“Why does Dominik blame you for that?” My eyes narrow with a guess. “Were you the other man?”
Gavriil’s jaw tenses for a moment. “No. Dominik blames me because I’m the one who told him the truth about Daria’s betrayal. I popped the bubble of his fantasy future with her.”
That’s somewhat of a relief. I guess. “He was that devastated?”
Gavriil shrugs. “I’ve warned him since we were children not to get attached to other people. He never listens, so his heart will continue to get broken.”
He probably thinks that I’ll be the next one to break his brother’s heart. I don’t want to do that, though. Even if Dominik hurts me with his actions, I don’t want to intentionally cause him pain.
“He never mentioned her to me,” I tell him.
“He doesn’t like to talk about what happened,” Gavriil replies. “And why would he talk about a past flame with his current one? However long it lasts.”
Now, he sounds like an asshole again.
“I want to see him,” I blurt out.
Even if it’ll be hard to look Dominik in the eye, I still want to see him. I want to make sure that he’s doing okay. I’m sure he’s been worried to death about me.
“You will eat and drink first,” Gavriil says, his tone firm.
But I see him differently now. I have a certain power over him, if I can just figure out how to wield it.
“After I see Dom,” I reply. “The IV fluids are enough for now.”
I no longer feel like I’m going to wither away and die, which is a massive improvement, but I’m not running a marathon or winning a fight any time soon.
Gavriil purses his lips for a moment like he wants to argue, but he eventually nods and slides away from me to get out of the bed. It’s a small victory, but it gives me hope and makes me feel…alive for the first time in days.
“You’ll return to the cage while he’s here,” he says.
“You don’t want Dom to see me in your bed? Shocking,” I mutter, my eyes watching his every move. My gaze lingers where it shouldn’t when he gets dressed.
Gavriil ignores my comment and grabs his cell phone off the nightstand to make a call, speaking in Russian so that I can’t understand a word that he’s saying.
“Come,” he says once he gets off the phone.
My heart pounds as he steps close to the side of the bed, looming over me. Despite it being his bed, I’m reluctant to leave it when it feels so damn comfortable.
Gavriil leans closer and says, “I’ll be the first to tell him when you climb into my bed all on your own.” With thatpronouncement, he scoops his arms under my legs and back, pulling me closer to the edge of the mattress. “I need to remove the IV before Dominik sees it.”
“I can do it,” I reply, keeping my eyes lowered when he picks me up off the bed like I weigh as much as a piece of paper. Given how little I’ve eaten lately, I weigh significantly less than usual.
With a faint grimace, I ease the needle out of the top of my hand, letting the tube drop and hang from the bag attached to…a coat hanger?
As Gavriil carries me to the cage, I curl my arms against my chest, resisting the natural urge to wrap my arms around his neck to hold on.
That feels too…intimate. Even if I was just lying on his bare chest.
Gavriil sets me down in the middle of the cage, lingering close to me as my legs shake for a moment. His arm is my anchor, wrapped around my waist. “Can you stand on your own?”
My hand finds his shoulder as I fight against how heavy my body feels and how weak my legs are. I refuse to collapse in front of him. “I’m fine.”
Gavriil doesn’t look convinced, but he steps away once I straighten up.
My skin feels clammy from the small exertion, but I breathe through the simple exhaustion, my gaze locking with his.
“Don’t tell him about…last night,” I say, meaning how sick I let myself get.
