I can only make out a tall silhouette moving toward me with predatory grace.
Every muscle in my body screams at me to run, but there’s nowhere to go. I’m trapped.
The figure stops a few feet away, and I hear the click of a lighter.
A small flame illuminates a face I know too well.
Green eyes that glow like ice in the flickering light.
Sharp cheekbones shadowed with stubble.
Lips curved into something that might be amusement or might be fury.
Mikhail.
He looks at me for a long moment, taking in my disheveled appearance, my tear-stained face, the way I’m pressed against the wall like a cornered animal.
His expression is unreadable, but I can see the tension in his jaw, the way his free hand clenches and unclenches at his side.
His familiar voice, rough with amusement, cuts through the darkness. “Going somewhere, princess?”
6
MIKHAIL
The beam of my flashlight catches her face, and fury explodes in my chest like a grenade.
She’s pressed against the collapsed tunnel wall, her eyes wide with terror, mascara streaking down her cheeks.
Her breath comes in short, panicked gasps that echo off the stone.
“Going somewhere, princess?” My voice is deadly calm, but inside I’m a storm of rage and relief so intense it makes my hands shake.
She could have died down here.
Could have gotten lost in these tunnels and starved.
Could have triggered one of the old traps my grandfather installed decades ago.
The thought sends ice through my veins.
“Mikhail.” My name is barely a whisper on her lips. “I can’t…I can’t breathe.”
I close the distance between us in three strides and grab her arm. She’s trembling violently, her skin cold and clammy. “You should have thought about that before you decided to play escape artist.”
“Please.” She claws at my hand, not trying to get away but holding on like I’m her lifeline. “The walls. They’re closing in. I can’t…”
Her eyes roll back, and I catch her before she hits the ground. Damn it. This isn’t fear of me. This is something else entirely.
I scoop her into my arms, and she buries her face against my chest, her fingers fisting in my shirt.
Her whole body shakes with silent sobs.
The rage drains out of me, replaced by something I don’t want to name.
“I’ve got you,” I hear myself say. “Just breathe.”
I carry her through the tunnels, my flashlight tucked under my arm, casting erratic shadows on the walls.
