Zane didn’t get to comment on how Pavel had walked away fromhimwithout a second glance. Not when he was merely returning the cruel favor.
Not when he didn’t even have the decency to remember Pavel or their past together.
At least Pavel did. At least he’d been trying all this time to bring them back together, the way he’d promised a much younger Zane he would always do. And yet this version of the man he’d always cherished, this adult, devilishly handsome, entirely frustrating version had the audacity to stand there and act like he’d been the one abandoned?
No.
Absolutely not.
Slowly, he rose from his perch on the stool, blinking the shiny tip of a blade into focus when Zane moved to counter him.
“Stop.” Zane held the star crystal dagger steadily, a wealth of confusion vivid in his gaze as he searched Pavel’s face. “Sit back down andtalk to me, Pavel.”
Talk to him? Like they had as kids? Sitting in the dark, confined to the quiet and all alone?
Why?
What good had those talks done then?
“You don’t even remember anything,” he snarled, moving a step forward only for Zane to hold his ground. The tip of the blade pressed lightly against the center of his throat. A place that would take an awful long time to heal if it was pierced through.
“So we really knew each other?” Zane’s brow furrowed. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”
Pavel clamped his mouth shut, refusing to answer that.
“Don’t be stubborn now,” he said, “that’s my thing, isn’t it? Come on. I’m trying here.”
“It’s too late.”
“Oh.” Zane’s hand wavered before he dropped his arm entirely and took a full step back. “In that case, I’ll see myself out.” Foolishly, he gave Pavel his back. “Make sure not to get your wound wet for the next few—”
Pavel went for him, but apparently his doctor was learning.
Zane spun on his heels just before he could make contact, latching onto Pavel’s wrist to use his momentum against him. He slammed him down over the kitchen countertop, twisting his arm so it was caught between them against Pavel’s narrow back.
“We’re going to discuss the tracking device you placed behind my ear in a bit,” Zane said, speaking directly against the curve of Pavel’s ear in a way that sent vibrations humming all throughout his body. He pressed the sharp edge of the bladeagainst his nape to ensure he was aware it was there. “No sudden movements,gorgeous.”
Pavel glanced at him over his shoulder the best he could in his current position. “Trying to make me hot for you, Doctor?”
“I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt for the sake of the Retinue,” Zane stated, jaw clenching when Pavel laughed in his face.
“You’re hoping to sit on my cock again, let’s just stick with the honesty, shall we?”
“That’s what I’ve been saying for the past month.” Zane pricked him with the knife, but barely. “I can’t be the only one honest here.”
“I’ve never lied to you.”
“No, only withheld the truth, clearly.” He licked his lips. “How did we know each other as kids? Were you also at the orphanage?”
Pavel’s origins weren’t as big of a secret as Zane’s, or really even a secret at all. He’d never felt the need to hide it, and neither had any of his family members. The fact that he was from Hexa wasn’t kept quiet either.
“Took you long enough,” he growled.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Zane asked.
“Because you’re the one who forgot. Asshole.”
The insult clearly caught him off guard.
