Obsidian Mask

by Scarlett Dawn

  And…that was my answer. Not to mention the tiny twitch of his smile in the beginning. And his recount of what he would do to me.

  I leaned back and lowered the gun. “He’s insane. Not just sane insane. But really insane.” I glanced at Daniil, who was standing where I had left him, watching me silently with loosely crossed arms. “Check his records. I guarantee he’s off some type of meds. This isn’t his fault. Not really. Put him in some type of hospital of your choice. But, one that has permanent bars. He doesn’t deserve to die because of a mental imbalance. He can live and try to find his way back to sanity from there.”

  Daniil stared at me long and hard, now cocking his head and listening to the man’s taunts. Gradually, he nodded, apparently hearing what I said. The way the man rambled, his repeating words, mixed in with nonsense. “I know of a place. I can agree to that.”

  I nodded once. “Thank you.” I walked over to him slowly, but quickly gave him his gun back. “Well, that was loads of fun.”

  His lips twitched as he put the safety back on and put his hands behind his back, leaning down and murmuring in my ear, “I am the preacher’s daughter?” He chuckled. “Absolutely beautiful. And you would have scared the shit of me.”

  I bit my lip and glanced at him a little embarrassed. “I just needed to know if the lights were on up there.”

  He laughed outright, herding me out of the room, and away from the rambling man. “Go on. I need to finish up in here.”

  I nodded but stopped, asking, “This place you have planned for him isn’t like some third world jail, is it?”

  He shook his head but stalled, glancing at the ceiling. “It’s not the penthouse suite, but it’s suitable.”

  “A bucket of water and straw for a bed?” I asked dryly.

  He grinned. “It’s a little nicer than that. And I’ll check his history to find out what medication he needs. He’ll be taken care of.” His eyes hardened. “But you said permanently.”

  I crossed my arms but nodded. I didn’t want that loony on the streets and going off his meds again. From what I could hear him still rambling about, he had already done enough deeds to have a man here in the States tried and convicted and put on death row. That was enough for me. “Definitely permanently.”

  “You’re damn adorable.” Daniil kissed my forehead, murmuring, “And sexy as hell with a gun in your hand,” he touched my glasses, “even wearing those, covering up your kewpie doll face.”

  I pointed into the air, turning and walking away down the hallway. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.” I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Don’t take too long.” I smiled at him, and yeah, it was blatantly carnal.

  His jaw clenched, and his gaze roamed over me from behind. “I won’t be.”

  …and he wasn’t. Even though the night was long and full of heated, but carefully gentle lovemaking that turned me inside out and back again. And by Daniil’s reactions, the feeling was mutual. After the day and night we had together, we were falling headlong into each other.

  That Friday morning, I woke early having to pee.

  And not puke.

  Hurray for small favors!

  After doing my business, I climbed back into bed, crawling on top of Daniil. He stirred, his arms instantly wrapping around me. His palms climbed up under the back of my simple white spaghetti strap pajama top and rested against my back. He held me tight but immediately fell back to sleep as I rested my forehead against his chest and listened to his heartbeat, strong and steady. His lungs filled and emptied with each relaxed breath.

  I was content.

  I roused to him running his hands up and down my back, grabbing my derriere firmly. He pressed against my little white shorts with an impressive morning erection. The sun was just filtering in through the windows…and it was tempting as hell…but my stomach growled. I leaned up, mumbling, “I’m hungry. Food first.”

  He blinked lazily, a soft smile lifting his lips. “Please.”

  My own lips curled. God, I loved it when he said that. But… “That’s not fair.”

  He ground against me again. “Please, Beth. I need you.”

  I stalled, wondering if that were true in ways other than sexually. “Do you?”

  Instant. “Yes.”

  “No.” I undulated against him. “Not this way. I mean—”

  He cut me off, placing one finger on my lips. “I know what you mean, my sweet. And the answer is yes.”

  My heart softened even more, and I grinned. I knew it was big and goofy, but I couldn’t help it. “I think I like that.”

  His lips lifted more. “Think you can help me with something else I need you for?”

  I chuckled. “Yeah. I think I can help with that.” I looked at him sternly then. “But, you’re going to feed me afterward.”

  His smile increased, and he had a special twinkle in his eye. “I think I can help with that.”

  I turned immediately suspicious as I started moving down his body, staring at him hard. “What are doing?” That look in his eye didn’t bode well.

  Daniil grinned. “Trying to make love, Ms. Forter.”

  “Uh-huh,” I murmured, pulling his pajama bottoms—the sexy as hell ones—over his lean hips. “What else are you doing?”

  “Loving you, Ms. Forter,” he stated quietly.

  I paused, my gaze meeting his. Those dilated brown eyes said it all. He loved me. Flat out loved me. And he wasn’t hiding it. I sputtered the first thing that came to my mind, “Is it a little too early to for that?” I was falling in love with him…but…

  He smiled, brushing his finger over my cheek. “Sometimes you just know.”

  My heart was damn near full, but… “I…I…I’m not…” I finished lamely, “quite there yet.” I bit my lip. “I’m sorry.”

  His grin only improved. “I know.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say, so I blubbered, “Thank you?”

  He sputtered on a laugh. “Beth, my sweet, you’re so adorable, it’s precious.” He pulled me up and kissed my lips lightly. And then proceeded to show me just how much he loved me. Twice.

  We went down for breakfast, pretty much just throwing our night clothes back on because we were running late. I pushed my glasses up on my nose, fumbling around with my hair as we walked down the stairs barefoot. It was surreal walking around his mansion dressed as we were. Like it really was home. And oddly, I was beginning to feel like it was. My parents had even settled in peacefully.

  Over the days, since my mom and I had lost our jobs, we started looking online for baby room ideas. Daniil had offered my mom—Kirill and Artur, also—jobs doing some such thing, but she had turned them down politely, saying right now she was where she was needed. And then, Daniil gave her a black charge card of some sort—my mom’s eyes had bulged—and he said to buy whatever we needed for the baby and ourselves. Neither one of us had bought anything for ourselves, but we were busy making plans for the babies’ room.

  Daniel disappeared during part of the day into his study, and even left to go with Roman to the new club that was under construction, so I only saw him in the mornings—I actually got up early to eat breakfast with him—or at lunch, and then the evenings. I knew I would get cabin fever eventually, but right now, I was doing all right. Plus, tonight we were supposed to be going out to dinner, and to my cousin, Mary’s performance tonight. Along with art, Mary also sang in a small band. She was an artist all around.

  It had taken some talking to Daniil about, but he had eventually agreed once he had the logistics of every location we were supposed to go. I was pretty sure he had the security down pat for our first venture out together. There would be paparazzi everywhere, I was sure, but we couldn’t stay holed up in his house forever. So tonight was our first public outing.

  I glanced at Daniil, fumbling with my own hair. “Maybe you should have put a shirt on.” He hadn’t even bothered to comb his hair. We look straight from the sack…which we were.

  He met my gaze steadil
y. “This is my home. My children will just have to deal with it. I’ve given them long enough.”

  I sighed. He wasn’t the one they would look at knowing I had just had sex with their dad. They were all fine with me…as long as they didn’t see anything going toward the sexual. Then they all kind of backed off. “You’re starting fires that don’t need to be started.”

  “No,” he shook his rumpled head. “I’m putting the fire out for good.”

  I kept my mouth shut. This was one of those instances over the past few days I didn’t quite understand. But I had learned to just sit back and watch. And learn. He hadn’t been wrong so far.

  We entered the loud dining room where everyone was already seated and eating. Most were ready for the day, but some, like Kirill and Artur were in last night’s clothes still, just getting home from work. And Nikki and Beth were with us for this last half of the week, so they sat in their pajamas—like Daniil and me—eating pancakes and dripping syrup down their chins looking adorable. Grigori and Ember were sitting side-by-side, but Grigori hadn’t been able to repair the rift between them yet, so they were quiet next to each other.

  And everyone’s attentions turned toward us as we walked to our normal places. I tried my hardest to ignore my parents and everyone else’s stares. It wasn’t hard when I spied what was in front of my seat. There, on the table like a golden gift, were…donuts and a box of Fruity Pebbles. I stumbled and stopped to stare. My jaw gaped because I had been dreaming about food lately before waking. Those were the two main stars in my dreams.

  I glanced at Daniil, my dropped jaw turning into a huge grin. “How did you know?”

  He smiled softly, happily, his gaze darting all over my face, and bent down whispering in my ear, “You talk in your sleep sometimes.”

  “Seriously?” I gasped, and he nodded, standing straight again, watching me still. I didn’t know I did that. Oh, well. It had worked in my favor. “Thank you!” I hadn’t wanted to ask for anything special after that whole knife and green bean casserole issue. Especially because there was always a bowl full in front of me at dinner that no one else touched, and—ahem, somehow managed to be empty by the end of dinner. Yeah…well, anyway…

  “You’re welcome.” He brushed me forward, pulling my chair out for me, glancing at everyone—snooping, and then stated, “You can all go back to eating.”

  I sat quickly, and ignored Eva muttering something about clothes being needed at the table, and started scarfing down a pink iced donut with pretty sprinkles. I was so zoned into it, and the other three I ate, I didn’t notice at first Nikki and Beth staring at my plate, but eventually, I took a breath and glanced up seeing the prettiest innocent…and scared…blue and green eyes staring at me and my plate. They had stopped eating but were sitting there silently just watching me.

  I licked a little of the icing off my lips and glanced down at my plate. There were two left. Another pink one, and a sugar and cinnamon one. They looked really good, but I took a deep soothing breath, and stood up, leaning way over and down the table, firmly ignoring how they pushed back in their chair as I reached over, grabbing the tiny plates in front of the ones already filled with their messy pancakes. I proceeded to place one donut on each plate, and then put them in front of the girls.

  Big, blue and green eyes darted from the plates to me, and I nodded, sitting back down in my seat. “Go ahead. There yours.”

  Both girls glanced at Ember, who was watching me with a small smile on her lips. “Go ahead, girls. It appears Elizabeth’s morning activities have made her less…cranky.”

  I took a deep breath trying not to say anything offensive to her, and both girls grabbed their donuts and bit into them with relish, mumbling around mouthfuls, “Thank you.”

  I smiled and decided to try out something I had learned, saying clearly and distinctly in Russian, “You’re welcome.” Both girls looked at me funny, and I smiled, grabbing the box of Fruity Pebbles. “That means you’re welcome in Russian.” I paused with the box of cereal up and glanced at Daniil. “That does mean you’re welcome, right?”

  Everyone at the table who spoke Russian nodded, but Daniil was grinning like an idiot, and he asked, “You’re learning my language?”

  I shrugged, filling my bowl up. “I’m trying.” I glanced at Ember under my eyelashes, seeing her frown, and stated, “I found a book and tapes to study when I went in search of that mousse I somehow lost on Wednesday.”

  Ember’s scowl turned fierce.

  I smiled at her.

  I stated in Russian—because I had looked it up specifically, “You’re a thief. You take mine and I’ll take yours.” Plus I had asked Trofim if I was pronouncing everything correctly. He had looked surprised but nodded, repeating what I had said in English.

  Ember’s scowl didn’t falter, but her eyebrows puckered a little.

  Daniil choked on his coffee, glancing back and forth between us…pretty much like everyone else at the table who spoke Russian. He coughed, saying, “How long have you had those books and tapes?”

  I shrugged again. “A few days.” My gaze was on Ember.

  “They really do work,” I heard him whisper to himself quietly, but I didn’t think anyone else heard him.

  Ember glanced at Grigori, her expression turning even more perplexed by the second, and she broke her silent treatment she had been giving him for the past few days to ask, “What did she just say? Something about kitchens?”

  I blinked at her because…damn…those books had looked well read. A few places were even highlighted. Grigori cleared his throat carefully, glancing at me, and said, “She was wondering if you would get her more donuts from the kitchen.”

  My gaze immediately went to my bowl of cereal. Christ. I hadn’t realized Ember wasn’t picking up on the language. And that look Grigori had given me clearly stated I needed to back the fuck off.

  Ember asked me, sounding flabbergasted, “You want me to get you donuts?”

  I bit my lip and picked up my spoon. “You know, never mind. I’m good with this.” I took a deep breath and glanced at her. “I want my mousse back, and I’ll give you the books and tapes back.”

  She scowled again, but slowly nodded, appearing not to want to give me what I wanted. “Okay.” She paused, her cheeks pinking. “Um…I’d really like them back.”

  I nodded and took a bite of my cereal, honestly not enjoying making her feel this embarrassed. “All right.” I cleared my throat when the table started talking quietly, and I leaned forward on a whim, saying quietly to her, “You know, maybe we could work on learning it together. It’s hard. And I’m having some trouble with it.”

  Ember’s eyebrows pinched together, and she stated bluntly, “You’re lying.”

  My own came together. How the hell did she know that? But, more to the point, who really cared? “And if I am?”

  Grigori and Daniil sat quietly, stuck between us—Daniil at the head and Grigori directly across from me like normal—and watched us while they ate.

  “Why are you lying?” she hissed, leaning across the table.

  I glared. “Do you want to work together or not?”

  Her nostrils flared. “No. Not if my life depended on it.”

  I whispered harshly—in Russian, “Fuck you.”

  She blinked.

  And I smiled and stated clearly in English, “Your loss.”

  Sitting back in my chair, I pushed my glasses up and took another bite of my cereal. Daniil leaned over, wiping a bit of milk off my chin, his gaze hooded as he placed his lips to my ear, whispering in a purr, “I’m going to do something very special to you for learning my language. It sounds like sex rolling off your tongue. You have a natural talent for it.”

  I grinned around a mouthful of Fruity Pebbles and kissed his cheek, smearing milk on him.

  He leaned back, chuckling and wiping his cheek off. “Thank you, my sweet.”

  “You’re welcome, my dear,” I mumbled, still grinning at him.

  “Ugh,�
�� Eva muttered. “Isn’t it enough that you two came in like that,” she waved her hand up and down at us, “but now you’re doing the whole mushy crap on top of it.”

  I quickly wiped my mouth off and asked her honestly, when Daniil’s expression went stony, “Would you prefer us arguing? Your dad unhappy?”

  Her lips thinned, and she glanced at her dad, but back to me, and slowly shook her head.

  I shrugged. “Then let him be happy.” That was pretty simple logic to me.

  Her lips stayed thinned, but this time she slowly nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “No biggie,” I mumbled, holding my box of cereal out to her since I had seen her glancing at it. “Want some?”

  She stared at me, and a slow, genuine smile lifted her lips. Not one placed there because her dad said to or because she found out I was pregnant. It was there because she wanted it there. “Yeah. Thanks.” She took the box from me and filled her bowl, stating, “For a pregnant crazy, you’re not bad.”

  I chuckled around my food. “Thanks. I think.”

  “What…Shit…Wait!” Grigori practically shouted across the table, snatching our attention. He was grabbing at something Ember had. “I gave you that yesterday! I thought you would open it in private!”

  Ember held it at length. It was an envelope. She was giving him a stunned expression. And I could see why.

  Grigori was frantic as he fumbled for the envelope.

  She moved her arm, barely missing Grigori’s swipe. “I didn’t have time to open it yesterday.”

  And then she turned her back on him, ripping the envelope and opening what looked like a blank, red card. And suddenly the lyrics to Everything by Lifehouse blared over the silent table. Grigori stilled and closed his eyes. A quick blush stained his cheeks that Ember didn’t see because she was staring down at the card with her back still turned to him.

  Oh. Oh, my. Grigori had been trying to—again—make up for his blunder with Brent and Cole. And this one was pretty damn mushy. I had heard Artur and Roman talking about his previous attempts. From food to jewelry to flowers. But…this one…