Page 30 of Dance with Death

A twinge of pain in my ankle tries to pull me from my internal world to my external reality. My brain had shut down my pain receptors with the adrenaline rush in what I thought was going to be a fight for survival. But now that the immediate threat is gone, the physical agony returns full force.

Then I remember the pills from Kostya.

I had two left when we departed Mikhailov Manor.

I shift and dip my hand into my pocket. I don’t have to dive far as my fingers find one twisted in the fabric near the opening.

Only one.

I move that pill to my other hand and dive back in, searching for the second, but it’s gone. It must have fallen out in Vigo’s haste to rip my jeans from me on the private jet.

Damnit.

I should save this one.

I should hang onto it until I urgently, frantically need it.

But I urgently, frantically need it now.

It’s not so much the pain I need it for as it is the escape the strong drug brings for my mind. Ineedthe escape.

Without another thought, I pop the white pill into my mouth and swallow it dry.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply, willing the medicine to shut me down, to take me from this nightmare and into a beautiful dreamworld with Ezra.

Chapter 9

Ezra

I rush tomy door in a heartbeat the moment I hear the metal key push into the lock from the outside.

I’m gonna pummel his ass the second he walks in here.

The night Anya was sold, Nikolai had set me free with just enough time to chase after the dust kicked up by the quickly retreating car. The piece of shit wanted it that way. He wanted to torment me by making me watch her leave. But the real kicker was that it was tormenting him to watch, too—whether he’d admit it or not. I’d seen the flash of regret in his eyes as the car turned off the manor grounds and drove out of sight.

I’d gone after him then, sought out a fight, but I was so blinded by my grief that he took me down with hardly an ounce of effort.

I wanted to kill him.

But there was something about the heartache of losing the person I love most in the world that took the fight right out of me.

My chest had ached, my heart had raced, my lungs had burned from the gasping breaths of shock that shut down my system. I had crumpled to my knees in front of Nikolai, feeling as if all the best parts of me had been scooped out, leaving me a hollow, empty shell of the man Anya loved.

Frankly, I’m surprised Nikolai hadn’t killed me, with the way I sniveled on my knees. I was a pathetic, sad, broken man who had nothing else to lose. Perhaps he’d known there was nothing else he could do at that moment that would hurt me, there was no way to punish me further. But why he let me survive, why he keptmeand soldher, was still a mystery to me.

I’d sat beside the front doors of the manor until Kostya returned from taking Anya away from me. Together, he and Nikolai herded my sad ass back to my room. I was a lump, a heavy brick to carry. They locked me in without shackling me to the bed, and I’ve been here for a day, maybe two, left to my own devices.

My grief caught fire in that time, burning in the pit of my stomach. It spread from limb to limb in a massive wildfire until my entire body succumbed to the relentless flames of rage.

I burned.

I seethed.

Fire licked over my soul, taking me straight to hell, showing me the lust that demons have for violence and depravity.

And the hellfire demon burns bright inside me now, ready to knock the devil off his fucking throne.

I have one palm pressed heavy against the wall beside the doorframe, the other on the knob, ready to pull and swing it wide the second the key turns. My chest heaves, sucking in a shaky breath as I prepare to wrestle the man who broke me to the ground.

---