[Isolde]
"What did you just say?" Nikolai’s father’s voice dropped to a dangerously low tone, each word measured and controlled in that way that somehow felt more threatening than shouting.
"You heard me," Nikolai replied, his tone steady despite the way his fingers tightened around mine. I tried to slip my hand free—once, twice, three times—but he refused to let go. His grip stayed firm.
And that's when I felt it; the slight tremor running through his fingers. Subtle enough that no one else would notice, but undeniable when you were the one he was holding onto.
He wasn't just holding my hand for my sake. He was holding it for himself too.
But what could possibly make him scared?
Nikolai, who was always so sharp-tongued and blunt. Nikolai, who seemed to take genuine pleasure in pushi
