We could go to her right now, the shades urged, undulating along the floor by the drunken guard’s feet. We could have her again, the way we did the other night. We were so hungry, and she filled us, and we didn’t hurt anyone…
But that wasn’t true. Who knew what he had done to his beautiful Dimi by touching her with his Darkness? What if he’d stolen her Light to fuel himself, and weakened her? Worse still, what if he’d stained her soul?
He would never touch her that way again, no matter what it cost him. Even if he did have the privilege to fight by her side once more, he would never lay a finger on her.
“It’s a comfortable place for a nap,” he said now. “Better sitting up than lying on that dirty floor.”
Berezin snorted. “Whatever you say. On your feet, nezhit. You’re leaving.”
Panic shot through Niko, and his spine straightened, the rough stones abrading his skin through his torn gear. “Why? Where am I going?”
“To stand trial.” It was Morozov, his voice filled with tight satisfaction. “You’ve abided here long enough, and given us nothing but lies. Now it’s time for the prince regent and the people to decide your fate.”
The prince regent—the young royal who’d replaced the Kniaz, some sort of distant relative, as the duke had fathered no heirs. Niko had heard the guards muttering about him on the previous night’s reconnaissance mission, when he’d sent his shades to roam the prison’s halls in search of intelligence he could use.
“Trial? Now?” he said, stalling for time. Had he lost his last chance to free Katerina? Had he waited too long, trying to learn to control his shades?
“Yes, you imbecile, now.” Berezin’s lip curled. “Stand up. Back against the wall. No tricks, or you’ll go before the prince regent looking like the animated corpse that you are.”
Damn, damn, damn. Come, he told his shades as he rose to his feet, head low as befitted a lesser Shadow in the presence of an alpha. But go canny. Hug the walls; let no one see you.
For once, the shades didn’t fight him. They turned to go back the way they’d come, streaming inches above the ground, indistinguishable from the prison’s gloom.
The cell door’s bolt slid back, and all four Shadows shouldered their way through. Niko kept his head low in a gesture of submission, doing his best to look like anything but a threat. If they thought he had surrendered, that they controlled him, then perhaps they would grow complacent. He would watch, waiting for the perfect moment. And then he would strike.
These men might be soldiers of the Light, true. But if it was between them and his Dimi, there would be no choice. He would use whatever weapons he had at his disposal to kill them.
Yes, his shades hissed, coursing faster. Kill them, and feed on them, and strengthen until no one can stand against us…
The shades had almost returned to him; he could feel them lurking around the bend from his cell, biding their time until they could seep back inside him, unseen. Maybe he should take on Berezin and his men now, draining the life from them before this farce of a trial could take place. He could do it; there was no question in his mind. And the more people he drained, the stronger he would become. But what if that endangered Katerina?
As if Berezin had plucked the thought from his mind, the alpha Shadow sneered at him. “You’ve been whining about seeing that Dimi of yours since the moment you got here. Well, now is your chance. She’ll stand trial right alongside you, and then doubtless the two of you will swing from the hangman’s rope side by side. Not the reunion you dreamed of, perhaps, but beggars can’t be choosers, no?”
That settled matters. If this was his opportunity to see Katerina, he wouldn’t compromise it. Together, the two of them had always been unstoppable. He would go along with this charade, until or unless he couldn’t anymore.
“I understand, alpha,” he murmured, allowing Berezin to take hold of one of his arms.
Morozov snorted. “Not so fearsome now, are you? No more than a weakened pup, bowing to the alpha of the Druzhina Guard as you should.” He spat at Niko’s feet, the glob of saliva running between the stones.
Inside Niko, his black dog stirred, enraged. When I am free, the dog growled, I will show you what it means to be a true alpha. You will kneel to me.
Something about the dog’s voice sounded different, rougher. Less a guardian and defender of the vulnerable; more a leashed, vicious beast. But Niko couldn’t dwell on that now.
“I do not answer to you,” he said instead, curling his lip at Morozov.
The man’s eyes darkened, his body shimmering with the first hint of his Change. “Oh yes, you do. I am the alpha’s second; you are naught but a bottom-feeding worm.”
“I thought I was a weakened pup.” Niko tilted his head, unable to resist needling Morozov. It was too easy. “Which is it? You seem a bit confused. Perhaps that’s how you earned your place as the alpha’s second—all brawn, little brain, doomed never to rise to true leadership.”
“Why, you—” The man lunged for him, giving Niko the distraction he needed.
Now, he told his shades, and they streamed through the cell’s bars, keeping close to the floor, hidden in the gloom as Morozov’s hands closed on his upper arms.
“Let him go,” Berezin ordered, his voice cold steel.
“He insulted me!”
“Because you provoked him. Unhand him and step away. We have places to be.”
