyes that own you.”

She gasps, not only from my words but from my harsh touch when I pry her legs open and position myself between them looking directly at her glistening cunt. The sight makes my mouth water, and I can barely hold back, only teasing her with one of my fingers. I slide it through her wetness spreading it to her clit and circling her until she arches her back whining and moaning, but never once do her eyes leave mine. The stare and connection between us grow more intense the more I finger her, and when I enter her in a swift thrust, her mouth falls open as her eyes close for just a fraction of a second. It’s not even long enough for me to remind her of my command.

“More. Please, Mihal. More,” she moans, clawing at the sheets underneath her and squirming on the bed. I know she wants to throw her head back, give in to the urges of her body to enjoy, to feel, to close her eyes, but she doesn’t. My order forbids her to, and I love to watch her struggle to obey me. I show her my appreciation by giving her another finger stretching her open and thrusting into her tight heat forcefully. My thumb finds her clit, and she presses a hand onto her mouth keeping her sweet sounds inside.

Fuck me! We’re going to have to find a babysitter soon. The shade of pink, her lustful eyes, and the way her voice sounds so raspy and breathy make me want to take her on every surface of my house, make her scream my name for the neighbors to hear, have her tremble from the pleasure I give her.

“Please, Mihal,” she begs from behind her hand and pleads with her eyes. But I smirk and raise an eyebrow at her.

“Please what, love?”

“Please let me come. Please, please, please,” she chants quietly, and I don’t have it in my heart to deny her right now—at least not the first time. She looks so desperate with tears in her eyes, her body trembling underneath me trying so hard to control herself for me.

“Tell me who your pleasure belongs to, love. Then you may come.”

She nods furiously, her muscles tensing in preparation of the impending euphoria. “Mihal.” My name from her mouth sounds spectacular, and she repeats it like it’s her salvation—which granted, it once was. But it does things to my heart that I never thought possible. The sound softens the hard indifference, lightens the vicious darkness inside of me, and brings me freedom from myself I never knew existed. I always thought I was free, because I could do whatever the fuck I wanted, but the moment Katharina was truly mine I realized how wrong I was. I found true freedom in her love for me, and in the sweet adoration, the unconditional fondness, and unhinged obsession I had for her. This is what gives me wings, takes me to highs unknown to mankind and sets me back down on Earth whenever I need to be grounded.

“Mihal,” she chokes out once more before she tightens around me, tears slipping from her eyes that she desperately tries to keep open. I swallow the lump in my throat, and it grows into an infinite ball of all-consuming desire in my stomach. I can’t even give her time to come down from her orgasm as I dive right in covering her clit with my mouth and sucking gently. She hisses from overstimulation, and writhes underneath me while she laces her fingers through my hair.

“I can’t,” she pants trying to escape me by pushing her hips into the bed. “Please, Mihal, I need… Please stop.”

“Hmmm,” I hum against her heated flesh stroking my tongue over her in a languid lick. “You can take it for me, love, I know you can.”

She doesn’t protest anymore, but her hands fist my hair brutally trying to tug me away to give her some time to recover. I don’t let her distract me from my mission, though, kissing and nibbling and licking her until she sobs and cries into her hand. Her whole body is covered in goosebumps, and her muscles quiver from exhaustion. But I’m far from done with her.

Her cunt convulses around my fingers squeezing me tightly, and I know I have her on the precipice once more. This time I won’t give her what she needs so easily. I might be a sucker for my wife, and ultimately, I would lay the whole world at her feet, but I’m still me. And I enjoy begging way too fucking much.

“Fucking hell, Katharina. You taste so sweet for me. Always ready to take anything I give you, isn’t that right?” I croon onto her heated flesh and set my teeth around her clit just lightly. But when I raise my gaze to look at her there’s panic in her wide eyes as she shakes her head.

“No, please don’t, Mihal. I’m so fucking close, if you bite me, I’ll…”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, but I know what she would have said. She won’t be able to come. Rina would be taken down again before I can bring her back up. But that’s exactly what I want, so I bite down hard, my eyes on her face the entire time. She sinks her teeth into the meaty part of her palm keeping her scream to a quiet muffle. Slowly, I release her again and am met with a slight scowl as she peers down to me.

“Oh, poor thing,” I coo sweetly and draw a circle onto her thigh with my thumb where I hold her open for me. “I’ll make it up to you, love.”

With those words, I lick her slowly from pussy to clit and suck on the delicate bundle of nerves for good measure. Rina arches her back, lifting her hips and meeting my fingers with every thrust. I have her on the edge again in no time, and when she starts to tremble, I lift my head for a second.

“Come on, Rini,” I encourage her darkly. “Beg me. Beg me to let you come like you know I want you to.”

She swallows thickly opening her mouth a few times before she finds her tongue again and the strength to form words. “Please, Mihal. I want to come so badly. Your tongue… God, you’re so fucking good.” She sputters on an exhale, before she can continue. “Please let me come, Misha. Please. Please. I’ll do anything. Please, p’eas…”

Her words slur the closer I bring her to orgasm, and the raw carnal desire in her pleas cause my cock to throb out a thick pulse of precum. I grind my hips into the bed seeking friction on my aching erection. But this will never satisfy me like my wife can. I need to be inside of her. So I give her one last lick until she explodes into euphoria once more. Then I crawl up her body shoving my pants and boxers down over my ass until my cock is freed. In one forceful thrust I enter her quivering heat and groan from the remnants of her orgasm as she spasms around me.

“God, Mihal. Fuck… You feel… fuck,” she whimpers, and I smirk pressing a chaste kiss to the tip of her nose.

“Such a filthy girl. Tell me more, love. Tell me all the dirty things you can spill with that mouth of yours.”

She purrs reaching for the buttons of my shirt and starts to undress me while I set a leisurely pace reveling in the tight heat of her pussy around me. Her hands wander across my body tracing every dip and curve of my muscles, drawing lines over my tattoos, and rubbing a thumb over her own name on my skin.

“I love your cock, Mihal. Whenever you’re inside me, I feel so complete. Like this is where I belong.”

Her voice sounds raw from emotion, and she presses the softest kisses to my neck and the dip above my clavicle. I smile cockily grasping her chin with two fingers and forcing her to look at me. My eyes capture her gaze predatorily and she widens hers.

“Are you saying you want to be nothing more than my little fucktoy, wife? Here to please me, all of you available whenever I need a warm hole to stick my cock into? My good little whore… Is that what you are, Katharina?”

Her bottom lip quivers and a single tear slides down her cheeks, but she nods. “I’ll be whatever you need me to be.”

I shake my head. “No, love. You’re more than I ever need anyone to be. You’re my everything. My wife, my whore, the mother of my children, the love of my life. My heart and soul.”

She hiccups a tiny sob, but I swallow it down with my mouth on hers. Our kisses grow frantic as does our fucking. I thrust into her brutally while she slides her hands to my back holding on to me. Her legs wrap around my hips, feet digging into the dips above my ass, and she follows my brutal movements keeping me as close to her as her strength allows. I lose myself in the feeling of being inside her, because if I’m honest with myself this is where I belong.

Katharina cries out and I hope to God no one in this house woke up from the sound she makes when she tries to stifle her orgasm. Her eyes flit through the room desperately trying to avoid my lustful gaze. I know what it does to her, because I feel exactly the same when I look at her.

“May I come, Mihal? Please, may I?”

Her voice sounds positively wrecked, gravely, raspy, and strained, but I shake my head.

“I’ll fill you up, Rini. Mark you with my cum, and once I do that you may come. Just a little bit longer. God, you feel sensational. I’m going to come so deep inside of you, love.”

“Please, please. I need it.”

My hips stutter and I press inside her one last time, spilling my cum inside her tightening cunt. She tips her head back eyes closed so hard her skin wrinkles around them, so focused on obeying me it makes my cock throb intensifying my orgasm.

“Now,” I grind out through gritted teeth. “Come for me, Rini.”

She opens her mouth, but before she can scream, I shove two fingers inside her invading her throat until she gags. With that choked sound she comes crying tears of overwhelming pleasure.

“I love you, Katharina. So goddamn much,” I whisper onto her lips. The carnal desire I displayed during our fucking has been replaced by tender touches and sensual kisses until I slip out of her pulling my boxer briefs back up. I leave the bed for only a minute to get her one of my shirts to sleep in and a fresh pair of panties, so she won’t freeze when we go to bed. With all the intentions to crawl back into bed with her and pulling her into my body so she can fall asleep in my arms, I throw the blanket to the side when someone knocks on our door. A sigh falls from my lips and Katharina smiles softly.

“At least we weren’t interrupted,” she offers gently and shrugs. But I frown at her.

“This is interrupting, Rina. I’m not done with you, even if I don’t intend to fuck you again.”

Holding her is just as important. But apparently, we chose to have these kids. So I roll my eyes, collect all the love I can muster inside my heart and unlock the door. Alexija stands in the entrance rubbing her wide eyes with a fist as her stuffed lion drags across the floor. The sight alone causes my heart to twinge and all the annoyance I had immediately leaves. God, she’s precious.

“What’s wrong, Alexija?” Rina asks sitting upright in our bed. Our daughter pouts pushing her bottom lip forward and stomps into our room without invitation. I hold her back by her shoulder and squat down in front of her. Swiping a strand of dirty blonde hair out of her face, I wait until her caramel-colored eyes connect to mine. Our twins are Kovićs for sure.

“Alexija,” I coo sweetly, and she falls against my chest. She holds her lion to her stomach tightly and starts sobbing. Picking her up, I carry her to our bed and lay her down gently where Rina tugs her into her warm embrace immediately.

“Baby,” she whispers pressing kisses to the top of her head. “Did you have a bad dream?”

She nods cuddling into her mother’s embrace and hiding her face inside the crook of her neck. Rina strokes her hair tenderly and shushes her with soft words. Alexija relaxes visibly and slinks an arm around her mother’s waist.

“Daddy?” she croaks, and her voice draws me in as I join them on the bed.

“I’m right here, sweet girl,” I murmur trailing my finger up and down her spine until she sighs contently. Together we lull her back to sleep and she snores softly between us. With a grunt, I fall back onto my pillow while Rina holds our sleeping daughter and grants me an apologetic look.

“Sorry,” she whispers and reaches her hand out to me. I take it in mine and shake my head. Would I like to hold my wife while we fall asleep and wake up in the morning to whisper dirty promises into her ear? Absolutely. But does it warm my heart to see her comfort our child and witness my daughter finding her peace in my wife’s embrace? Yeah. Yeah, it fucking does. Katharina was made to care for our children, and I never knew how much joy it would give to see her grow into the mother she was always supposed to be. The mother of my children.

“Don’t you ever apologize for loving our children again, Katharina,” I growl quietly and give her hand a warning squeeze. “You are absolutely incredible.”

Just as I say those words there’s another knock on the door, and I smile knowingly. I grew up with twin brothers, but watching this freakishly close twin bond in my daughters is an entirely different experience. It makes me happy to know how close they are and to know they’ll never be alone in their lives. And sure enough, Masha opens the door sticking her head through the gap timidly.

“Where’s Alexija?” she asks, the fear clearly audible in her tiny voice.

“She’s right here, Masha. She just had a bad dream, that’s all.”

“Can I…,” she stutters, her words so unsure. “Can I come in?”

“Of course, you can.”

They can’t sleep without the other, and even when I know Masha was most likely asleep before, she woke up as soon as her sister left her. Creepy twin bond. But I welcome her into my arms after she approached our bed carefully lifting her onto the mattress with us and she wastes no time to cuddle against my chest, her stuffed tiger resting between us. Katharina winks at me pulling the covers over her body and the sleeping Alexija. I do the same to me and Masha.

“Daddy?” Masha mumbles groggily and squeezes her stuffed tiger to her chest. “Can you tell me a story?”

I nod, thinking for a while. Whenever I read their bedtime story, I let them pick one of the Russian children’s books we bought, so I slip into Russian easily when I start my story. It’s the story of how we named them, but the beginning was something Katharina and I had shared a long time ago, and even though she can’t understand a word I’m saying she smiles knowingly, closing her eyes and listening to the sound of my voice.

“On an island so beautiful it was considered paradise, two girls were born of the same stream. The water was clear as glass and glistened like diamonds in the light of a thousand stars. Every day and every night the rivulet collected the brightness of the sun, the reflection of the moon light and the twinkle of a million stars until one day two girls emerged from the shadow of a boulder. They couldn’t have been more different, and yet one couldn’t be without the other. Night and day. Shadow and light. Sirin and alkonost. Alexija and Masha.”

“Named after the strongest gods to ever roam the face of the Earth,” Rina mumbles sleepily and grins to herself.

I clear my throat. “Do you want to tell this story, love?” I chastise her jokingly, but she just grunts and shakes her head weakly.

“Good,” I say and continue, “They were named after the strongest gods known to ever roam the face of the Earth.”

“That’s you, Daddy. That’s you,” Masha giggles, but her excitement is lost in the tiredness of her voice. I know she loves this next part.

“Yes, and your uncle. They were so strong that no one ever dared to touch those beautiful little girls. Mihal held their hands, leading them through this world and showed them all the wonderful places they could find. Alexey’s protection was a bit more subtle.”

Masha nods blinking up at me with sleepy eyes. “Yes, Daddy. He’s invisible, but always by their side to protect them.”

I tap the tip of her nose. “Yes, you clever little girl. And together they made sure nothing would ever happen to Alexija and Masha. They grew up to be the strongest, fiercest, most beautiful girls this Earth has ever seen, and ruled over an empire with wisdom and grace like the Queens they are.”

Masha nods, but no words leave her mouth anymore. Mere seconds later she falls asleep in my arms, and I cradle her head to my chest tenderly. Rina sighs next to me.

“Only you would ever name your daughter after yourself,” she chuckles quietly opening one eye to look at me. I lift my brows at her.

“Excuse me? I changed a vowel.”

She closes her eyes again, snorting a laugh. “After I told you, you couldn’t name her Misha.”

There’s clear amusement in her voice, and I lift her hand to my lips to kiss her palm. Lacing her fingers through mine, she holds onto me while she falls asleep, and I’m left staring at my girls in awe. How can something so beautiful and innocent ever belong to me? My heart and soul are tainted with darkness, and yet I created something pure and perfect.

I glance over at my wife. It must be her. Everything perfect in my life has always come from her, so I shouldn’t be surprised that my children are, too. A fierce sense of pride and possessiveness washes over me the longer I stare at Katharina. With her by my side, nothing will ever stand in the way of my happiness. I meant what I had said earlier in the heat of our love making.

She’s everything to me. She’s the love of my life. She’s mine. Forever. With that thought, I fall asleep holding close what is most precious to me. My wife and my daughters. My family.

The end