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I would get out of this… I was too determined not to. I wasn’t about to go down without a fight. I was Diana Kotova for God’s sake. I was a survivor. I wasn’t going to die like this.

No… I would fight until the end.

But until then… I would outsmart these Noctani and escape.

When the pool was filled with steaming water, I turned the nozzle off and waded down the marble steps. The hot water seared against my skin, causing my flesh to redden instantly. The sensation invigorated me.

I scrubbed my body clean, washing my hair and pinning it to the back of my head with a clip I had found on the vanity. I leaned back, enjoying the soft bubbles against my skin.

The door creaked open and my eyes narrowed. I was sure I had locked it. Nik entered, a stack of clean clothes resting on the palm of his hand. I lifted an eyebrow at him.

“You think I don’t have a key to every lock in this house?” he asked, setting the clothes down on the stool by the vanity. He moved towards the bench in front of the window and sat, his hands clasped between his knees.

I shook my head. “It wouldn’t be like you to be unprepared,” I replied.

“No.” He agreed, his gaze trained on me.

He watched as I poured water over my shoulders, basking in the warmth of the pool. He didn’t miss a single movement. I inclined my head, a thought occurring to me. I had been able to draw out pieces of him before. His humanity. It was as if the real Nikolai was still trapped inside, only a wall existed between that man and the Noctani that stood before me.Could he remember specific moments from his life before he was turned?

I leaned back, my feet kicking up in the water and my breasts cresting the surface, my nipples hard. His eyes traced down my body with hunger, his gaze darkening further. I hadn’t thought that was possible with how black and endless they already were. Did he remember that night in Siraleth? The night he took me in the bathtub, water sloshing over the sides as we came together?

“Diana—” There was a note of warning in his voice.

It didn’t escape me that this was the first time he had called me Diana since capturing me. It was alwaysFirecracker.

“Yes?” I asked innocently, running a slow hand down my body. He groaned when it disappeared between my legs.

I needed to weaken him. I needed him to trust me enough for me to find an opening for escape. If seduction was the way to gain that trust, then so be it. I would need to use every weapon in my arsenal to my advantage.

His lips spread into a devilish grin, his fangs showing and sending a shiver down my spine. I still held a healthy dose of fear for those fangs, which could steal my magic from me at any moment. As if in response to that thought my magic surged to the surface, simmering below my skin.

“Don’t tease me.” His eyes narrowed as he spoke, the grin never leaving his mouth.

Those lips. Oh, how I had missed those lips. I wanted to feel them skim across my skin, take my breast into his mouth…

It hadn’t taken long for my fear and repulsion of him to turn into desire, and I cursed myself for it. Why was I feeling thisway when I should be disgusted by him? I was doing this for myself as much as I was doing it to manipulate him.

“I would never,” I answered, running that same hand back up my stomach to cup my breast.

I gave the nipple a twist and my head fell back, my lips parting.

Nik moved quickly, one moment he was sitting on the bench beneath the window, the next he was in the pool of water beside me. His hand was on my back, encouraging my body to float. His clothes were soaked through, clinging to him in a way that made my own hunger stir.

Oh, how I had missed him. Missed his touch.

I bit my lip.

This wasn’t Nik.

I had to keep reminding myself of that. I couldn’t reconcile the Nik who was Noctani, bashing me over the head until I was unconscious, and the Nik who had showed me softness and kindness, bringing me books and meals in my cell. It was all so different from the one before me now, a hunger in his dark eyes that I was all too familiar with.

I waited on bated breath for him to touch me, his shadowed eyes scanning my body with reverence. His lips parted as his gaze passed over my stomach and my breasts which were now aching beneath his gaze, before coming to a stop on my face.

I had been in the bathtub before him, as I was now. Back in the underground cottage in Siraleth. Back when we were bound.

Did he remember?

“I will not touch you unless you ask, Diana.”