Dangerous Games

26

On his way out the door, I catch a glimpse of Stefan, watching me with those eyes of his, sharp as a cat’s. The dark cloud over his face gives me pause.

He closes the door and locks it. I hurry over to press my ear against the wood, my heartbeat picking up, my blood singing with a strange intuition.

I hear male voices, murmuring. Indistinct. Then the doctor, sounding agitated.

“I told you, I haven’t examined him. He uses another physician. I know nothing.”

Him? Does he mean Dimitri?

More murmuring. Then the sound of footsteps echoing over the marble floor, fading into the distance.

I turn away from the door, filled with anxiousness but trying to appear calm. I don’t wring my hands or pace again. I simply walk into the closet and select the most comfortable clothing I can find, a silk sheath the shimmering turquoise of a mermaid’s tail. I select a bra and panties from the dresser drawers, struggling to get the bra on with only one operational arm but finally managing it, then put on the dress. It’s easy to pull over my head, supple and light, with no buttons or zippers for swollen fingers to fumble with. A pair of black silk slippers completes the look.

The closet is bursting with couture in every rainbow color, all of it in my size. A gift from my intended.

God, I wish I had a can of petrol and a match. I’d love to watch all of it burn.

Into the console on the bathroom wall, I say, “I’d like to go for a walk outside.”

I say it with authority, as if there’s no question I’ll be allowed. As if I’m not a wounded bird trapped in this pretty cage.

Either my confidence works or this wasn’t forbidden in the first place, because Astrid answers with a cheerful “Of course, madam.”

Good. Let’s get a better look at my prison. Let’s see where the bars are bent.

Stefan unlocks the door and swings it open, allowing me to step into the hallway. The freezing hallway. Corpses could be kept fresh in this temperature for months.

When I shiver, running a hand up my bare arm, he shrugs out of his suit jacket—stopping to stick his rifle between his thighs—and settles it over my shoulders without a word. It’s warm and scented of him: pine needles and cigarette smoke, a cheap, spicy cologne.

“Thank you.”

He inclines his head, then takes up his rifle again and levels me with a look, dark and inscrutable. “This way.”

We don’t take the same route we came in yesterday, through the main entry and the midnight-black doors. Instead, he leads me through a series of rooms and corridors, winding and seemingly endless, until we emerge through a windowless door onto a plain paved driveway at the back of the property.

I look around, frowning.

“Servants’ entrance,” he says.

The driveway opens to a narrow unpaved road that leads south through the trees. On either side is meadow. The house is behind, elevated on a knoll overlooking the driveway but set back far enough that if you were inside looking out through a window, you couldn’t see where I’m standing.

The silence would be deafening, except for the whispering of the wind through the tips of the trees.

I turn and face Stefan. “If you’re going to shoot me, let’s get it over with. I’m cold.”

He knits his brows, gazing at me as if I’m a riddle he can’t quite solve. “Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Offer to take Vlad’s punishment.”

His question catches me completely off guard. Not only by the gentle tone in which it was spoken—a tone at odds with everything I’ve seen of him so far—but because it’s forbidden. I’m sure he’s aware that if I told Dimitri about this, he’d be dead. Or at least wishing he were.

So whatever’s behind his curiosity, it’s very important. It’s also important that I tell him the truth.

“Because he didn’t do anything wrong except step in the middle of an old, ugly game between me and Dimitri.”

He examines my face, his frown deepening. “What are you to him?”

I think about that for a moment as the mist plays around the hem of my dress. “A challenge, I think. Predators are happiest when the hunt isn’t easy.”

He shakes his head, dissatisfied with my answer. “I’ve seen him with other girls. You’re different. It’s like he’s . . . addicted. Obsessed.”

“Because of all the women I’ve ever had, only you have proven to be unbreakable.”

I smother the memory of Dimitri’s words. The logic of a monster wouldn’t make sense to a regular man. It takes me a moment to come up with something that might.

“I suppose it’s because I know how his mind works.”

Stefan’s confusion is obvious. He’s trying to work out our relationship. I think I’ll help him along.

“I met him when I was twenty. I was naive. A child. But not for long. He held me captive, me and my mother both, and did whatever he wanted to us. When she died, I escaped.” My smile is grim. “But not for long. He has me back now. He intends to marry me. A terrible decision, really, because as soon as I get the chance, I’m going to kill him.”

Stefan stares at me in silence, but I glimpse a whirlwind behind his eyes. There’s something important here I need to tease out.

I say gently, “It’s all right if you have to tell him I said that. I understand your position, where your loyalty lies.”

He huffs out a breath and looks away. “You don’t know anything about my loyalties.”