Year Three (Kingmakers, #3)

by Sophie Lark

She is Adrian Yenin’s twin in every way. Except that the moment she sees me, her eyes fill with tears. She opens her arms and wraps them around me, pulling me tight against her in a hug. “Dean,” she says. “I’ve wanted to meet you for so long.” I can feel my body stiffening. My own eyes are burning, my heart beating too fast. I know her husband is watching. But also . . . there’s something familiar and comforting in Aunt Yelena’s clean, sweet scent, and in the shade of the silver-blonde hair that falls across my shoulder. So I push away my usual response to fear and confusion. Instead, I take a deep breath and I hug her back. When she lets go of me at last, I face Sebastian Gallo and I look him in the eye. This is the man who mutilated my father and strangled my grandfather. He’s also the man who loved Yelena Yenina enough to marry the daughter of his worst enemy. I hold out my hand to him to shake. Sebastian grips my hand in his warm grasp and pulls me into an embrace, hugging me just as hard as his wife. “Welcome home,” he says.