underestimated your family.”
“The Yazdans are not my family.”
“Regardless, I made a mistake in trusting Roksana and paid for it.” His voice hitched.
Niko shifted onto an elbow. “What they did to you, that wasn’t your fault.”
Vasili turned his head away. His cheek pulsed, and it was all Niko could do not to capture his mouth in a kiss again and pull him back into bed, where he’d teach Vasili what it meant to be loved, one long, leisurely kiss at a time.
“The books I’d read. They painted the Yazdans as protectors of the flame, as people who could be reasonable. I believed they’d help.”
“Were those books by any chance written by Yazdans?”
Vasili rubbed at his forehead, perhaps seeing off an ache brought on by painful memories. “I should have known they are just as touched by the dark as my own family.”
“But they aren’t born with it, like the Cavilles. It’s a choice for them.”
“They covet it, all the same. They were always sorcerers. They use the flame. All but you.” His smile tried to return. “You defy everyone and everything, including me.”
“I try.” Niko jerked a brow.
Vasili laughed softly. “You succeed.”
Niko twisted onto his side, still propping his head up, and watched the fire’s embers throb. He hadn’t escaped the flame’s use entirely. Alissand had almost gotten his wish. He could still taste the bitter tang of Vasili’s blood. He hadn’t told Vasili what had almost happened and didn’t feel the need to. “Alissand was behind all this. Now he’s dead, perhaps they’ll return to Seran and stay there.” He doubted the Yazdans were just going to give up, but their numbers were greatly reduced, and Seran had been in dire need when he’d left.
“Dead?” Vasili asked.
“A shadow beast attacked their camp. That’s how I was able to get you away. I didn’t stay to count the bodies, but the attack was vicious.”
Vasili smiled a reptilian smile.
“What?” Niko growled.
“There were eight of them,” Vasili said. “The beast killed five. Alissand fled on horseback.”
Vasili had been out cold the entire time, and Niko hadn’t said a damn thing about any of it. “How can you know that?”
He hesitated a beat, gaze falling to where he leaned against Niko’s leg. “Did the beast sit with you one night?”
Niko pushed upright in the bed and studied Vasili’s expression. Mention of the beast hadn’t surprised him. If anything, he smiled like he knew all the answers and was waiting for Niko to catch up. “That beast was yours?”
He looked up and swallowed hard. “Amir isn’t the only one able to shape the flame.”
“Vasili, that’s,” fucking brilliant, “reckless. The more you invite the flame in, the more it will assert control.”
“And you’re suddenly an expert on the flame, Nikolas?”
“No, I just…” I care. He let the end of that sentence trail off, unspoken.
“Yes, well.” He tugged at a thread dangling from his sleeve. “Stuck as I was, I was out of options. It clearly worked.”
“If you can do that, then why not have the beast attack Alissand earlier?”
“I could have. I wanted to. I…” He swallowed again, tasting the words before voicing them. “It’s not easy to control, and had I killed them all, I’d still have been tied in the carriage. I needed someone left alive to free me.”
He’d summoned a shadow beast. He was using the flame more and more. One day soon, it would eventually use him. But damn, his beast had saved them both. “You sent it to me that night?”
He huffed a light laugh as though that was ridiculous. “No, it found you. As I said, it’s difficult to control. How my brother controls multiple beasts, I’ve yet to understand.” Vasili caught Niko’s heavy gaze. “He sent those beasts after our carriage and the one in the woods to me. Although, interestingly,” he added, filling the heavy quiet, “the beasts can’t be summoned at sea. In fact, the dark flame is blessedly silent at sea. Yasir had to dock his ship up the coast to experiment with his developing skills.”
“Were you free of the voices on his ship?”
“As free as I can be.”
That silence must have felt like freedom. “Yet you returned?”
“I told you, I cannot choose to walk away.” His gaze drifted about the cabin, and the smile faded again. “I have never wished for freedom more than I do now. You make everything seem possible.”
Julian had said the same of Niko. His words on Vasili’s lips brought the past into the present.
“This hut you’ve built with your own