Page 79 of Soulless Rivalry

Losing her had felt just as bad as losing Baba. The fact that I didn’t have any idea of where she was killed me inside. I tried finding her once I got older, but none of my internet searches had been conclusive.

Clearing my throat, I decided to close that subject. “But it’s okay. I get to come and study here most of the year so I don’t see them that much.”

Konstantin listened attentively, and he stared at me for a while afterward. I was surprised to see how much the way they treated me seemed to anger him.

“Your family are assholes. You don’t need them.”

“It’s the only one I have left,” I whispered.

“Not anymore.”

My breath caught in my throat as I looked up, boring my eyes into his.

“Come back home with me for Christmas break.”

Eyes wide, I couldn’t help but feel startled, like a deer caught in headlights. The demand was so unexpected that words failed me.

“I’m tired of hiding. Let’s make it official.”

He looked at me with all the seriousness in the world; it made my heart soar.

“They would never allow it, Konstantin.”

“Who cares? I’d like to see them try coming after my family,” he growled. “Unlike them, we’re not fucking cowards. We take care of our own.”

The fact that he included me in that healed something in me, but it also caused anxiety to crawl up my spine.

“It’s too soon. My mother isn’t doing so great. Her last attempt was last year during exam week and I need to be there for?—”

“What?” he cut me off and I realized what I’d just said. I had told him about my mother’s deteriorating mental health before, but I never mentioned when was her last attempt. “Last year, when you cheated on that exam… it was because you had to go home urgently, wasn’t it? Because your mother had tried to kill herself.” He put the pieces together and I nodded silently, tears welling up in my eyes. “Fuck, Elyssa, I was such an asshole to you.”

I didn’t say anything, because it was true, he had been an asshole to me, but all that was water under the bridge now.

“I get it. You were disappointed and angry. I don’t blame you, Konstantin, you didn’t have all the information to make up your mind. Plus, believe me, all you did was child’s play compared to what I’ve been taking at home.”

He didn’t like my answer but I cupped his jaw, pressing a soft kiss to his mouth to try and pacify him.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about me, I’m used to being the ugly duckling.” I managed a small smile but that didn’t soften him up.

Instead, Konstantin’s hand grabbed my throat and forced me to look at him. “Fuck them. Look what a beautiful swan you’ve become.”

Walkingout of the secret room hand in hand with Konstantin felt weird. We left using our usual passage, not the one he’d used last night which he had discovered while rummaging through the room one night after I fell asleep.

The castle was quiet, everyone was still sleeping since it was only around six on a Saturday. Breakfast wasn’t served until nine on weekends, so we all usually got in as much sleep as we could.

Konstantin pushed me against the staircase wall, careful not to activate the mechanism that opened the secret door, and took my mouth with his for one last kiss. Pulling away, I smiled at him, butterflies in full swing in my stomach, before untangling myself from him and ascending the stairs to get to my dorm.

I was smiling like a fool by the time I reached my floor, replaying the events of last night and this morning over and over again and wanting to giggle with joy at how perfect it all had been. I was falling hard, but now that I knew Konstantin wanted to make things official, that he was serious about us, I couldn’t stop hope from blossoming within my chest.

So when I arrived in front of my room and saw my cousin Lorenzo sitting on the floor next to it, asleep and looking disheveled, I stopped dead in my tracks. A little voice in my head screamed that all good things eventually came to an end, but I refused to think negatively.

“Lorenzo?” I called, and his eyes snapped open almost immediately. He looked confused for a beat, but when he took in his surroundings, eyes landing on me, he jumped to his feet.

“Fuck, Elyssa, where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you all night!”

Gulping, I forced myself to think fast, “I—I slept over at Sinem’s. My phone was off. Why? What’s wrong?”

I had never seen him look so distressed, so scared in my life. He usually was pretty good at hiding how he felt, he had to, given he’d be taking over as underboss soon.

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