“You’ve played with me long enough, Tsarina,” I growl, “you won’t like it now that it’s game over.”
“B...Balthazar,” she stutters, with wide eyes as my words sink in. “I thought...”
“I know what you thought. You think you still have power over me.” A snarl crosses my lips. “Don’t you?”
“N...no...”
Pinning her hands above her head, I snarl, “You have no power over me anymore, little girl. Do you understand that?”
“Yes.”
To show her that I mean it, I press my lips against hers. The kiss is hard and ruthless and she squirms underneath me, her nails digging into my back as she pants. Growing rabid from the way she wriggles, I rake my hand down her legs, causing a tear in her dress and it splits.
Tsarina tenses and lets out a sound of surprise. I pull away from her, getting up and she looks down at her body and bites her lips.
“Oh no, Balthazar, you ruined it.”
She sounds genuinely saddened, looking at the damn piece of garment in a way she never looked at the boy in the meadow and I grow so enraged I want to set fire to the entire castle. “Ruined it?” I snarl. “I’ll show you ruin.”
I tear up the rest of the dress until there’s no skirt anymore and Tsarina pants, clutching the duvet while looking at me as if I’m angrier than she thought.
“What do you know of ruin?” I growl as fury fills me and I throw her one last wrathful glance before withdraw from her room, slamming the door so hard she lets out a cry. Panting, I drag my fingers through my hair.
She’s got me all worked up. My hormones are running rampant and black spots dance before my eyes. Seeing her laid out before me in bed...all the memories came back. They took over, reminded me of what I had lost and at the thought of losing her again, I...lost it. Nobody has the ability to make me lose control the way she does.
Defeating our enemies took concentration, it took calculation but fuck, defeating Tsarina is way harder. It makes my lungs burns, makes my muscles feel weak. Clenching my fists, I take a deep breath.
At least Tsarina is here. At least fate made our paths cross once more. This time, I’m holding fate in a chokehold and there’s no boundary I won’t cross to make sure what happened once doesn’t happen again.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tsarina
I’m a nervous wreck as I leave my room. Hopefully the hour that’s passed since he was up in my room has given him some time to calm down. Though, time may not be the sufficient thing here. Maybe a tranquilizer would’ve worked better and my body can’t stop trembling.
He instructed that he wanted us to have dinner in the dining hall instead of the kitchen, almost making it sound romantic and my heart begins pounding. I find him standing in front of painting, looking up at it with unfocused eyes and he has changed into a black, high necked shirt and I feel a thrill down my spine.
When I clear my throat, his eyes widen in awe and it feels like a little victory. I wanted to milden his temper, please him by wearing an off white dress that shimmers when the light hits it. I wanted to look like a dream come true and judging by the consuming way he watches me, I think I’ve succeeded.
“You look...,” he begins, searching for the right word, “lovely,” he growls, before snarling, “Sit down!”
“You make looking lovely sound like it’s a crime,” I say, walking over to the table.
“When it comes to you it is. Traitorous women shouldn’t be allowed to be beautiful.” Glaring at me as if thoroughly pissed, he pulls my chair out.
Scowling at him, I sit down and he walks over to his end of the table. He has lit the candelabras and everything smells so good but I’m still tense. I can’t ease when he’s like this and I don’t know how to make things better.
It feels like it doesn’t matter what I say or do, he’ll still be holding a grudge. Heaving in his chair, he removes the globe from his plate and I do the same. A sound of surprise crosses my lips and I’m delighted.
Deer meat dumplings. A true Karthusian delicacy and the corner of my eyes tear up from nostalgia.
“You made this?” I ask but he jerks his head.
“I hunt and I have women in the village who cook for me. They come and put it in the freeze and all I have to do is heat it up.”
Leaning back in my seat, I ask, “Women?”
Balthazar glares at me over his glass of wine. “Jealous?”