“I frighten you,” Anastasia said, her voice sounding as clear as a bell despite the exhaustion threatening to overtake her. “I frighten you simply because you can’t control me anymore. You’re scared of anything that you don’t have under your thumb.”
The Tsar’s eyes flickered before he was able to course-correct his expression. “I willendyou, Anastasia,” he bellowed, the blood from a broken nose drying on his face. “No matter what it takes!” His voice grew louder at the end until he was almost yelling.
“Your empire will fall,” Anastasia said clearly, feeling like she had discovered herself for the first time in her life. “I will push it over the edge.”
“If I fall,” the Tsar sneered, “I will take every Romanov down with me… and that means you.” With that threat hanging in the air mingling the remnants of Anastasia’s magic, he spun on his heel and left.
As soon as the door was closed firmly behind him, Anastasia let out a gasp. She sank the rest of her weight against Mikhail. He shifted her gently until they were face to face.
“Talk to me,Your Grace,”he used the nickname to inspire a flicker of annoyance on her face. “Talk to me.”
He leaned down and scooped Anastasia up, clutching her tight to his chest and walking them into her rooms. He put her down on the bed and began rubbing his hands over her arms, trying to massage some life back into her.
She looked incredibly pale, and her arms felt cold. Anastasia let a small smile creep onto her face while shaking her head.
“I’m okay,” she shook her head, laughing as his hands moved to her ribs and tickled her sides. “Oh, stop it!”
“I’ll do anything to hear you laugh,” Mikhail chuckled, sitting up on the bed next to her and kissing her forehead softly. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“It’s just the magic. I need a nap.”
Mikhail nodded, silence settling over the both of them as if they were afraid to acknowledge what had just happened. Anastasia had started a war with her family — they had seen her magic.
The Tsar now knew what she could do. She had nearly killed thedoryantsvowith a flick of a wrist.
This moment when her magic was depleted made Mikhail want to fight anyone wholookedat her wrong. He knew that she was capable of everything the Romanovs were afraid of and then some.
Anastasia was made for her magic, and she didn’t need him to use it. In these moments, when it was just the two of them, and he was allowed to see the Anastasia that no one else did — he lived for them. It scared him.
“We should move,” Mikhail kept looking over at the door behind him. He was waiting for the Tsar to burst back in at any moment with the entire Russian cavalry behind him. “Can you do it?”
Anastasia’s eyes had already fluttered closed, and she blinked them back open. “Move?”
“I don’t think we’re safe here,” he said quietly, “In the palace.”
“We don’t have any choice,” Anastasia’s voice was fading as heavy exhaustion threatened to drag her under. “If we leave, he’ll burn down the city trying to find us… People would die.”
“Do you really think he’s just going to let us stay here?” Mikhail’s voice rose a little, making Anastasia’s eyes squeeze closed.
“Please, I have an awful headache,” Anastasia sighed, her head lolling on the pillow, “And yes. He wants his enemies under his nose. He would wait to find the most opportune time to strike against me — find a way to make it propaganda. He’ll do nothing today.”
“No,” Mikhail shook his head. He felt a discomfort, an anxiety that had him suspended in a fight or flight response.
Something was wrong; he could feel it in his bones, though he couldn’t place what it was. There was no reason for them to stay in the palace after an argument like that.
The Tsar would want to strike quickly. His reputation had already been damaged. He was a man with every resource at his beck and call, and now, he had a daughter whose powerful magic he hadseen.
“Trust me,” Mikhail pleaded. Anastasia’s eyes flew open as she looked at him, going up on one elbow.
They had already made several stands against the monarchy together. Rumors about them were indeed already spreading.
She had saved his life now — twice — and no one had helped her find her magic the way that he had. Yet… he had left her, more than once, at pivotal times whenever they seemed to cross a line they wouldn’t be able to return from.
He was only in her chambers right now because she had killed his mother, andher motherhad hired him. It wasn’t exactly a recipe for lasting trust.
Anastasia stopped her thoughts as she felt her heart threatening to cave in on itself. It wasn’t the exhaustion caused by her magic either, but the terrible realization that she truly did trust Mikhail.
“I do trust you,” the words came falling out of Anastasia’s mouth before she could stop them. “I think I trust you more than anyone else in this world, Mikhail.”
