Natasha
The moment I heard the hooves thundering up to the castle gates, I knew that Mikhail was back.
I was half hidden behind one of the stone columns in the entrance hall like the coward I was, watching as everyone assembled to greet him.
Dimitri and Seraphina stood at the front looking every inch the powerful couple they were, and I lurked in the shadows where I belonged.
When he dismounted and strode through those doors, my heart did that stupid thing it always did.
That painful lurch that reminded me I was pathetic, hopeless and probably in love with someone who didn't know I existed.
He looked even better than I remembered. The few weeks in the northern camps had done something to him. It made him darker and more dangerous somehow.
His brown hair was slightly longer and w
