She gave a shaky nod, but she didn’t know how he could make a promise like that. Scotland Yard was searching for her, and they had proof that she’d helped Mikhail. There was no evidence that she’d been coerced, no way to back up her version of the story. To all outward appearances, she’d helped Mikhail of her own free will and run off with him like a modern-day Bonnie andClyde.
“Breathe, just breathe,” Mikhail urged her, one hand on her hip again, but she shoved himaway.
“Breathe? That’s your advice? This is all your fault! If you hadn’t used me to get to the jewels, they wouldn’t think I was part of yourplan!”
She brushed past him and dashed up the stairs to her room. The harsh, explosive sound of her slamming the door and the echoing rattle of the doorknob offered her only a tiny bit ofsatisfaction.
“Piper,” Mikhail said through the door. “Let mein.”
“I just want to be alone.Please,” she begged. “Haven’t you doneenough?”
There was a long, deafening silence, and then he spoke again. “Very well. But I promise, I will clear yourname.”
His soft footfalls retreated, and the creak of the stairs assured her that she was indeed alone. She should’ve been glad about that, but Mikhail’s absence left her feeling strangely hollow inside. She walked over to the windows and looked at the cliffs by thesea.
She lost herself in her thoughts for a long time, until she noticed a figure walking away from the house toward the cliffs. It was Mikhail. Despite the biting wind and the misting spray of the sea butting against the rocks, he was outside without a coat, walking straight toward thecliffs.
9
There were cliffsthere,
And forests made of mists. There were bridges spanning the void, and that great gray blind lake which hung above its distantbottom
Like the sky on a rainy day above alandscape.
—Rainer MariaRilke
The mist rolledthrough the coast of Cornwall like a silent wave, blanketing everything with dampness and chill. For the first time in a long while, Mikhail felt cold. A dragon’s blood runs hot, even in the deepest of Russian winters. But today he felt a bone-numbing ache and cold. It seemed to cut deep, freezing the edges of his verysoul.
Belishaw’s call had been a grim reminder of reality. He’d lived so long outside of the world that he’d lost track of the rules, forgotten about things like consequences. He’d involved Piper, and now her life was crumbling around her. He could see how much it might cost her, and it wounded him as much as it had terrified her. The last thing he ever wanted was to hurt his futuremate.
I never think things through.Not five hundred years ago and not now.His father had made a grave mistake choosing him to oversee the transport of the jewels from England. The treaty with the Belishaw dragons had been crucial; if his family ever needed to fight the Drakors back in Moscow, they would need as much support as they could get. While the treaty itself still held fast, the shame of losing the jewels had weakened the Barinov reputation. It was why, even now, he could not go home to Russia, not until he’d seen his mission through and brought the treasure back withhim.
Mikhail let the icy wind cut through him, but the punishment would never be enough for his sins. Sometimes when the wind, fog, and rain built around the coast like this, he felt his dragon stir with madness, a sense of unfathomable grief that couldn’t becontained.
It wasn’t the first time the past had come back at him, dragging old memories into the light. His dragon became too strong then and took over their shared body. He closed his eyes, remembering nights long past, even though he wished he could erase those memoriesforever.
The dungeon had been cold and damp, the smell of smoke from the torches of the guards thick and cloying. He lay there in the corner of his cell, his food always drugged and leaving him weakened. It had been midday, but there was no light here, not in thedungeons.
“Bring me a light.” Elizabeth’s voice had cut through the heavy darkness, and he’dstirred.
“My queen?” he croaked, hopefully. He’d spent the last two years hoping for this, or was it longer? But his cries had gone unanswered. Had she finally come to free him from thisplace?
Fire blazed suddenly past the iron bars, and he could see Elizabeth. She was wearing a gold-and-cream gown, pearls studded her sleeves and bodice, and a white ruffle was laced around her creamy neck. Her red hair was bound up in a fashion suitable for court, and her hand gleamed with jeweledrings.
“My dear, sweet Mikhail,” she said with a tragic tone. “I am so sorry. I’ve learned the truth, but I fear it is too late. I can’t fix what is broken, my love, but I can ensure there is some measure ofjustice.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mikhail. “Are you here to freeme?”
Elizabeth looked away. “I wish things were that simple, but they are not.” She studied one of the rings on her fingers. His ring. The one that had a serpent biting its own tail. An emerald stone was set in the snake’s eye. That ring had never belonged to her family. His father had given him that ring on his two hundredthbirthday.
“My…ring, that is mine. A gift from my father,” he whispered and stumbled to his feet. He collapsed against the bars, relying on their strength to hold him up. Whatever his jailers had put in his food had been doubled in its dosage, no doubt because they’d been warned that this meeting would takeplace.
“It is. And I am afraid I must keep it, as I must keep you. Though not like this. Not for muchlonger.”
“I don’t understand,” saidMikhail.
“I have been used, manipulated most cruelly by one who saw you as a threat to his own plans. He taught my most trusted advisor just enough about your people to distrust them, and he learned just enough on his own to know how to weaken them. It is because of him that you now rothere.”
