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“I know.”

Although Tristan appeared to hold questions, he bowed and exited without querying.

When I settled next to Katerina, our fingers found each other instinctively. Her shoulders slumped, and she eased into the mattress, pulling me beside her. Our bodies molded into each other, her warmth complementing my iciness. She nuzzled against my neck again, a comfort blanketing us.

It was the most natural thing I’d ever felt.

“Alek.” Those somber icy green eyes found mine. “It wasn’t the assailant.”

“Then who?”

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

I softly wrapped my arms around her neck. Never was I one to make promises, as it had been all my brothers and I were accustomed to from our mother and That Man. Promises that signified nothing. Struck with the reality of how empty words could be.

Yet, with Katerina, all I craved to do was promise anything, everything possible. How could I deny her such a thing?

“I promise.”

Her lips languidly whispered before falling asleep, “It washer.”

* * *

When I awoke with Katerina still in my embrace, relief washed over me. It was momentary and quickly dispersed as my eyes fell on a folded piece of paper above her head. I recognized the material, but not the writing.

Act Three

ChapterTwenty-Three

KATERINA ELI

It’s happening again.

I was asleep— I knew I was. But I couldn’t move. Couldn’t open my eyes, although they screamed to widen. My hammering heart constricted my chest to the point I couldn’t breathe. Sweat trickled down my skin, the bed burying me deeper into it, minor twitches escaping that did nothing. I’m stuck to it, but I’m somewhere else.

She’sa suffocating force that pulled me into the abyss.

A harsh grip dragged me into the shabby house. It pushed me, my body tumbling onto the creaky, wooden floors. I tugged at my legs and arms to stand, but they stayed still. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t do anything.

Drenched hair cascaded over my shoulders, strands rapidly shedding as my body crawled across the floor. The motions weren’t mine. It was as if someone else was moving, but I was inside them, seeing through their eyes. Everything was familiar yet so alien. From the way I shrank in size to the way, I hugged my knees to the thoughts that pounded against my head.

I’m going to die tonight.

“You!” The deep voice said, the sound enough to raise the hairs on the nape of my neck. His footsteps pounded against the ground, hands squeezing around my neck.

Taunting gray eyes deepened to a deep ash once they met mine. His hold tightened as if he wanted to strangle me to death. The pain burrowed through my skin to my bones.

He pulled me from the ground as if I was a feather, so light, so fucking weak, with barely any force. Veins throbbed on his forehead while deep lines dug through his cheeks and between his eyebrows. My body trembled at the horrifying sight, but he did the same.

Was he scared of me?

“Why couldn’t you have just let her live?” Tears streamed down his cheek to his neck. Sobs filled the air as the man stilled, his grip loosening but never letting go.“She would have been alive if it wasn’t for you. You monster!”

Suddenly his outline washed away, and everything vanished. In a flash, I stood in the middle of the familiar forest. The water drowned my surroundings and harsh waves drew me in until I couldn’t kick anymore. Until my arms gave up.

I was swallowed deep, deep into the abyss.

Then, the lake drained, and I collapsed onto carpeted floors. Swelling pain consumed my muscles, a numbing following. A shadow stepped forward and embedded itself into me, merging. Colliding. Whispering words inhervoice.