Page 53

“Ugh… close the goddamn curtains,” I groan, voice thick and mouth dry as cotton. I clear my throat and open my eyes in careful slits this time. Aleksei, Vanya, and Arabelle are turned toward me, watching me with varying emotions. “Well?”

Arabelle moves first, quickly drawing the curtains and dimming a few of the bright lights. I sigh in relief and open my eyes fully, ignoring the persistent ache at my temples as I take in my brothers.

“You asshole.” Vanya strides closer, shaking his head like I’ve personally ruined his day. “You scared the shit out of us.”

I look past him to Aleksei. He’s staring at me with a look I can’t quite pinpoint. But those silvery eyes are never easy to decipher, especially not with a blinding headache.

“Shouldn’t you be on your honeymoon?” I mutter, dragging my attention back to Vanya.

“Honeymoon while you’re here dying?” He levels me with a glare. “What kind of brother do you think I am?”

Dying? I look down at the IV needle taped to the inside of my arm and feel the full weight of that word settle over me. “Fuck… my head is splitting,” I groan, because that’s the most immediate problem and everything else can wait thirty seconds.

“Being unconscious for three days will do that to you,” Arabelle answers, stepping forward. “Your body’s been fighting to stay alive. Wait a few more hours, and the headache should ease.”

Fucking hell. Three days unconscious? I close my eyes and try to reach back through the blur. The images come fast—the needle in my thigh, the burning. Grace’s face, wet-eyed and guilty, apologizing over and over.

Grace.

My eyes snap open. “Where is she?”

“The dungeon,” Aleksei answers, matter-of-factly.

I feel a kick in my chest. So, she’s still here. That’s… good.

I try to sit up, but the heaviness in my limbs and the aching in my head make it nearly impossible. I feel like a newborn trying to sit for the first time. I hate it.

“Hey, relax. She’s not going anywhere.”

I glare at Ivan. “I need answers.”

“And you’ll get them. But do you really want her to see you when you’re this weak?”

That, at least, gives me enough pause to lie back. “What did she give me?” The question isn’t directed to anybody in particular. Ivan answers anyway.

“We don’t know yet, but it was strong. If you hadn’t triggered the alarm when you did—” He stops.

For a heavy moment, no one speaks.

I fill the silence. “What do you mean you don’t know what she gave me?”

“It was a toxin of some kind,” Arabelle explains. “Fatal, yes. But the fact that she gave it to you subcutaneously is what saved you. That slowed the absorption enough to give you a chance. Intravenously, and you would have been dead before your men reached the room.”

I glare at her, even though she’s not the one I’m pissed at. No. That would be a certain redhead.

“What have you gotten from her?” I ask Aleksei, ignoring the tight pull in my chest at the thought of her being tortured.

She tried to kill me, damn it. Fuck her—and fuck me too for still caring.

“Excuse me.” As if sensing where the conversation is headed, Arabelle quietly excuses herself and slips out of the room, leaving me with my brothers.

“Nothing yet.” Aleksei’s brows furrow, but I don’t miss the hint of respect that glints in his eyes at her keeping her mouth shut. “She’s a stubborn one.”

My lips thin. “Who did it? You?”

Aleksei meets my stare evenly. “I left her to your men. I might be the pakhan, but she hurt you. As long as you’re alive, her judgment is under your purview.”

Some of the tension knotting inside me loosens, which I instantly resent. Why should I be relieved that my brother didn’t touch her? I should be angry. And oh, am I fucking angry. My entire body trembles with rage… or maybe that’s dehydration.