“I’d like to sleep now. I believe Anastasia has a busy day for me tomorrow.” I make one last attempt to free my wrist. How can this guy hold as tight?
“Do you want to see my powers?” he asks.
“Not particularly. I’ve heard most use blood and I'm squeamish.”
Nikolai chuckles. “I wouldn’t expose witch blood with a group of vampires nearby.”
I take a relieved breath. “Maybe tomorrow. Please, Nikolai. Allow me to go and sleep. If you’re worried I’ll wander off, bring Mhairi to collect me.”
His eyes shine coal-black in the night, fixed on mine, and I snatch my chance. I reach inside his head with my mind and pick at the corner as if peeling a sticker from paper. The expected darkness is there, and I wade through the thick sludge until I hit a barrier. A pain hits the front of my head and I press my palm against my forehead, as if I physically ran into the barrier.
As the surroundings lurch, Nikolai's laugh sounds distant, and when I blink back to reality his eyes shine darker still. “Now I can tell you need more teaching. I’m unsure if you were about to read my thoughts or take over my mind, but you’ll achieve neither.” I shrink back as he stands and looms over me. “I’ll walk you to your room. Follow me.”
As he moves to take my hand, a sickness spreads upwards into my chest and grips my heart.
No.
I don’t move. “Ask Mhairi. I’m sure you have people to entertain at your party instead of wasting your time as an escort.”
“Anastasia’s party. All I wanted to see was my uncle and Anastasia challenge each other and boringly, that never happened. Now come with me.” He tugs me until I trip. “Before I lose my temper.”
No. No. No.
“I won’t force my way into your room, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he says.
“Yes. Because you have a key, I expect.”
He arches a brow at my sarcasm and walks again.
I’ve no choice and allow him to lead me back towards the building. I couldn’t penetrate his mind; I’ve no chance of controlling his mind.
Each step I take through the echoing halls and up the carpeted stairs feels one closer to an unimaginable fate. I’d heard about and was prepared for the Blackwood evil, but I expected magic, not a physical assault.
Is Tobias nearby? How near does he need to be for me to project thoughts to him?
Chapter Twenty
MAEVE
The final hallway towards my room is dark and far from the party room. With each step, I regret my decision to leave the party for the gardens. The company in the room wasn't pleasant to be around, but I could’ve avoided a situation like this.
I walk along the hallway towards the room and the atmosphere changes as Nikolai doesn’t accompany me. Halting, I turn to face him. He stands in the space at the end of the hallway, blocking the light from the lamps hanging above the stairs behind.
His face is illuminated by the old-fashioned gas lamps on the wall, his eyes bright but unnerving in his expressionless face. Is the barrier I've carefully woven around my mind as we made our way here enough to protect myself? My stomach has turned over and over as I remember the helplessness when I was under Anastasia's control.
“Are you—" I begin, and stagger backwards as a screeching in my ears reverberates in my head, setting my teeth on edge.
Steadying myself on the wall, I close my eyes and focus on pushing out the noise. The screeching continues to disorientate me as I blindly search my mind for the place he found his way through to seal the hole.
I’m vaguely aware of him moving closer and as the noise stops, he reaches out for me. “Is everything okay, Maeve?”
I push one hand against my temples and eye him, heart now beating twice as fast as two minutes ago. His sardonic grin grows as he bends to meet my eyes.
“Yes,” I say and straighten.
“Are you sure?”
I hold his gaze—even if I can’t attack his mind, I can keep him out of mine. “Yes,” I repeat through gritted teeth.
“Do you want to hear something special?” he asks.
“What?”
“Something very few people have the privilege of hearing.” I rub my eyes in confusion as he taps the side of his head. “Because few people know Blackwood spells.”
I don't comprehend a lot about my time here, but I’m positive of one thing—I don’t want to hear any Blackwood spells.
“Tomorrow?” I suggest.
He regards me, unblinking, and whispers something I can barely hear. I shiver as if ice rather than diamonds line my spine. Nikolai continues to murmur to himself and the cold feeling grows, the air around darkening and cooling. Ink-black spots dance across my vision—or are they shapes around me? I’ve not seen the shapes in the room since I arrived here, but I sense these have the same aura.
I can’t back up without hitting the wall at the end of the hallway, where a Blackwood ancestor smiles malevolently from a portrait. The only way out is to run past Nikolai. The shadows grow and swirl closer to him and he lifts his hands, palms upwards, allowing them to wind around like rope.
As my vision blurs further, I stumble towards the end of the hallways towards him and the stairs leading down. I can barely move, as if the carpet became thick cement that I’m dragging my feet through until I’m held in place as the imaginary cement hardens.
I've never experienced this magic—nobody at the academy can conjure darkness.
Blinking away the dark spots, I focus on Nikolai and fight down the rising fear as the shadows swarm around him. He takes slow steps to close the gap between us, murmuring still. His voice is clearer but the words unintelligible.
He reaches out to touch my face and I can't flinch away; I’m more paralysed than I realised. “Sometimes, when people aren’t compliant, they need a little persuasion. Strangely, people don’t offer up their blood willingly.”
I struggle to breathe as if my lungs are filled with water. Nikolai or terror? I drop my eyes to his hands, ready to defend myself in case he has a blade.
No. I need his eyes on mine. To put every spark of magic I have into invading his head before he assaults me. We stare at each other unblinkingly and each time my magic touches his thoughts, he slams back against me with a chuckle. My energy drops away with each attempt to wear him down.
Digging deep, I find a new well of energy to fuel my ebbing magic. Power surges from my heart into my head and I give one last push at his mind. If I break through, I may be able to take control. A vain hope, maybe, but I’m not yielding to whatever he plans.
Nikolai’s barrier splits open and his memories spill out.
Image after image filled with blood, terror, and death at his hands; unimaginable scenes that will haunt me forever. As the memories flood, I’m pulled into the events, petrified that this could be a vision and not his memories and desires.
“What do you think, Maeve?” Nikolai’s voice is closer and for a moment I think he’s in my head, whispering, until I feel warm breath against my face.
I shake my head in an attempt to dislodge the images, unable to pull myself back to the reality in front of me. I’m drowning in the bloodied carnage and his amusement grows.