and used his momentum to slam him into a tree instead.
Vasili writhed and hissed under Niko’s hands, bucked and thrashed.
“Stop!” Niko pushed in harder, plastering himself against the prince. “Vasili, stop.”
Vasili pushed, trying to lever him off, but Niko leaned all his weight in. The prince’s eye flashed, but it was still blue, not black. He was still in there, just so fucking afraid he couldn’t see how Niko was trying to help him. “Vasili, it’s Nikolas. I won’t hurt you.”
The prince closed his eye. His mouth twisted, turning downward. Slowly, his hard tremors faded, then all the fight drained out of him. He slumped, dropped his head back against the tree’s trunk, and panted through his clenched teeth.
“You’re all right. I have you. It’s just you and me. No one else. We’re alone, you hear? We’re safe.” He pressed his cheek to Vasili’s. “We’re safe…” he whispered again.
A shudder ran through him, and a harrowing moan pealed from his lips, ending in a sob that made Niko want to fold him into his arms and keep him there.
“I’ve got you. All right? I’ve got you. You’re safe.” He told him all the things he surely needed to hear. “It’s over.”
The prince’s trembling fingers clutched at the back of Niko’s shirt. Vasili pulled him close and bowed his head, burying his face against Niko’s neck, and sobbed. And by the three, it hurt to hear.
“I’ve got you.” He said it over and over, as many times as Vasili needed to hear it. He’d say it a thousand times more if he could. He said it as the prince collapsed and Niko had to lift him into his arms again, and he said it as he lay him back down in their tiny shelter. It would take more than words for him to heal, but for now, words were all Niko had.
Chapter 29
Niko gathered thread from the carriage blankets to make a fishing line, keeping another for warmth. The rest of the blankets he burned, sending black smoke into the blue sky above the tree canopy.
He harvested a few more useful tools from the carriage, made a lure, and took a chance at fishing one of the deeper pools. He didn’t want to walk too far from the camp, but at the same time, they needed food. A few hours in, he caught a trout, but the true success was returning to find Vasili sitting up at the fireside, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He was awake, and he hadn’t run.
Vasili didn’t speak as Niko prepared the fish to roast. He didn’t look up, just stared into the fire. His silence was his way. Niko had no intention of forcing him to speak.
They ate the fish in silence.
Vasili’s strength came back quickly during the next few days, with more fish and roasted squirrel in his belly. Alissand probably starved him to keep him weak. If he were fed at all, it would have only been enough to keep his body from shutting down.
Niko steered his thoughts from that dangerous territory. Imagining all the horrors that had taken place inside the carriage was bad enough, and he hadn’t lived through them.
On the fourth day, Niko put a burning torch in Vasili’s hand and told him to follow him back through the trees.
The carriage had lost its shine since their gallop through the desert. Covered in dust and leaves and stripped of anything useful, there was only one final thing to do.
Vasili had the blanket hitched around his shoulders and the flaming torch in his right hand. He looked at the carriage, his face pained.
Niko backed off but stayed nearby. This was for Vasili.
The prince didn’t wait long before tossing the torch through the carriage door. Flames quickly took hold, reaching high. The carriage snarled and crackled, coming undone inside the fire, and Vasili watched it burn until there was little more left than a pile of ash scattered with metal fixings. Then he dropped to his knees.
Niko rooted himself to the ground, fighting the urge to go to him. He needed this. But it was more than that. The symbol on the door, the dark flame on gold, it was the Yazdan symbol. Niko’s family.
He didn’t think he could hate a family more than the Cavilles. He’d been wrong. And Vasili must have seen the Yazdans in Niko every time he looked at him. Did he hate him now too?
More days went by. Now that Niko’s thigh wasn’t prone to cramping,