Free Heir to a Dark Inheritance by Maisey Yates

considered it.”
    “You gave her her first name, and I will not change it, but I want her to carry my name. She is my only family. And you should carry it, as well.”
    “I don’t…” Patel was her husband’s name. Except, Sunil wasn’t her husband anymore. Alik was. “I’m not sure I can do that.” After what he’d just told her, about the orphanage worker who had chosen his name, she understood why it would matter to him.
    But she couldn’t do it. Not now. Changing her name was like changing herself, and she couldn’t allow it. Couldn’t allow this, couldn’t allow Alik that sort of power.
    “It is the most logical thing to do.”
    “I know,” she snapped. “But I’ve just been so damn logical for the past week, that my heart has taken a beating and I’m not sure I can do this, too. I made you my husband today. That place belonged—belongs—to the man I loved. And if I take your name, then I have to get rid of his.”
    “It is no matter to me,” he said, his tone hard. “It’s entirely up to you. I thought you might like our family to share a name.”
    “A family? Is that what we are?” She hated herself for saying it. After what he’d just said, she knew she was stabbing at him, but she honestly couldn’t stop herself.
    “The closest thing to one I’ve had.” Again, his voice carried that sort of detached weightlessness. As if none of this meant anything to him. As if he was simply relaying facts. The man seemed to live entirely in his head.
    No, that wasn’t really true. Because there was something else about him. Something darker, much more frightening. Something earthy and sensual that came from a place deepinside of him. He was a man very much connected with his body, too.
    And she didn’t like how much her own body seemed to be intrigued by that.
    “I will think about it. It doesn’t have to be done right away. I can do it anytime.”
    “Of course. In the meantime though, I will give Leena my name.”
    “Leena Vasin,” Jada said quietly. And she looked at the man across from her again, at the stubborn set of his jaw, the shape of his brow. She saw it then, for the first time. How had she missed it?
    Leena looked so very much like her father. The expression she made when she was grumpy especially, favored the stern look on his face now.
    “It suits her,” Jada said, surprising herself when she said it. Surprised by how much she meant it.
    Leena was Alik’s daughter. There was no denying it or ignoring it. And she was glad in that moment that he was in her life. She was sure the feeling would come and go, but right now, she was glad that Leena had a father. Her father.
    “Do you know,” she said slowly, “she looks like you?”
    Alik’s eyes were obscured by shadow and it was impossible to see what he was thinking. “Does she?” His voice was inscrutable as ever. There was no way to get a read on his emotions. No way to know what he thought about that revelation.
    “Yes. When she’s about to throw a tantrum she gets a little crease between her eyebrows, just like you. And her eyes have more green in them, but they also have that gray that yours have.”
    “I hadn’t noticed,” he said.
    “Neither had I until just now.”
    Alik looked down at his wineglass again. “We should eat before it gets cold.”
    “Yes,” she said. She wasn’t conscious of what she was eating,and the moment the plates were clear she couldn’t actually remember what they’d been served.
    “Would you like me to show you back to your room?”
    Jada hesitated. It was dark now, no helpful light filtering in through the windows to guide her way. But the idea of traversing dark corridors with Alik didn’t exactly make her feel extra safe.
    It made her stomach feel tight, made it hard to breathe. Still, she didn’t want to stumble around the palace for longer than necessary.
    “Yes. Please, if you wouldn’t mind.”
    Alik rose from his seat and Jada was reminded just how large he was, how