Reign of Darkness (The Prince's Assassin #2) - Ariana Nash Page 0,59
Niko’s shoulder and his smile locked in place, turning wooden.
Niko turned to see Yasir approaching along the dock. Damn that man’s timing. He turned back, but Vasili was already making his way inside the cabin.
And maybe it was over. Maybe that was all it would ever be between them, a quick hand job and nothing more.
Yasir tossed him a grin, and Niko nodded back, watching the captain head into his cabin too.
Nothing with Vasili was simple. Niko didn’t trust him, probably never would. Two cities relied on Vasili to do the right thing, but he didn’t do anything by what was right and wrong, he followed his own set of morals, and those did not always align with the rest of the world. It was Niko’s responsibility to keep him in line, to keep him true, and to keep him safe. Fucking Vasili would complicate all that because Vasili was already rooted deep inside his head. He’d let Julian inside too, and the damage done was still a gaping wound.
It couldn’t happen again.
Even as the thought of Vasili’s hand on his cock perked his eager member right back up again.
He sighed hard, ran a hand through his hair, and breathed in to level his body and thoughts. Only when he was sure he was composed and his cock had lost interest, he headed inside the cabin to observe Vasili train the other man he’d manipulated into their lives.
Chapter 20
Vasili and Yasir discussed foreign words, their rhythmic order, and what shadows they could summon, while Niko watched from the back of the captain’s cabin. Left to his own devices, Vasili would have Yasir performing dangerous rituals within a week. Yasir needed little encouragement, and Vasili knew exactly how to tempt him.
The more Niko listened, the more the sense of wrongness grew.
When Vasili’s blade appeared in the prince’s hand and he rolled up his sleeve, Niko’s stomach turned over. Vasili pressed the tip to his wrist and cut diagonally. Clenching his hand, he held the bleeding wound over a glass.
This was wrong. It felt wrong. It looked wrong. The results were wrong.
“Nothing to say, Nikolas?” Vasili asked without looking up. It was the first time he’d addressed Niko since he’d gotten Niko off on deck hours ago. It was now approaching dawn, but it felt like weeks had passed, or like Vasili’s hand on his cock had never really happened, like Niko had dreamed the whole thing.
Maybe he’d delivered an unprovoked hand job to unbalance Niko, to distract him from how his scarlet blood spilled into the cup. Niko stepped from the gloom. “You don’t need to do this.” The silvery ladder of old scars running up the prince’s forearm shimmered cruel reminders of his past. “You’ve bled enough.”
“I don’t have a choice.” He didn’t snarl, but it wasn’t far from his lips.
Niko spread his hands on the captain’s desk and leaned in, ensuring Vasili met his stare. “That was true before, but not anymore.”
Vasili flicked him a look. “The damage has already been done.” More blood dripped into the glass.
The damage had been forever etched into Vasili’s skin. His torture was a substantial part of his past. It would be almost impossible to see beyond it. The past was always in the present, if you let it be. Vasili’s mind would always go to the worst scenario to protect himself.
“Stop,” Niko urged.
“Blood fuels the flame. Yasir must consume it if he’s going to grow in proficiency, and there isn’t time—”
Niko backhanded the glass off the table. It shattered spectacularly against the floor.
Vasili stabbed his blade into the desktop, left it jutting up, and grasped the cut, clutching it closed. “This must happen.”
Niko pointed a finger at Vasili. “No. And don’t fight me on this. You will not win.”
The prince’s glower chilled the room.
“I’ve listened to you both for hours. You’ve read a few books, learned a few chants, and now you’re spilling blood in the desperate hope you can turn Yasir into a Julian you can control. It’s bullshit. All of it. Nothing good ever comes from the flame. You know this, Vasili. And you know what it will do to him. Maybe you don’t give a shit, but I do, and I won’t stand by and watch you both fuck yourselves up over the slim chance the dark flame won’t turn on you.”
“Then leave.” And there was his snarl.
“You know I can’t.”
Vasili reached for his blade.
“Pick it up and we have a problem,” Niko warned. His hand hovered.