Page 13 of Tarnished Queen

An orderly with a laundry cart is off to the right and an elderly woman with a walker stands in the center. Two men are angled towards each other in the back, phones in their hands, both wearing surgical masks. A mom and her teenaged daughter are nearest the buttons.

“… I don't even know, Charlene," the girl is arguing. "She's your friend."

Her mom groans. "And Laney's mom."

"Laney isn't my friend, either. We just have a few classes together."

The mom gives me an exasperated look in search of sympathy, but I can’t muster anything beyond a grimace. Even still, I’m afraid she might see something in my face to cause alarm. If she alerts anyone to what’s going on, I don’t know what the man will do to her. To all of them.

So I fix my eyes on my bare feet in the wheelchair’s stirrups to be safe.

One by one, the elevator empties out. As soon as it’s clear, the man pushes me through the doors.

My front wheels have just barely cleared the threshold when I’m suddenly shoved forward. I have to kick out a leg to avoid smashing against the opposite wall.

When I turn around, I see the two men from the elevator standing on either side of my kidnapper.

They look calm, cool, unruffled.

But the man who just threatened my life is bleeding from the mouth in a way that doesn’t look too sustainable.

“Is he—What did—Oh my God,” I gasp.

Then I look up…

Into Nikolai’s face.

I’d recognize those eyes anywhere. They’re burning bright, looking nowhere but at me. His blond, masked companion shuffles onboard with the dead nurse held up in his grip. Nikolai peels off the surgical mask and nods towards the buttons as he steps back into the elevator.

“Basement level, please,” he requests coolly.

I’m still in shock, my brain struggling to keep up with the events as they’re unfolding. But I can follow a simple command. I press the basement level button and wait for the doors to close. As soon as they do, I turn to face him.

“You came,” I gasp. “I didn’t know if you would. You came, and—Oh my God, he was going to kidnap me.”

Nikolai holds a finger to his mouth and glances up at the corner of the box. “Not here. Cameras.”

I press my lips together to hold in the flurry of thoughts bubbling out of me. I use the rest of the quiet ride to silently study the blond man with Nikolai. He’s young and handsome, but I can’t get a good look because he refuses to even glance in my direction. He hasn’t spoken so much as a word.

The elevator doors open up into a cement parking garage. The moment we’re out of the doors, Nikolai and the blond man dump the fake nurse on the ground behind a dumpster in a bloody tangle of limbs.

“Come on.” Nikolai holds out his hand, and I wrap my fingers through his. Grateful that these strong, capable hands will never hurt me.

Feeling the warmth of his skin against mine is like coming home. I glue myself to his side as he leads me through the parking garage towards a sedan in the far corner. When I press my palm to his ribs, I feel him flinch. But it’s a quick movement, just the tiniest flicker of it before he’s opening the back door for me and helping me inside.

The blond man moves around to the front of the car to drive. When Nikolai slides in behind me, I turn and wrap myself around him.

“You’re real.” I nuzzle my face into his neck and breathe him in. He smells like soot and sweat and blood. “I want to know where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing and who this other man is, but first—”

I grab his face and bring his soft lips to mine. Nikolai is tense. Every muscle in his body is held tightly, but as I stroke my tongue over his bottom lip and ease his mouth open, he softens.

A large hand moves over my back and around my waist. He grabs a fistful of my hair and arches my head back, giving him better access to ravish my mouth.

He’s everywhere, biting and tasting me, pressing greedy, frantic kisses to my lips until I’m panting for breath and out of my mind with need.

“I didn’t know if I’d get to do this again,” I whisper. “I didn’t know if I’d ever touch you again. If I’d everfeelyou.”

Nikolai pulls back, his irises a hard silver in the dim light filtering through the tinted windows. “Are you hurt?”

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