Page 21

W hat 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 were my Nikolai 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 .

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 always Firecracker .

“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 this way 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.”

My own lips parted on a gasp. He did remember . Those were the same words he had spoken to me on the training mat in the safe house. When I had still been so angry at him but had already resigned to the fact that I forgave him.

That I loved him.

I spoke the same words back to him that I had that day. “Touch me, Nikolai.”

Whatever restraint that had been holding him back broke in that moment. I could see a flash of the old Nikolai—the Nikolai that I loved—before he lowered his mouth to my skin.