Before she could respond, his eyes rolled back, and he went limp in her arms.
Nadi stood there for a moment, his words echoing in her mind. Had she chosen him? Or had she simply made a tactical decision? She wasn’t sure anymore.
Ivan’s expression darkened as he took in Raziel’s blood-soaked form. “What happened?” he demanded, already moving to help her load Raziel into the back seat.
“Braen was waiting for us,” she said, carefully arranging Raziel’s unconscious body. “He had silver bullets.”
“And Braen?” Ivan arched an eyebrow.
“Dead.” The word hung in the air, heavy with implication. Braen Rosov wasn’t just any vampire. His death would have consequences.
Ivan’s jaw tightened as he slammed the car door and slid behind the wheel. “We can’t go home,” he said flatly as Nadi climbed into the back seat, cradling Raziel’s head in her lap.
“What? Why not?” She pressed her hands against Raziel’s wounds, trying to stem the bleeding.
“Don’t think we can trust anybody.” Ivan’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror, dark and serious. “Not like this.”
Letting out a breath, she sighed. “Yeah.” That made sense. Too much sense. Lana would have contingencies. If “Monica” couldn’t finish the job, then Lana would make sure someone else would.
Ivan gunned the engine, the car lurching forward.
“Where are we going, then?”
“Somewhere safe.” Ivan’s focus returned to the road as he navigated the winding lanes leading away from the Rosov estate. “Somewhere Raziel goes when he needs to…get away.”
The implication hung in the air. This wasn’t the first time Raziel had been brought to the brink of death. It wasn’t the first time Ivan had needed to hide him away.
“What happened?” Ivan asked, his voice low. “Raziel isn’t careless.”
Nadi hesitated, unsure how much to share. Ivan was Raziel’s most loyal guard, but he was a Nostrom employee. Still, they needed his help.
Ivan grunted. “I know about them, Monica, if that’s what’s up.”
Her jaw ticked. “It got personal. Braen started talking about their past. About Volencia turning them against each other.” She left out the part where Raziel confessed his love for his “wife.”
Ivan’s hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened. “Shit.” His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, focusing on Raziel’s unconscious form. “It nearly destroyed him.”
Nadi looked down at Raziel, at the face that had once filled her with nothing but hatred. It was hard to reconcile the monster from her nightmares with the broken man in her lap.
“What happened between them?” she asked softly. “Braen said something about Volencia convincing him that Raziel had been manipulating his emotions.”
“Not my place.”
Nadi frowned. “Ivan, please. You said it almost destroyed him. And tonight, it almost killed him.”
A heavy sigh. For a minute, she didn’t think he was going to answer. But when Ivan finally spoke, his voice was distant, as if recalling events from another lifetime. “About a hundred ’n’ fifty years ago, Raziel was different then—less, well. You see him. The Serpent reputation was still new. Volencia had him doing her dirty work, but he hadn’t become what he is now.” Ivan navigated a sharp turn, the car’s headlights cutting through the darkness. “Then, he met Braen. They were bothbrokenin their own way.”
Nadi tried to imagine a less broken Raziel.
“Braen was the oldest Rosov, but he was always the black sheep,” Ivan continued. “Too unpredictable. He had…tastes that his family found unseemly.” A pause. “Though nothing like what he was doing with those fae in the basement of his club. That came later.”
“And Raziel?” Nadi prompted, wanting to understand the man whose blood was staining her hands.
“Raziel was Volencia’s dog, but he hadn’t fully accepted that role yet. He still fought against it, still believed he could havesome kind of life outside her control.” Ivan’s laugh was bitter. “Turns out he was wrong.”
Beneath Nadi’s hands, Raziel stirred slightly, his face contorting in pain even in unconsciousness. She smoothed back his hair, the gesture automatic.
“Their uh…thing…was pretty intense.” Ivan’s hesitation in his words made her smile. He was treating her like she’d never had a boyfriend before Raziel. “It was—uh…volatile. But real. He seemed happy. Started talking about breaking away from Volencia, about building his own thing.”
