Page 89 of Seduced

I will not cry. Not for him.

I will not cry.

But she had cried for her brother, and for herself, and Hades was worth at least the same, even if he did not know it. She cried even harder than she had last night, because she cried both for herself and him.

What if there was a God for people like us?she had once thought, what seemed like eons ago. But what if there wasn’t? What if they were too broken, too destroyed, too ruined to ever be mended?

‘People like us’ indeed. As if there was anyone else on the whole of the earth quite as shattered as herself. Or Hades.

Alexei

He limped back to his rooms like a bloody coward. Every single bone in his body hurt, but nothing could compare with the searing pain inside his chest.

He did not know how to deal with the hurt, but he knew he deserved to be in pain. As much pain as she was in, and more. But he couldn’t do the one thing that could comforthim, the only thing he knew how to do: he couldn’t go back to the boxing ring. For one thing, his body wouldn’t be able to endure another beating so soon after the first one. And for another, it was pathetic.

The prince of the Hell Club could not stop giving himself a bloody nose.

How unoriginal.

How pathetic.

He let his valet undress him and clean him up, his mind numb. At some point he must have given the order to a servant to send for Valentine, because when he got out of his bath, a few hours later, he got word that his friend was here, waiting for him. Alexei cursed under his breath.

How had Persephone Wyatt done this to him?

He had blindly obeyed her advice, almost despite himself.

Valentine had enough troubles of his own; he did not need the additional burden of Alexei’s foolish antics. Before he could turn around and give the order to have him thrown out of the club, Valentine walked into his rooms, his eyes sparkling, his hair all sunshine and yellow curls, his gait decidedly…happy.

It was disgusting to behold.

Alexei’s heart ached with joy for his friend.

“Now, what have you been doing to yourself, Your Highness?” Valentine asked severely, in lieu of a greeting.

With a sigh, Alexei abandoned himself to his fate.

They spent the rest of the day together alternatively talking and just sitting in silence. Alexei told him everything: about the prince hidden in the basement, about the assassination attempt, the death threats, the lot. The pugilism Valentine already knew about. Alexei did not say a word about Poppy.

He did not know how to begin.

“I am here for you, always,” Valentine told him after he had listened. Alexei was leaning back, exhausted, after emptying himself. But it was the good kind of emptying. “We are all of us here for you. You were here for me and Peter and we are here for you. You will never be alone. Never. Do you understand?”

Then he proceeded to solve all his problems, one by one.

“I have a ship for your Greek prince,” Valentine told him, after he had finished giving him a good talking-to for not telling him of his troubles sooner, “and I can have it brought round in a few hours. If you can find a boat or a barge to get him out from the underground tunnels of the Underworld, I can arrange for a smaller boat to take him to the Channel on the river, and from there he’ll cross to Paris. Then Vienna, or some private island on the Mediterranean; whatever he prefers.”

“Are you in jest?” Alexei couldn’t believe his ears. Could it be this simple? This easy?

“I have gotten my hands on a yacht,” Valentine shrugged, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “I am a disgrace as a pirate; I did not even have to steal it. A gentleman gifted it to me, after I assisted him with some difficulties.”

“I bet you did,” Alexei murmured.

Maybe Poppy is right, and I do have a penchant for rescuing others, but I am not alone. Both Peter and Valentine are the same. Maybe because we so desperately needed someone to rescue us once upon a time. We needed to be saved and no one ever came. Maybe we decided to become the rescuers ourselves.

“So, what say you?” Valentine asked. “Shall I set the plan in motion at once?”

“I say,” Alexei had to swallow past a lump in his throat, “that you are saving me.”

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