"Which is?"
His lips brush mine, barely a touch that still makes my whole body light up. "That you came willingly, sneaked under my defences, played the captive. But now…now you truly are my prisoner."
He's right. God help me, he's right about all of it.
I kiss him then, pouring everything I can't say into the contact. My tongue claiming his mouth the way he's claimed my body. The boy who trained me to be strong would be devastated to see me now. The promise we made, only truth between us, lies in pieces at my feet.
But I'll go home tonight. I'll sit at my family's table and lie with every breath. I'll let them think they're getting their sister back and maybe, just maybe, I'll find the strength to stay with them instead of crawling back on my knees to my enemy.
19 - Alexei
Sofia is hiding something. I can see it in the way she won’t meet my eyes.
She stands at the mirror in my quarters, adjusting the collar of her blouse for the third time. The Rosetti princess mask sliding into place with each small gesture. Her fingers tremble slightly as she smooths her hair, and I know it's not about seeing her family.
"What did Kaz say to you?"
Her hands still for just a moment before continuing their unnecessary adjustments. "I told you. I can handle it."
"Sofia."
"It doesn't matter." She turns from the mirror, that perfect composure firmly in place. Like armor she's welded to her skin over years of survival. "I should go. The car is waiting."
I cross to her, catching her chin between my fingers. Making her look at me. "He threatened you."
"He shared his perspective." Her voice stays steady, but her pulse hammers beneath my thumb like a trapped bird. Another deflection, another shield. "And I threatened him right back."
She's protecting me from whatever poison Kaz dripped in her ear. Or protecting herself from having to repeat it. Either way, my cousin crossed a line by approaching her alone in my own compound.
"The driver will wait for you," I tell her, releasing her face. "However long you need. But I want you back by midnight."
Something flickers in her expression. Surprise, maybe gratitude. "Thank you. For letting me go."
"You'll come back before midnight." Not a question. A certainty that sits in my bones like shrapnel.
But what if she doesn't? What if she never returns? I finally have her under lock and key, properly secured for the first time, and I'm letting her go. Does that make me a fool?
"I'll be back by midnight," she agrees, then rises on her toes to kiss me once. Soft, brief, but I taste something like goodbye in it that makes my chest constrict.
I watch her walk to the door, every line of her body in perfect control despite whatever weight Kaz added to her shoulders. When she's gone, when I hear the car pull away from the compound, I make my decision.
Time to remind my cousin about boundaries written in blood.
The east wing feels like a mausoleum. These were Mikhail's rooms once, before.
I don't finish the thought. Can't afford to, not when I need the cold clarity that comes before violence.
I find Kaz in what used to be Mikhail's sitting room, vodka bottle open on the side table, tablet in his hands like he hasn't just cornered my woman in a hallway. The casual arrogance of it makes my jaw clench.
"Cousin." He doesn't look up. "Drink?"
"What did you say to her?"
Now he raises his eyes, that cold smile I remember from childhood spreading across his face. The one that meant someone was about to bleed.
"The Rosetti girl? We had a conversation. Nothing sinister."
"She won't tell me what you said."
