“Are you going with him?”

“No.”

She had known that would be his answer as she had known this moment would come. She had been prepared for it since the wedding those many months ago.

I want deeds, not words.

“Kazan needs my help.”

“You have a son to protect Kazan. Do you doubt that he and Marianna won’t be able to hold their own with the rulers of Europe?”

“No, but this is not a fair test.”

“It is not a test. It is a choice.”

She turned to look at him. Scarred and beautiful. Relentless and kind. Her lover who was not her lover.

But not for very much longer.

She walked toward him. “I love you, mado.”

“I know.” His gaze searched her face. “But do you choose me?”

“You ask a great deal, and you may not like what you get. You know how possessive both Jordan and I can be. If I choose you, it is forever. I would never let you go. I will treasure and smother you. I will give a bag of gold for the head of anyone who so much as bruises your fingertip.”

He chuckled. “Then I must be very careful not to shake hands with anyone of even moderate strength.”

“I’m not joking. I’m giving you warning.”

“I believe I could survive.” His smile faded. “Do you choose me, Ana?”

She did not want him to look this grave. She had caused him too much worry in the past, and now she wanted only smiles and joy for him. “Oh yes, I choose you. In all ways. In all things.” A brilliant smile lit her face as she came into his arms and nestled there. She felt right and free and as wrapped in splendor as one of Marianna’s stained-glass windows. “With all my heart.”

About the Author

IRIS JOHANSEN, who has more than twenty-seven million copies of her books in print, has won many awards for her achievements in writing. The bestselling author of The Ugly Duckling, And Then You Die, Long After Midnight, The Face of Deception, The Killing Game, The Search, Final Target, Body of Lies, No One to Trust, Dead Aim, Fatal Tide, Firestorm, Blind Alley, Countdown, and On the Run, she lives near Atlanta, Georgia, where she is currently at work on a new novel.