Sacha stared at Yulien with an amused smile, then suddenly jerked Elian’s head back, exposing more of his pale throat. Yulien instinctively took a step forward, then stopped himself.
“You’ve become predictable, Your Majesty,” Sacha grinned. “When we first came here, Master had a lot of trouble figuring you out. You were so strict and calculating, so guarded and separated from everyone and everything, that it was hard to see a weakness we could exploit. But then you slipped.” His smile grew as he looked down at the boy, moving the knife along his skin. Yulien opened his mouth to tell him to stop when Sacha leaned closer and kissed the boy’s head almost lovingly. Yulien could barely breathe.
“You want me to admit I made a mistake? Fine,” he said breathlessly. “You outsmarted me, I admit it
