Page 31 of House of Darkness
“Are you sure sharing a bed is alright with you?” I had my back to him, unable to see his face, but his tone hinted at uncertainty.
I rolled over to face him. He had a hand on the blanket but remained motionless, his eyes wide in a way that made him look young.Naive even. “Are you okay with it?”
His wings shifted along his back. "Yes. I just don’t want you to think… this was my goal. My intent was to punish Alexander, not you."
I laughed. "Roman, two weeks ago, I was sleeping on a straw mattress barely wide enough to fit me. Now I’m lying on a silk spread big enough for my whole family. I’m alright."
His shoulders relaxed at that, and he crawled into the opposite end of the bed without further complaint. Despite my reassurances, I was hyper-aware of his presence, of the way the mattress dipped under his weight. It was ridiculous; even if we reached out, we wouldn’t touch. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of closeness.
The room was silent, but my mind buzzed with noise. I looked at Roman’s form, the ruffle of his feathers barely visible in the darkness.
"I can feel your eyes on me. What is it, doll?"
"Truth for a truth?"
He rolled over, his glowing eyes the only illumination against his silhouette. "Alright."
"Why don’t you ban the sale of acolytes?" My thoughts turned to my cousin, and the suffering reflected in her eyes. It wasn’t fair, but my heart needed someone to blame.
"There are some questions you may not want answers to."
"I want to know."
He sighed. "I tried, when I first took the throne. Banning the abuse of acolytes was my first step toward completely outlawing the practice. The morning after I passed the law, I woke to find a pile of murdered girls on my doorstep. They had been tortured."
His eyes closed. "It happened everywhere. Murdered acolytes were left to rot in the streets as a protest against the law. My mistake caused so many innocents to suffer and die. And after everything, it didn’tchange anything. Acolytes are still abused, as you know. I tried to help and only made things worse. "
Horror gripped my heart like a vise. "I had no idea..."
"I’m not surprised. The Kultas were involved in keeping the genocide under wraps. If their acolytes had found out, they would’ve rioted." Roman’s eyes reopened, blazing like torches in the darkness. "Things are never simple, Estrella. If banning acolyte sales was as easy as issuing a decree, I would’ve done it already. But you must change the minds of the people first, and when dealing with thousand-year-old vampires, that’s a challenge. Why do you think I’m here?"
I had never considered the complexities of freeing acolytes. What would we do anyway? The world wasn’t designed to accommodate us, and we weren’t raised to handle freedom. We would be slaves to our own upbringing, bound to serve regardless.
"Your turn," I murmured, my mind swirling.
"You knew Tatiana, right?" Roman propped himself up on his elbow, his hand tucked under his head.
I nodded. "She was a bit older but always kind to the younger girls. The day we began lessons in... sex, was terrifying. We had towatchit happen while trained the best ways to please. She cradled me that night while I screamed and cried. She never tried to tell me it was alright—never tried to normalize it. She was just there. I loved her for that."
Roman shifted closer, just enough for his hand to brush against mine. The back of his roughened fingers glided over my knuckles, sending a comforting tingle through my skin. "Your turn, doll."
I contemplated his duty, the enormity of his position. He hadn’t been driven by a personal desire to take the throne, yet he ruled gracefully and brutally, naturally stepping into the spotlight. "Did you want to be tsar?"
His fingers paused in their gentle caress. "No one has ever asked me that. I don’t know. I watched what Leonidas did and thought about what I would do differently. I see the suffering my people endure and want to help, and this is the best position for that. But having everyone fear me can be isolating."
"I don’t fear you."
Roman's lips curled into a slight smile. "No, you don’t."
Chapter 17
ESTRELLA
“Estrella,” a voice breathed into my ear, sweet and thick as honey. My name curled off his tongue like a caress down my spine, the ‘s’ drawn out, the ‘a’ exhaled like the very breath from his lungs.
I opened my eyes to find Roman lying beside me, his wings wrapped around us like a shroud of darkness. My bare arm pressed against his chest, each inch of contact igniting a sharp awareness of how inappropriately close we were. After all his talk of choice and not taking advantage of me, he did this at the first opportunity.
I sat up with a jolt, my mouth forming words before I could think better of it. The sheer audacity of this man. Then I noticed our position, and heat flooded my face. We were on his side of the bed, his feathers trailing over the edge. The bedding clung to me, evidence of my desperate attempt to get as close to him as possible during my long, restless journey across the entire expanse of the bed.
