Page 142 of Silenced

With a huff, I mutter to him, “You just made that worse.”

“And her lies made me kill a strong Brigadier,solnyshko. She is the reason behind her father’s death. No one else.

“You aremine. Anyone who tries to hurt you will suffer a similar fate.”

The room is still reeling from the aftermath of that ‘confrontation,’ and that’s why everyone hears his words.

His voice is low, a rasp more than anything. It’s still broken, the timbre agitated with lack of use.

But because he speaks so little, the crowd at the front hears as if he used a megaphone. His message whispers throughout the assembly like a game of telephone, and everyone, in a wave, turns their back on Myata.

It’s like something fromPride and Prejudice, but it’s fucking cool—I can’t deny that.

She stands there, in the middle of the crowd, twisting around in a circle as people turn away from her. She calls out a name, a friend, perhaps? But no one breaks ranks.

No. One.

When she runs sobbing from the room, I bite my lip. “Did youhaveto do that?”

He untangles his fingers from mine, making me immediately miss his comforting warmth as he signs, “This is the first day of the rest of your life in this world, Cassiopeia. The lines have been laid and the laws have been set. It is better this way.”

His nod is decisive.

I just can’t help but think he made an enemy…

For us both.

33

CASSIE

“How are you, Cassiopeia?”

My brows lift at the question. “I’m fine, Dmitri. How are you?”

He shakes his head as he spins me in a circle. “I don’t mean that.”

“You don’t mean, what? You don’t care how I am?”

He squints at me. “Why haven’t you run?”

His words make me flush with discomfort.

“I didn’t realize a dance would come with a critique on correct hostage comportment,” I snipe.

“Is this how you keep him on his toes?”

I don’t even bother to withhold my snort. “Me? Keep Niko onhistoes?Ha.”

“No, you do. You might not think you do, but trust me, he’s…”

“Nikolai. An adjective as well as a noun that belongs in the dictionary.” My lips twist. “I mean, all this is a lot but… enough to run away? To dive headfirst into danger?”To leave the man who reveres me behind?“No.”

“He acts differently around you.”

“I should hope so,” I say lightly as he guides me around the dance floor. “Or I’d get jealous about the other women he’s taken captive over the years.”

Dmitri stops. When we brake to a halt, I drag him into moving, but he mutters, “He hasn’t done this before.”

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