Page 116 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

“I take it you two are half-sisters?” I ask.

Belle nods. “Same mom, different dads.”

“Lucky us,” Elise grumbles.

I can tell Belle wants to say something—maybe warn her sister to be on her best behavior—but she swallows the words. Instead, she takes a deep breath and pastes on a smile. “Let’s explore more. Maybe we can—”

“I’m tired,” Elise interrupts. “I’m going to go to the room and take a nap.”

“But we need to beat the jet lag. You should stay awake and—”

Elise walks away before Belle can finish.

As soon as she rounds the corner, Belle closes her eyes and sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me. I don’t care whether she has a good time or not.”

Belle studies me for a moment, then smiles shyly. “What about me?”

“What about you?”

“Do you care if I have a good time?”

I step closer to her, backing here against the railing. She tips her head back to look at me, and for a second, I consider walking her back to my suite and saying fuck the landscape of Iceland, all I want to explore is the landscape ofher.

Fuck everything else—I want to know every rise and fall of her body, every noise she makes when I touch her.

But there’s time for that later. Right now, there are only a few hours left in the day.

And I have other plans.

“Meet me in the lobby in twenty minutes,” I say. “I have something to show you.”

* * *

“Keep up,” I call back. “We’re almost there.”

“You said that thirty minutes ago,” Belle huffs. “I’m too clumsy for this. I was pigeon-toed as a kid, you know.”

I snort. “You were what?”

“It means my feet pointed in at each other. I tripped over them a lot when I was little.”

“You’re kidding.”

She frowns feistily. “It’s not funny! I had to wear braces and insoles for a while. I’m all straightened out now, but I’m not the most coordinated.”

I reach back and offer her my arm to save her from face-planting in a crater. “Don’t worry. I’ll catch you if you fall.”

“Yeah, right,” she mumbles. “This is probably where you plan to throw me over the side.”

“Keep saying that and I might decide you’re right. Throwing you off a glacier would be a lot less work than dragging your ass up a mountain.”

She bites back a smile. Then it sharpens, turning into something dark. “Maybe that would be easier for me, too. Better than muddling along like I have.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“How do you know?” she snaps.

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