Before I could retrieve my weapon, a wet softness of her cold lips mashed into my own. Her other hand wound around my waist and gathered me into her embrace, causing a muffled cry of surprise out of my throat.
For the third time, I felt helpless in her arms. All my strength dissolved like evaporating snowflakes against the heat of the winter sun. I tried to tear my lips from hers, but it got stuck in a wave of passion, coaxing me back from the shore of my consciousness like a luring song of a siren.
Anastasia loosened her grip on my jaw and moved her hand slowly down my pulse-beating neck to my panting chest. It sent shiver rushing through my trembling body. A fever burst like fire through my veins as I felt one of her hands reached for my left breast and groped it earnestly. My untamed moans escaped from the grasp of my will.
The sweet tenderness that danced between our savoring mouths made my head spin. I knew nothing of reasons and logic, neither fear nor assassin instinct could save me.
Chapter 23
Anastasia
IN THE MOMENTUM OF my desperate need, all my thoughts stopped. I wanted her. I wanted her right there in the middle of the frozen wood.
How I couldn't seem to stay away from the huntress was beyond me. Now I was obsessed with her blushed swollen lips, the way her mouth fitted mine like it only belonged to me. Valerina, the fierce assassin, was now submitting to my passion. Her warm body pressed back into my chest, and I held her tighter, letting my curious tongue delve deeper to make hers mine.
I stroked her firm slender body. The heat of desire filled up my whole being and my need to imprint myself on her delicate skin burned me like wildfire. I savored the blissful feeling of owning the huntress in my arms. The overwhelming need to whisk her up and take her completely almost exceeded my control. I wanted every inch of her, right here and now—against a tree if I must.
But before I could lose myself to this sweet woman, the thought of her belonging to someone else restrained my desire. I had finally overcome her demur, but she wasn't mine to keep. Funny how I could have anyone I wanted without tolerance over the past few years. Yet now I declined my needs to have the woman I desired the most.
The truth that jabbed inside my chest was so conspicuous as my heart began to care. I cared for this beautiful huntress, who had tried to kill me — this princess of the wild, who loathed my vampiric existence. Still, there was nothing in this bleak cold world that felt more fulfilling than to see this maiden happy, and it must be with someone she truly loved.
Just like Avery.
I was still devouring her lips. Vale's breath suddenly hitched when she felt my hand slid down her flat belly to where her warmth concentrated, and her bewilderment began to take shape. Her bright blue eyes flared open in surprise at my dauntless advancement.
Without any more deferral, I reached for her heated core and fondled it sensually in my palm. She was warm down there, so deliciously warm that I wished I could surrender to my craving. Vale's chest panted harder. I could almost tell the hesitation in her jumbled mind.
It was as I expected. The beautiful huntress soon wrenched her mouth from my own and reached down to still my wandering hand that firmly nestled between her thighs.
"Anastasia..." Vale gasped breathlessly and started to wriggle in my arms. The way she said my name fascinated me—how it rolled off her tongue so naturally like she'd been saying it all her life. Yet I kept my persistence and held onto the struggling huntress. What she hated most was being dishonored by my lustful deed, and knowing that, I took full advantage of it.
"Isn't that what you're here for? To let me have my way with you?" I whispered huskily in her ear. My hand kept caressing her sensitivity with fond indulgence. Vale gasped out loud. Her lovely face blushed bright crimson, but it was rather from a rising anger and an unmistakable layer of hurt.
Then with a swift motion, she pushed us both off the horseback. I collapsed onto the snow with Vale straddling on top of me. Her velvety scarlet cape fell over us. The huntress pulled out her knife and expertly set it under my throat. She stared down at my face with her eyes ablaze with rage. I felt her hot breath on my skin. Stardust, who was startled away from us, looked on curiously.
"I hate you! Anastasia, I really hate you!" Valerina growled in my face. There were tears of frustration and pain in her glittering blue eyes, but she refused to shed them in front of me. I realized then that whatever happened between us, whether it was lust, secret desire or sexual tension, it still meant something to Vale.
Secretly, I wished we didn't have to be this way, but I must safeguard her happiness from me. I had to push her away even if it meant we both got hurt.
I laughed with a dark humor.
"But it sure didn't seem like that when you kissed me, did it?" I said smugly. "Had you not been looking forward to our rendezvous with me, too?"
Vale gritted her teeth. The blade against my throat pressed harder, causing a slight sting on my skin.
"I should’ve known that a tiger would never change its stripes," she muttered bitterly back, her piercing eyes bore deeply into mine. I stared back evenly.
Then Vale got off me again. Her face turned into a hard mask. She whistled for Stardust with her fingers. The horse galloped back from behind another berry bush. I stood up when Vale swung herself back onto the saddle.
"The General must be waiting," she said with no more trace of emotions. “We should get back.”
I smiled, feigning ignorant once again, and then got back on the horse behind her. Her body was stiff and poised, ready to move at any moment. And wordlessly, Vale jerked on the reins and the horse began to sprint through the woods back to the camp. That was how I had intended it, but at the same time, I could feel my heart begin to crumble to dust.
I didn't deserve her.
We went through the gate of the Cossack Camp at last. After we got off Stardust, one of the hunters took the horse away. Then we walked back without any word passed between us. Damir emerged from the tent when he saw Vale again. He walked up to her enthusiastically.
"Vale, thank god, I'm so relieved you're back," he said. "I had to switch off the entire Phoenix Shield, and that worried me so much I almost went after you. If anything happened to you, I wouldn't..." He then glanced at me.
"I'm alright, Damir," Vale reassured him with a dry smile. She hadn't looked at me ever since we left the forest. The Generals appeared a moment later with the Alpha and some other hunters. They were still talking about something, and when they saw me, they stopped.
"How was the tour, Grand Duchess?" Trotsky asked and smiled.
"Good," I said nonchalantly.
"Come on, Anastasia. We have been working on our enforcement for years. Can we get an 'impressive' or a 'wonderful'?" Trotsky chided me. "Did Vale impress you with anything you hadn't seen?"
From the corner of my eyes, Vale tried to hide her blush.
The General gave me an amused look again, but I ignored him. The rest of the day, we spent on examining their previous operations and missions of both the hunters and the Cossack knights. I pretended to pay attention, but all I could think about was Vale's hurt look in the forest that still haunted me.
It was already dark when we got back to the castle. During the ride through the quiet passage, Trotsky noticed my silence.
"What happened in the woods, my dear princess?" he asked.
"I knew what you were up to, Trotsky," I said with a clenched jaw.
"What are you talking about?" he said, looking at me innocently.
"Is that your plan all along?" I asked, staring back at the violet-eyed vampire. "You tried to offer Vale to me. What do you want?"
"I know what's best for my god-daughter, Anastasia," he simply said. "You're just making it more complicated."
"I don't care, old man. You have to stop whatever it is you think you're doing," I threatened the General. "If I ever find out that you use Vale to your advantage, I’ll be sure to make you regret it."
"Well noted, Your Highn
ess." he smiled back. "But I also hope you will discover more things when your heart is ready."
Chapter 24
All the tensions that were mounted from my visit to the camp made me unbearably tired. I was actually relieved to be back at the castle. It looked now as if it had been a lifetime ago since I left my palace in Moscow. How the Royal Council had been holding up in my absence all this time became my concern. I had not the slightest clue as to what they were doing, nor had I been thinking about the possibility that they would come looking for me.
Would they seek my sister out to guide the nation during their diplomatic crisis? Since the time I dissolved the Vampire Assembly back in Beliy Dom, we hadn't reached any solution aside from my letter to the Kaiser. I wondered if Alex already heard the news of my abduction. Would she return to Kremlin, away from her paradise of serenity, to rescue me? I sure did not have high hope that she would find me any time soon, but a part of me knew my older sister would do anything to restore me no matter what. And that only meant bloodshed was in the vicinity.
The thought of Alex also led me to the one girl I had been trying to forget all this time. Of course, if my sister was in Russia by now, she would be with her, too. Would I be able to see Avery again, considering my current state? Would I still want to meet her if I had a chance? All those wasted years, I couldn't bear the memory of my past love. I imagined seeing her all beautiful and perfect but also inhumanly cold. Her natural deep brown eyes that once saw through me were now infected with vicious purple hue. She was not the delicate plump of life and vibrant warmth like she used to be. I would never recover from the guilt and shame that bit through me night and day, knowing it was all my doing.
Then there were two unpleasant things that bound to happen if I were to stay with the hunters too long. One was the danger I might pose to this well-established community. My government would try to find me and most certainly launch their attack to crush the movement. I had warned Trotsky of the matter, but he would only laugh it off.
"I understand your concern, Anastasia," he said. "The moment you set your foot in here, I knew you thought I was like a silly bird that brought a piece of jewel to my nest, and your very presence is no different from a jewel's reflection that would burn the nest to ash once the sun rises."
"Then why do you still keep me here knowing it would expose your hiding place and endanger your people?" I asked him.
"Because, sometimes, a certain thing is worth sacrificing for."
Sometimes, the old Bolshevik leader was still a mystery to me. His riddle was still echoing in my ears, but I had trouble understanding those simple words.
Other than my threatening presence to the hunters, it was my own blue-eyed assassin. It went without saying that I could not allow myself to humor the untamed desire for the lovely huntress anymore. It had been far more worrisome and a true burden to my heart. But the rebellious part of me still insisted to hold onto the vestige of hope. Maybe I should return to my own gloom and the unfeeling world that a creature like me belonged. I didn't want to risk myself with the comfort of this forbidden bliss.
As sullenly as I could, I declined the invitation from Trotsky to join them for dinner that night. I went back to my chamber with Lyra, who had come to me as if she had been waiting for me from dawn till dusk. With an air of childish excitement, she took my hand and smiled sweetly with her bright eyes. I gave a small smile back at the human girl.
From my peripheral vision, Valerina averted her gaze to focus her attention on a burning torch on the stone wall.
Trotsky had ordered a few hunters to escort me to the castle's wing where I stayed. To my growing irritation, he had made sure that one of them were the red-caped huntress.
The Alpha looked at her sister and me with an unreadable expression. Then the rest of them went back with the General. Through the dimly lit space of the corridor, Vale seemed particularly grimmer. She was doing her best to ignore me as we walked a step away from each other. Her movement was as stiff as a ramrod. I felt bad for what I had done to her back in the woods, but I could not take back my intention.
"Tomorrow, the General wishes to show you the target practice with the new weapons," she said in a monotone after we stopped in the corridor outside my chamber. "I suggest you get ready early in the morning."
"Then I might have to use some relief since the day was quite...unfulfilling to say the least," I said and wound an arm around Lyra's small waist, drawing her against my side. Vale's eyes flickered with suppressed emotions.
The huntress nodded back coldly.
"Suit yourself," she said.
The keen piercing blue eyes burned into mine, but Vale didn't show any sign that divulged her change in moods, yet I knew by her pulsating heart.
Despite it, I turned to Lyra and overly expressed my affection towards the former slave by pulling her in for a kiss on the mouth. A gasp sounded from Lyra's throat. When I turned back again, Valerina was already tramping down the hallway. Her long velvet red cloak flew like scarlet waves as she stormed off. The other hunters were trailing after her. When they were gone, I released Lyra from my hold and turned towards the door with an inward twinge in my chest.
Once I was inside, I dropped myself on the sofa and leaned my head back with a loud exhale. Lyra followed quietly into the room. She walked over to a small table by the fireplace and came over to where I sat with a glass of crimson liquid in hand. The smell of thick deliciousness inside the glass reached my nostrils. My head snapped back out of instinct.
"Human blood?" I asked. Lyra nodded sheepishly. Her face blushed as if she had done something in secret. My gaze drew to her wrists. The white bandage covered one of her delicate hand. Lyra noticed the disapproving look on my face.
"It's just a little blood," she said in a hurried voice.
"You're not a vampire slave anymore, Lyra, you should act like one," I told her. "You're free now."
"I know," she said, "but I just wanted to help you with what I can."
She lowered her head to hide her troubled face. I realized I shouldn't have been so harsh on the human girl. After all, what she did was more of old habit. Or maybe she needed my attention. As far as I knew the other former slaves who were rescued from Ostankino might have found Lyra distasteful because of her loyalty to me. I knew this much from the way her lonely eyes got brightened at my arrival.
"It's alright, Lyra," I said and let out a low sigh. "But make sure I don't see any more cut on you, promise?"
Lyra looked up from the wine glass that she was gripping to meet my eyes. A smile appeared on her lips again. I motioned for her to sit down next to me. She came over and handed me the drink. The aroma of her blood tightened my inside with gnawing hunger. The thirst forced me to reach for the glass from Lyra. She nodded with an encouraging smile and I emptied the content. A soft moan rose from my throat as the heightened feeling of Lyra's vitalizing blood offered me.
"Is there anything else I could help you with, Anastasia?" she asked in an imploring tone. I closed my eyes, savoring the remaining taste on my lips. The craving of blood was the only thing that made me feel different. It made me feel less human. I could lose all my care during that fix. It was as good as sex.
Then I felt a pair of soft hands on my shoulders, stroking and squeezing in a soothing manner. I sighed some more as Lyra began to massage me. Then her hands moved down slowly to unbutton my shirt and opened my collar wider. I was too far off to care. I looked down and found the girl already kneeling between my legs as I sat there. Her light green eyes were staring back at me, asking for my permission. I could feel the familiar throb of need formed in my belly and after a moment, I nodded and leaned back on the sofa.
Lyra unbuttoned the rest of my shirt eagerly. Her hands roamed over my exposed skin once the fabric came loose. Lyra trailed kisses on my stomach. Her warm tongue softly licked over my navel, eliciting a moan from my throat. Then she undid my pants and pulled them slowly as I raised my hips to allow her access. Once she got ev
erything removed, Lyra's gentle hands eased my knees apart and brought down her lips and tongue. She kissed my inner thighs and dragged her wet sleek tongue over my skin. The burning gathered around my hips. My heart pounded faster.
Then the moment she took me in her mouth, I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut as I leaned back against the seat again.
Lyra was what remained of my gloomy and unfeeling world. She was a reminder that I was once a sinner living a hedonistic life. Being with her would get Valerina off my mind.
The wet slick of that slithering tongue was everywhere and all at once. The firm yet warm tongue full of tiny bumps lapped all over me.
It was too good— too good to resist.
"Lyra," I breathed and pulled her up from between my opened legs to share a sloppy wet kiss. She straddled my lap and gasped against my hungry mouth. Her hips bucked into me as my hands squeezed over her back and lovely behind. I peeled her clothes off a bit roughly.
"It's like the first time I met you," Lyra whispered excitedly against my lips. "I couldn't believe I got to have you all to myself."
All I wanted was to satisfy my aching need and buried it between her thighs. I turned us around and laid her on the sofa. Our panting breaths matched each other's. Lyra's shapely legs fell apart for my attention. She looked a lot like a woman now than when I first met her in Versailles. Her little pinky petals were all glistening and ready. I swallowed the saliva that flooded my mouth before bringing my hand to her soft sensitivity. Lyra squirmed in excitement. Her sweet honey oozed slowly in abundance. My hand was soon coated with her slippery nectar. Lyra was so aroused and in need of my touch. Her face contorted by the sensual rhythm over her blooming flower.
"Please...Anastasia," she pleaded and tried to raise and stir her hips as if wanting me to slip into her juice-filled cave. Seeing the sweet Lyra being corrupted by my wantonness stopped me.
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