I wince at the reminder of how Archer nearly got me and Dominik both killed. “I didn’t mean for Dom to get hurt. I tried to protect him by making a deal with you. You’re the only one hurting him now.”
“Ever heard of tough love,printsessa?”
“Don’t call me that,” I snap at him. I hated when he called me wildcat. This new nickname is even worse for some reason.
“I’ll call you whatever I want.” Gavriil reaches out, brushing his forefinger along the thin strap of my G-string that runs along my hip. “We still have so much time together; time you willingly agreed to spend with me knowing full well what we would be doing…”
Anger burns under my skin as he keeps delivering low blows. He’s not wrong, though. I did know, but that was when Archer was still alive.
I breathe through the fury and keep my voice deadly calm. “If you keep this up, you’re going to end up all alone. No younger brother to control. No men who respect you or fear you. If it’s already lonely at the top, I can’t imagine how much you’ll suffer when you fail to keep control of the city, and everyone abandons you.”
Gavriil’s hand pauses possessively on my waist, my skin automatically warming under his touch. “But I won’t be alone, because I will still have you. It’s not like you will have anyone else either after you break Dominik’s heart again.”
No. I won’t do that. I won’t hurt Dominik. He just said it to mess with my head.
My breath stutters, and I hate myself for noticing how my body reacts before my mind does as his thumb grazes the top of my thigh, getting closer and closer to where heat is building between my legs. I hate myself for not moving. And hate him more for knowing I won’t.
My stomach churns with guilt, but I’m frozen in place, unable to bring myself to slap his hand away, to move away from him.
“I knew you would look delicious in this outfit,” Gavriil says, voice dipping lower. “Last time, it was for blackmail. This time, it’s for me. Just for my pleasure.”
“Dominik won’t like this,” I murmur, mostly to myself since Gavriil doesn’t pull his hand away.
“I don’t fucking care.”
My heart feels like it’s fluttering as fast as hummingbird wings, and it doesn’t help when Gavriil rakes his eyes over my entire body like I’m a portrait to admire.
“And you’re fine with breaking your brother’s heart?”
“How do you think Dominik felt when he found out thatyouwent behind his back and came to me the day you were supposed to leave with him?” Gavriil asks. “You keep trying to paint me as the bad guy between me and my brother all you want, but he is the one who ultimately pulled the trigger. He’s the one who kidnapped you. You saw how he punished Petrov.”
“That was all on your command!” I exclaim.
The side of his mouth tilts upward. Amused. Excited. He loves arguing with me, which is why I should stop.
“Dominik knows that doing what I tell him always benefits him in the end,” Gavriil replies, his hand moving upward over the lace of the bustier where it grips my side. “You should take note of that.”
“That would require trust.”
“No, it doesn’t. It requires obedience,” Gavriil says, sliding his hand around to the small of my back. He doesn’t pull me forward, though. He merely rests his hand there like a claim.
The thought of slapping him across the face slips into my mind, and my hand nearly vibrates with the longing to do so. He deserves it for what he’s done. He deserves worse.
But I won’t get anywhere hitting him or shouting in his face. He would just love it.
The only way to beat him is to make him crumble from the inside out.
“Where did you learn that?” I ask quietly. “Your father?” I take a guess, my eyes lowering to the two rubies he now wears around his neck.
Gavriil’s blue eyes lift to mine—sharp, controlled, and suddenly dangerous. “You don’t know anything about my father.”
Something tells me that I don’t want to, but it must be important. Dom barely said a word about him or their mother.
“If the formerPakhanwere still alive, and thought you were a distraction, you would be dead.”
I keep pushing, even as his expression darkens. “He’s who you learned everything from, right? How to lead. How to bottle up your feelings. How to hurt other people.”
“And what did you learn from your brother?” Gavriil questions me, taking a sudden step forward that makes me quickly step back. “How to cheat and scheme? How to betray those who trusted you? How to run and hide like a coward?”
