Page 9 of House of Darkness
She scowled at me in the mirror and took a step back, her hands resting on her hips. “Don’t you dare talk like that. Listen to me, you’re going to do great. You’ll live a wonderful life outside of here. You’restrong enough to survive whatever life throws at you.”
I wished I shared her confidence.
“I’m going to miss you, Sol,” I whispered.
“I’m going to miss you too, Es.”
Nicolae escorted me to the dining hall, his bulky form casting me in shadows despite the well-lit halls. The room was heavy under the weight of anticipation. My relatives, both men and acolytes, crowded the hallway with horrified excitement in their eyes. My cousin pushed me through them mercilessly, his nose turned up.
I clung to Solaris’ words, trying to hold on to the belief that I could survive this and the tsar because I was strong. But I didn’t feel strong. Not with Nicolae’s grip digging into my frail forearms, and certainly not when we entered the dining hall.
Roman stood at the far end of the room next to Matei. The room seemed to close in, leaving nothing but him in my sight. Despite the number of men present, they were insignificant in his shadow. The red drapes and wallpaper were dull compared to his ruby eyes, which cast a sideways glance my way. The world narrowed to just the magnificent man striding toward me. My male relatives fell silent, watching with bated breath as he approached. I lowered my head. My hands shook uncontrollably, and I had to clutch the fabric of my dress to steady them.
“Look at me.” His sharp tone made me flinch, but I obeyed.
His eyes were just as I remembered—fiery pits that drew me in like a moth to flame. They scanned me, as if he could unveil my deepest secrets through sight alone. Disapproval hardened his gaze as he took me in, then shifted to Nicolae.
“Step away from my acolyte.”
Nicolae recoiled like the coward he was, leaving me alone with Roman. The tsar stepped close enough that his woodsy aroma enveloped me. He leaned in, his breath hot on my cheek. “What did they do to you?”
I shook my head, unsure I could speak past the lump in my throat. Even if I could, I couldn’t reveal Matei’s abuse. That would only fuel the fire when I returned. Roman’s jaw clenched as he reached up and wiped away the makeup on my left cheek, revealing the bruise beneath.
Without giving me a chance to wonder how he knew, Roman turned on Matei. It may have been my unsteady feet, but it felt as though the very foundation shook under his rage.
“You dare lay a fucking finger on my acolyte and try to cover it up?”
Matei’s gaze went to me, his eyes filled with palpable fury that made me cower. “What did you tell him, you bitch?”
Roman exploded. Darkness consumed the room as wyne glasses and vases shattered. The floor quaked as though it feared the tsar’s wrath. When my eyes adjusted, Roman had crossed the room.
He was magnificent and terrifying, towering over Matei with his wings spread like shrouds of death. Roman’s voice was eerily calm, somehow more horrifying than his previous snarls.
“What did you just call her?”
Matei’s voice was a pathetic, stuttering blubber. “Whatever she told you, she’s lying?—”
Roman backhanded him with enough force to send him crashing to the floor. Blood trickled from Matei’s left cheek, where the tsar’s ring had dug in. The scene mirrored Matei’s own abuse of me, as if Roman could sense the pain from the bruise.
“She didn’t tell me ANYTHING, you fucking swine. She’s tooterrified,” Roman roared.
Roman took a slow breath and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, his teeth flashed in the darkness. “Let’s see what terror looks like on you, what do you say?”
Ink-dipped talons grabbed Matei by the shirt, lifting him effortlessly. Roman opened his mouth like a snake, revealing fangs and a disturbingly long tongue that coiled in anticipation. He sank his teeth into Matei’s neck.
I had witnessed violence before—fights among hormone-driven vampires, acolytes left in pieces. But I had never seen a vampire feed. Vampires weren’t allowed to feed on free humans, and acolytes were to remain untainted until purchase. It was primal and savage, with guttural snarls muffled by Matei’s flesh.
Frozen in mute horror, I watched Roman feed from the man who tortured me. Breaking the very laws he was sworn to protect, though a tsar wasn’t restrained by such laws. He could do whatever he wanted. Especially to mere humans—measly insects under his feet—to me. He jerked his head, and Matei screamed.
He was going to kill him.
I wasn’t sure if the twist in my gut was gratitude or horror. A shuddering breath left my lips as Roman’s eyes lifted from his prey to meet mine. Dilated to near-black, they still held their fiery heat. They softened slightly as they took me in, and something passed between us as his pupils constricted to their normal fiery red. His gaze never left mine as he released Matei, who crumpled to the ground in a whimpering heap. Blood smeared across Roman’s lips and trailed down his chin. Time seemed to freeze as we locked eyes. He tilted his head at me in a silent question, then looked back at Matei.
He knelt beside the headmaster, his expression cold. “She is the reason you’re still alive. Say thank you.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. It was impossible to have discerned my look as one of disapproval, because, deep down, I had wanted Matei to die. I wasn’t sure what to think of that at all. Matei, clutching his bleeding neck, looked at me with wide, unseeing eyes. “Thank you.”
“Say her name. It’s only polite,” Roman hissed.
