to the chest, but instead of landing on his skin, the lash poured down his throat to claim his lungs. Niko choked, stumbled—gasped at the dark, but all he saw in the swarming shadows was Amir’s twisted face.
He came around slowly in a room with bars on the windows and rows of cot beds. The doulos chambers, but the beds were empty, stripped of sheets and belongings, and the air smelled stale.
Vasili sat on the edge of one of the beds, elbows on his knees, face in his hands, and fingers threaded into his hair. “A minute with Amir and you almost got yourself killed,” he said into his hands.
Niko’s knuckles throbbed. “It was worth it.” The assault made his voice hoarse and his chest ache. Still worth it.
He sat up on the bed and waited for the room to stop spinning before meeting Vasili’s fresh glare.
“Where are all the other doulos?” Niko rubbed at his throat, trying to soothe the croak.
The small laugh that slipped from Vasili wasn’t entirely sane. “He killed them all.”
“Shit. You could have mentioned that before I agreed to this.”
“Would it have mattered?”
He knew Amir was mad, but he was only now beginning to understand Vasili’s desperation. Niko winced and tried to reorganize his thoughts around where he was and what had to be done.
Vasili’s gaze burned with fresh intensity. He was walking the edge too, just like Amir. But he wasn’t exactly like Amir, that much had become startlingly clear. In those last moments before Niko had blacked out, he’d seen Amir for what he truly was now, and he wasn’t in control.
“By the three, he’s fucking nuts,” Niko grumbled, still rubbing at his neck.
“He’s embraced the flame,” Vasili said, with a mocking flourish.
“You’re not like that?”
“Oh,” his laugh cut, “I’m not far off. I…” He licked his lips and stared at the floor. “Nikolas…”
The way he said his name, it wasn’t like any way he’d said it before, and it made Niko’s chest ache with guilt. Niko opened his mouth to explain why he’d hit Amir, but Vasili held up a hand, stopping the words.
Vasili sighed and rubbed at his face. This Vasili… He was bone tired, maybe even a little lost, like the last drop of strength had been wrung from his body. “This isn’t going to work.”
Niko half laughed. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“I can’t protect you.”
“I can protect myself.”
Vasili’s dry look dashed those words. “I have three thousand men and women to control, using a power I don’t fully understand, and—at most—a week to master it before the elves arrive in force.”
He’d do it. Whatever Vasili put his mind to, he’d accomplish. “You’ll master it.”
He smiled softly and gave his head a small shake. “I’m afraid.”
“That’s never stopped you be—”
“For you.”
Niko’s thoughts stalled. “Why?”
“You’re too honest. You can’t help yourself. You’ll say or do something to trigger Amir. If I’m to master his possessed, I must focus. I can’t have half my mind on whether you need saving or not.”
Niko felt his smile growing. Vasili wanted to protect him? “I don’t need saving.”
Vasili’s gentle smile grew too, and all that was missing was an oxeye daisy in his hair. He didn’t want to be here with Vasili. He wanted to be back at the cottage, where he’d go to his knees and kiss that smiling mouth until he moaned Niko’s name. But those dreams didn’t belong here.
Vasili stood, crossed the floor, and as Niko tilted his head back, Vasili stopped so close he had to lean back to look up at his face, but it was worth it, because Vasili’s expression was open and warm, and everything Niko would never have believed he’d see on his face.
Cool fingers skimmed along Niko’s jaw. “You’re impossible,” Vasili whispered.
Niko caught his hand, daring to touch. He waited for Vasili’s expression to tighten, but it softened instead. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had ever looked at him like Vasili was now, like he was their whole world in that moment. And he’d never expected to see that warmth from Vasili.
“You deliberately make yourself difficult to love,” Niko said, peering up at the man who had consumed his mind and body for so long it had become the way things were now. “You push everyone away. Because anytime you’ve gotten close to someone, they’ve suffered. But it was never your fault, Vasili.”
Vasili tilted his head back, showing Niko the underside of his jaw, and sighed. “Do you know me, Nikolas?” he asked, looking down