Page 93 of Seduced

Alexei

“Promise me that you’ll stay alive,” were his last words to Nikolaos as they parted at the entrance of the cave.

Alexei had gotten on a small boat and rowed with Nikolaos all the way to the cave’s awning, so that they could say their goodbyes there.

“I will if you will.” Nikolaos chuckled and, impulsively reached out and grasped Alexei’s hand so strongly he nearly broke bones. Alexei grasped it just as strongly, not feeling an ounce of revulsion at the prince’s touch.

Nikolaos brought Alexei’s hand to his lips and kissed its back with reverence. The barge was already moving, manned by two sailors, taking him away, to freedom, to safety.

Hopefully.

“Godspeed,” Alexei told him, once his hand was returned to him. “I know these are only idle words, but I do believe you shall be safe now.”

He would be safe, or he could be possibly going to his death.

“If you ever plan on praying, Alexei, start now,” Nikolaos said. “I need it.”

Alexei peered into the prince’s eyes.

They were big and scared, but Nikolaos’ jaw was set in iron, and he had a determined expression on his pale face. Determined not to let the fear overwhelm him. Sudden emotion gripped Alexei and he found himself close to tears. All these months, the prince had stayed in those two rooms, practically buried underneath London, just to stay alive.

And now, all of a sudden, he would be exposed to the perils of travel, and the danger of being hunted down. He looked thin and exhausted. He had been fighting against death for so long. And for what? To fight a war for his people, people who barely knew him or were able to give him anything back, if he ever succeeded in his endeavors.

“I will,” Alexei promised. He would have promised him anything that moment. “I will, Nicky.”

Another smile flashed across the prince’s handsome, slender face, and just like that, he was gone. The small opening of the underground cave swallowed him and his boat, and Alexei was left there, standing alone in the middle of the deep, black water, watching the empty space Nikolaos had left behind.

Oh, to be doing something significant with one’s miserable life, he thought.

Oh, to matter.

Alexei shuddered. His skin crawled from the proximity of the water, but he did not regret rowing out here one whit.

I would give my life for this man, he thought,and I barely know him.

He started rowing back to the shore. It would take him barely fifteen minutes to reach it, but he was impatient to getout of the water, so he rowed mightily, covering the distance in almost half the time.

He was almost there, when he saw them. Someone screamed his name—it sounded like Poppy, for some demented reason—and he whipped around just in time to see two thugs climb aboard his narrow barge.

They had crept quietly into the water like reptiles, knifes clasped in their teeth.

Alexei was immediately alert, but his brain went blank.

This was it. It was finally time to die.

All he could think was:Thank God Nikolaos is gone. Thank God he is already far away by now, and safe.

And then the two assassins came at him with their knives, pushing him to the edge of the boat, reaching for his heart.

Thank God it’s only me who will die.

And that was his first prayer.

“You missed him, gentlemen,” Alexei murmured, but was interrupted by the swish of a knife by his ear. It missed his skin by a thread, but proceeded to press against the vein pulsing on his larynx.

He stopped talking.

Having immobilized him with a knife at his throat, the men set to work, tying his legs. Alexei got out his knives, anyway, ready to fight, even with his legs tied. Not that it would do him any good. They were two and he was one, not to mention tied up, but still the odds wouldn’t be so terrible, if he wasn’t surrounded by water. But he was, and they could swim and he could not, so he had little, if any, chance of survival. He could not attack them first. He let them tie him up, knowing he could cut off his ropes whenever he wanted, if only he could get rid of them.

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