Page 49 of Cruel Crown

I snorted. “Aren’t most Russians?”

“You don’t get it because you haven’t been here long enough. Yeah, sure, he doesn’t like gay people, but as a spy, you deal with that shit because it can blow your cover. He despises them to the point that his icy mask falls off, and you see hate on his eyes. If Ivan groomed and sold his own daughter, what was there to stop him from doing that to another child that wasn’t his? Why aren’t there more people here who are from the original families other than Daphne and Damian? It’s the only thing that makes sense, especially in how Damian got the throne.”

This was what I wanted to talk about this morning, especially after Daphne wishing to get it.

“How did he get the throne?”

“You haven’t been here long enough to try and call it.”

“Just give me the bloody information.”

“A member can call a blood duel.” I raised my brow because that sounded medieval and archaic. “The person calling upon the duel picks the weapon; it can’t be a gun or anything automatic. Then they duel until one of them dies. If the current head of the Sekt falls, the person who challenged them is now in charge.”

“Where the fuck is the lab?”

Daphne

Tchaikovsky was playing in the room as I worked on a new serum I had been perfecting for the last couple of years.

This morning when I walked into Bas’s room, I kept my face straight, and over the night, I decided that I needed to treat Gideon like everyone else. Like he was of no importance to me. It was going to be the only way to survive this nightmare.

I was so lost in the music and in my thoughts that I didn’t hear the door open. My body was turned around, which was easy enough to do since the stool I sat on had wheels.

Gideon towered over me, and he looked enraged. His whiskey eyes shone with madness, his jaw rigid and sharp. I could taste his rage, and it was all directed at me.

“For the love of all is holy, please fucking tell me you aren’t planning to duel the motherfucking bastard!”

The cannons on the music started to play at that time, and I couldn’t help at how comical it all looked that I started to shake and burst with laughter. Gideon, however, didn’t find this funny. His eyes searched the room until he found my speaker. He walked up to it and threw it against the wall, and I watched as the thing shattered into pieces.

“Do that again,” he demanded as he faced the wall. Slowly he turned around, and I saw as his chest rose and fell. “I’ve never heard you laugh.”

The remainder of my smile dropped. “You once told me not to do it.”

He walked back to where I was and pulled me out of my chair, then pushed aside what I had been working on and sat me on the metal table.

“You can’t just move my stuff,” I hissed as I turned and fixed the serum. I sometimes work with deadly viruses and pathogens—now that could have been catastrophic.

When I turned back around, he was sitting on my chair. As soon as our eyes met, he put his hands on my waist. The feeling was like being set on fire and liking the feel of the flames.

“I told you not to smile because I didn’t like the thought of anyone else seeing you like that.” Now it was me who couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t stop there. “I bet I can count on one hand the number of people who have seen you smile, and that’s still four too many.”

“That’s a bit irrational, don’t you think?” I said in a breathy voice because he made it hard to breathe—to think.

He stood up, his hands coming to my sides as he towered over me. “For as long as I can remember, nothing I’ve ever had was mine. Not my clothes, my bed, cot, or piece of the floor I slept on. Showing your body, sex, money, none of that has meaning to you, but that moment you smiled at me—fuck, it was like you stole a piece of me right there and then. Like my fucked-up soul recognized something in yours, and I knew I would kill the person who dared and come between that because, for the first time in my life, I found something that was just for me.”

The pressure on my chest was too much that it felt warm, but it also hurt. Like I wanted to rejoice and cry.

“There’s a softness to you, Petal, that most will never see, and I think of that part as mine.” His mouth was hovering over mine now, and I could feel the warmth of his breath teasing my skin. “That’s why I swallow every moan, whimper, the breathy way you say my name because I know you have never said anyone’s name like that, and Petal—” He pulled back so he could look at me. He looked deadly, ready for war, and I was breaking my walls, prepared to crack down and shatter all around—because of him.

“—no one ever will. For the first time, I have something that’s mine, and I will kill anyone who dares touch it. I don’t give a fuck if you want me to stay away. I’m selfish and cunning, and if I have to make you bend to my fucking will so that I can keep that softness that’s only ever been for me, I would do it with no remorse.”

I opened my mouth to try and protest, but he cut me off with his lips. The touch of his skin, the taste of his lips, all of it killed me. I’d been strong for so long, living in a world of pain and darkness, his kiss felt like lightness and hope despite the stains he carried in his soul.

“We”—my lips moved against his—“can’t.”

His hand came to my chin as he pulled away with one slow kiss. “Then prepare to fight a war on all ends, Petal. Fight Damian, the world, and me, because I will wear you down. And if you die before that happens, I will kill everyone. I don’t care if they are your enemies or your friends, I will kill everything so your death will be in vain.”

I could see the truth in his eyes and taste revenge on his lips. “You’re not giving me a choice at all.”

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