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Once I was upstairs, I would have to be careful. I might only get one chance to escape him, and when that opportunity presented itself, I needed to be ready.

Nik held the door open between us as I glanced down the hall on the other side of the door apprehensively.

“After you, Firecracker.”

What I found beyond the heavy wooden door to the prisons was not what I had expected. We were, in fact, underground. Beyond the prisons was a completely normal appearing home. It must have belonged to one of Donika’s spies because a cell in the basement seemed… odd otherwise. I made my way down the corridor which was plastered and covered in an old cottage style wallpaper. It led to a lounge room of sorts, Noctani milling about.

One that I didn’t recognize turned towards me, a hiss escaping her throat as she bared her fangs at me. Nik moved fast enough that I didn’t even see him—within a blink he was in front of me—his arms out as if to protect me.

“You will not touch her, Giselle,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“And if I do?” she asked around her own bared fangs. “You tread a fine line, Nikolai. Donika will not be happy to hear about this.”

Nik moved again, and I found it difficult to track his rapid movements in the contained space. One moment his hands were exactly that, but in the next they were claws and he scraped the long talons across Giselle’s face, raking across her skin.

She fell back with another hiss, cowering into the corner as she cradled her cheek. Blood poured forth from the wound and I found that I couldn’t draw my eyes away from it. They might drink blood, but it still ran through their veins.

Interesting.

Another Noctani moved forwards in defense of Giselle and lurched for me. Right before he was able to close his hand around my throat Nik pushed him back with a roar that had gooseflesh raising across my skin. The Noctani man wasn’t deterred, he lunged again and this time Nik thrust his clawed hand forward, sinking it into the other Noctani’s chest.

When he ripped his hand away the Noctani’s heart was clasped between his bloody fingers. I stepped back as my mouth opened with an inaudible cry. Nik’s gaze locked on each and every Noctani as they backed away from him, eyes downcast. He dropped the heart with a sickly thump and leaned down to wipe his hand off on the clothing of the dead Noctani, keeping his own pristine.

“Donika will only know what I choose to tell her,” Nik seethed as he returned to my side.

His hands had returned to normal—the claws retracting—and he placed one against the small of my back. I flinched, but he didn’t seem to notice. Adrenaline running high, he pushed me towards the staircase that would lead to the upper level. As I ascended the steps, he turned back to address them once more.

“None of you will touch her, she is under my protection. I am in charge here, in case you have forgotten. I will not think twice before I gut you, leaving your entrails for the Araneoch to feast on. Do not cross me. If any of you as much as harm a hair on her pretty little head, I will ensure you suffer for it.”

A heavy silence fell as my chest tightened. I had never heard him speak like that before, a cruelty in his words I didn’t associate with him. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. No matter how much he might seem as if he weremyNikolai at times, he wasn’t. He was Noctani, and I’d be better off not to forget that.

We reached the top of the stairs where it opened into a large kitchen area. The blinds were drawn shut against the outside. I internally cursed that I wouldn’t be able to discern where—exactly—we were. If it was even day or night. The blinds were the blackout kind, not allowing a peep of sunlight to come through even if it was daytime.

Nik guided me past the kitchen area where another Noctani was sitting silently, towards a second staircase that led to the second level. I had counted nine of them so far. That was more than what had shown up on the training field that day they captured me. There were too many of them in this house. I swallowed back the bile that rose in my throat at the thought.The last time I had seen Donika’s Noctani forces she had only about ten in total. With ten in this house alone, and at least forty in her court that I had seen when I was dream walking last week, her numbers were flourishing.

My gaze was fixed on my feet as I ascended the stairs. I didn’t have time to be upset about the state of things, I merely needed to focus on getting the hell out of here. I hadn’t seen any weapons lying about thus far, but my eyes were always searching for something that might help me to escape Nikolai. If we were engaged one-on-one, my chances were much higher. But with the house filled to the brim with Noctani… my chances at escape overall weren’t looking great.

Nik led the way to the end of the hallway and opened the door, allowing me to pass inside first. This must be where he was staying. The bed was rumpled, black satin sheets clearly slept on. There was one large window, but the blind was drawn shut as they had been on the first floor. There was a fireplace filled with crackling flames that almost brought a laugh to my lips.

Did Noctani get cold?

To the right was a large washroom, the massive basin set down into the ground similar to a wading pool. Wherever we were, this house had to have belonged to someone quite wealthy. Had they killed the owner to take it for themselves as a hideout? Or turned them Noctani?

A million questions raced through my mind as my gaze scanned the room. There were no visible weapons here, either.

Nik broke the silence as he cleared his throat. “I’ll get a new set of sheets, you can make use of the washroom if you’d like… ” he held his hand out, gesturing me to go ahead.

I nodded, a soft smile on my lips despite the pit in the bottom of my stomach. “Thank you.”

The last thing I wanted to do was thank him. I wanted to rake my hand across his cheek and jump from the second-story window… but I couldn’t make my move yet. I needed to bide my time and wait for the right moment. He had already shown weakness towards me which meant he would again. I needed to wait. I would only get one shot at this.

My skin crawled at the thought of sharing the bed with him, but I was desperate for a good night’s sleep out of the cold of the dungeons. Nik began stripping the bed, and I moved to the washroom, locking the door behind me.

Not that it would do much good.

The marble floor was cold against my dirty feet and I quickly moved to the faucet on the tub to fill the wading pool with steaming water. I found a number of salts and soaps on the shelf near the vanity and emptied them into the pool, filling the bathing chamber with a crisp citrus scent. I stripped my dirty clothes off as I waited for the pool to fill with water, glancing at myself in the gilded mirror atop the vanity.

My eye was still black and blue, likely from when Nikolai had knocked me on the temple with the butt of his sword. My cheek was also bruised, my lip swollen. It had been at least a week since I had been thrown into the dungeon and I still looked like shit. I gripped the sides of the vanity as I hung my head.