Page 87 of Soulless Rivalry

As if my thinking had conjured him, Konstantin appeared in front of me. He was heading to the dining hall too, but coming from another wing of the castle. When he looked up and saw me, he did a double-take before stopping dead in his tracks.

I did too, my hands turning into fists as I yearned to run into his arms.

If there was one thing the last few weeks made me realize, it was that I had fallen hopelessly in love with Konstantin Korolov. It sounded paradoxical, but as much as it hurt me to stay away and not reach out to him, I also felt like it tremendously helped me make sense of what I was feeling for him.

I knew what I felt for him wasn’t just merely attraction. It went way deeper than that.

Taking a tentative step towards him, I opened my mouth to talk but he beat me to it.

“I didn’t know you were back.”

“I—”

“No, you know what? Forget it. I think I received your message clearly.”

“Konstantin, wait!” I all but ran to him, uncaring of who would see us together; I didn’t have anything to lose anymore.

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to pull a disappearing act but?—”

“Now is not the time or place. I’m… hurt and I need to regroup before saying something I regret. We’ll discuss it later.” He tried side-stepping me to reach the double doors but I moved in the same direction, blocking his way once again.

“Fine, but I still need to warn you about something.”

“Warn me?”

“Don’t eat your food tonight. My cousins—them and Benetti had someone spike your food.”

He frowned, so I continued. “Do not eat anything you’re served tonight. They’re planning on drugging you so they can retaliate for what you did last time more easily.”

Icy grey eyes roamed my face, searching for something I couldn’t quite name. I couldn’t tell whether or not he believed me, so I chose to hope he did. Turning around, I entered the dining room and joined my friends at their table. He came in two minutes later and took his usual seat too.

I eyed him nervously from across the room, but he didn’t spare me a glance as he took a spoonful of his meal, dismissing my warning.

It felt like he was making a statement—one that said he didn’t trust me anymore.

I forced myself not to look in his direction for the rest of the meal.

ELYSSA

Iused a headache as a pretext to leave dinner early. Konstantin’s table was empty; neither he, his brothers, nor his friends were anywhere to be seen, but Batista’s table was still full.

That meant I still had time to warn them if Konstantin hadn’t.

I rushed out of the castle to make my way to the Church, despite how scared I was of the dark. Turning on my phone flashlight, I took it easy, walking slowly until, finally, the old building came into view. I rushed to it, pushing the big oak doors open and stumbling inside.

It was dark, none of the candles they used to bring light in there were lit. Everything looked exactly like it usually did, too. The couches, discarded bottles of vodka in the corner, even the cleaning supplies Konstantin had brought in here the day he forced me to clean up the ground floor.

A movement on my left snapped my attention to it. I could have sworn I saw something move from the corner of my eye, but there was nothing.

Only the statues the guys always covered in a white sheet. They were so heavy that moving only one of them would be a real feat, let alone all five.

Wait. Five?

Tilting my head to the side, I frowned in confusion. I could have sworn that the last time I came in here, there were only four of them.

I didn’t get to dwell on that because the sound of the doors being pushed open echoed around me. I recognized Batista’s voice and my blood ran cold.

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