His hand moves to my neck, and he kisses me harder.
I firm my grip.
Just cut his throat. It’ll be quick. You need to kill him.
Nikolai’s mouth quickly pulls back, still hovering.
“Drop the knife, malyshka.”
I lift my arm, swinging, knife in hand, but his hand snatches my wrist and squeezes so tight I drop the knife, and it clings as it hits the ground.
He tilts his head and roughly throws my hand down on the pillow beside my face.
Without another word, his lips claim mine, and both my hands link around his neck, pulling him closer.
Whatever. This feels too good to end anyway.
He pulls back, and I look at him with all the lust I feel.
“Come inside me,” I whisper.
Nikolai smiles, straightening his spine and moving his hands to my hips, using me as a handle to hold his balance. He pumps harder, faster, and moans fill the space around us as we fall into each other, warmth filling me.
Chapter 57
Adrian
The first thing I notice when I wake is the sound. That damn machine to my left, beeping slow and steady, reminding me I’m still tethered to this body. Every breath burns. My skin feels too tight. And Viktor—of course, Viktor—stands over me like he’s been rehearsing this moment in front of a mirror.
“Viktor,” I rasp. My throat feels raw, the word cracking on the way out.
His smile widens. “My son. You did well. The girl seemed quite distraught over your safety, and I can assume she is now doing whatever your brother asks of her.”
I blink hard, trying to clear the haze from my head.
Aurelia.
The way she looked at me that last night before Nikolai put a bullet in me—it flashes in my mind so fast it makes my chest ache.
“Where is she?” I demand.
Viktor clasps his hands behind his back, pacing a little. Always the showman. “With Nikolai, of course. He requested to keep her while we arrange her ritual at the ball.”
Something ugly wrenches in me. I huff a humourless laugh, making me wince as it pulls on my stitches. “He’s playing you,Viktor. I’ve seen the way he is with her. He’s not thinking with his head. Not with the right one, anyway.”
Viktor just grins wide, patting my shoulder with a mockery of fatherly affection. The touch makes me want to rip the IV out and put it through his throat.
“Do not worry about the girl. He will not be able to protect her. And neither will you.”
He leaves on that note, boots clicking against the tile.
I stare at the ceiling long after the door slams shut, every muscle in my face pulled tight enough to crack.
The bastard thinks he’s untouchable. Thinks because I’m flat on my back with tubes in my arm and holes in my body that I won’t rise again. He’s wrong.
He’s been wrong about me my whole life.
I detest him. Every word he says, every smirk. But the truth is, I played his game. I took the shot. I bled for this. All because the empire should’ve been mine, not Nikolai’s.
