Chapter 144

And in fact, he achieved it.

I resisted, with very good will. But he managed to satisfy me enough for that “yes” to just fall from my lips when he asked me again if I wanted to be his wife. I knew he would end up accepting. Where else was I thinking of going, if not to a place where my family was? Him, and the children. There was no other part of the world where I wanted to be more than in that bed that was perhaps too soft and too wide, old and with the smell of cold and sun on the sheets; it was the place where I felt most safe and loved, in Ivan’s arms. Feeling under my fingers the powerful pulse of a heart more than human, but no less worthy of being loved.

He was determined. Not only would Mirko have his initiation; in a way, it would also be mine.

***

The next morning, during an elaborate and succulent breakfast, Deyardí surprised everyone with a birthday cake for Mirko and delicious chocolate cupcakes. The boy was ecstatic, not only because it was his