Chapter Sixty Eight: You Belong To Me

He stared at her, and the air around them suddenly became electrified. “Of course they matter.” He took a single step toward her. “Illyra—”

A knock sounded at the door. An older man poked his head in, an American with wire-rimmed glasses and anxious eyes. “Your Highness. Excuse me.”

“What is it, Anderson?” Andrei demanded.

The man looked at Illyra and then cleared his throat. “We’ve reached an impasse, sir. Svenssen is demanding we retain every member of his company’s staff.”

“So?”

“Our company has a thousand employees we don’t need. Drillers. Cafeteria workers in Siberia. Accountants and secretaries. Dead weight.”

Dead weight. Illyra ’s spine snapped straight. He would no doubt consider her and Lyra dead weight, too, with their ten years of backbreaking, low-paying cleaning jobs. Every month, they’d experienced the painful uncertainty of never knowing if their jobs would last, or if they’d be able to pay their bills. Biting her lip, she glanced up and saw Andrei watching her. His eye