“Take Danika and two of the men with you.”
“Two?” She seemed surprised but was too dizzy to argue.
Danika skipped beside Elena as they left, almost falling into the onion dip twice. The two left the box, neither looking back.
I could still feel Elena’s juices against my hands and smell her scent on my fingers. She was maddening, addictive. I almost went after her, almost claimed her right then. There was no other way to soothe the thrum of adrenaline and arousal that stirred within me.
I wanted to feel her center against my lips, taste her lust on my tongue. I wanted her screaming, shattering, beneath my control. The next time she shattered a champagne glass, I wanted to bend her over and fuck her–audience be damned.
Patience, I told myself once more. Patience.
Another race began shortly after, the rumble of the hooves hitting the ground as loud as the thunder in the sky. Elena did not return.
22
Elena Falcone
Danika wanted to ask me something.
She was a pistol of energy beside me, fidgeting with her fascinator until curls of her hair came loose. She kept looking at me, mouth parting with the beginning of a question before quickly turning away.
“What is it?” I asked as we made our way to the bathrooms. Two Vor followed us but remained at a respectable distance. They caught the eye of a few attendees, but no one dared approached, instead choosing to hide their prying stares beneath fans and handkerchiefs. Everyone knew the rumors that surrounded anyone associated with Konstantin Tarkhanov and only the stupid ones would tempt the truth.
Danika stumbled over the cobble-stone path. “Oh, crap!” I caught her before she went down, holding her up by her elbow. “Thanks, Elena. It’s this bloody outfit. The shoes and the hat–I can barely see anything.”
I arched a brow and gestured down to my bare feet. “Take them off.”
“And risk tetanus?” She huffed.
I looked down at her scraped knees and bruised legs. Danika had been falling over and hurting herself since she had been a child. “If you haven’t gotten tetanus by now, I’d say you’re safe.”
Danika poked her tongue at me, but her grin stopped it from feeling malicious. She paused suddenly, face scrunching as she swallowed down her question.
“What is it?” I repeated.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her eyes darted to me before looking forward once more.
We entered the luxurious bathroom. Women lined up in front of the mirrors but as soon as they saw Danika and I, they excused themselves, rushing out beneath a cloud of perfume. Quickly, the room was empty, and we were alone.
After a few more loaded glances from Danika, I snapped, “Just say it. You’re getting on my nerves.”
She went pink. “Promise you won’t get mad.”
It was my turn to send her a loaded look.
“Fine…” Danika chewed her bottom lip, but her eyes were alight with joy. “Are you and Kostya back together?”
I looked down at the sink to hide my expression from her. My muscles were still quivering from the orgasm Konstantin had fingered me to. I could still feel his digits inside of me, pumping and spreading, each movement designed to make me wetter.
It was an effort to answer. My thoughts were still cloudy with arousal. “No.”
“But you’re staying, right?”
I won’t ever leave again. “I am.”
Ever since I had spoken those words to Konstantin, I had been locked in a suffocating stalemate. Not because I regretted them. No, in fact, I had felt pure euphoria as I had said the words. My entire heart had eased knowing that there’d be no heartache for us in the future and that I’d get to stay with my family for many decades. My son would stay his family, and I would stay with him.
It was Konstantin who was keeping me stressed. I didn’t know what I had expected but I knew I had expected more. I had thought my words would ignite our past love once more, would bring us back together over the ocean of time and pain.
Instead, Konstantin had nodded his head and said, “I’ll let Nikolai pick which room he wants.” I’d been too emotional to truly absorb his lack of reaction until afterwards.
Why hadn’t he invited me back into his bed? Why hadn’t he taken me in his arms and declared his intentions?
Had…had he changed his mind?
My entire body prickled at the thought. Now that the chase was over, was Konstantin no longer interested? He had caught his prey–what did I had left to interest him with?
Stop thinking stupid things, I told myself sharply.
I looked down to my arms. The words were faded against the olive skin, but I could still make them out.
...you are the most beautiful creature that has ever walked the earth...
...all the languages in the world could never find a term to do you justice...
...describing you commands one’s entire mouth and an essay of idioms...
...you have been a creature of love your entire life...
These were not the words of a man who had lost interest. Besides, Konstantin had just finger-fucked me in public…surely, that meant something.
Maybe it was my turn to hunt, to make the first move. Maybe I was the predator and–
The bathroom door opened, the clacking of heels filling the quiet space.
“Elena, Danika, it’s been too long.”
Her voice echoed throughout the room, silky and accented.
I snapped my head to the side as my brain filled with denial. It can’t be, it’s not her, there’s no way she would dare–
Tatiana stood by the door, dressed in a blush pink dress that she had matched with a large fascinator with flowers dripping over the sides. To the casual onlooker, she looked like a wealthy woman attending the races.
But her smile made her stand apart from the crowd. The smug curl to her lips was nothing but pure evil.
It had been three years since I’d seen her, when she’d was been clutching her bleeding stomach and promising revenge on us all. She had changed slightly, her cheeks bright with health and her stomach no longer swollen with a baby. She didn’t look like the mad villainess I had painted in my mind. No horns, no fangs. Just a beautiful woman with a very dark heart.
“Lost for words?” Tatiana stepped forward, each movement slow and purposeful.
Thoughts raced around my head. Where’s Konstantin? Where are the guards? Why is she here? Who is she after?
Them or you them or you them or you.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed.
Her teeth flashed as her smile grew. In her elegant movement, she swept off her hat, revealing her golden-brown locks. Thank God, Anton doesn’t look like her, a stray thought said in the back of my mind. “Is that anyway to greet an old friend?” she inquired.
Danika grabbed my wrist, squeezing it tightly. She was scared–not of Tatiana. No, the little interrogator was scared of what she might have to do to her. “Where are the guards?”
Tatiana’s expression didn’t flinch. “Don’t worry about them, Danika. Worry about yourself.” Her blue-grey eyes roamed over the pair of us. “You’ve both changed and yet remained exactly the same. Though, Elena, you look a little tireder these days.”
“It’s called being a mother.” I bared my teeth. “Don’t you remember?”