A hand curls around the back of my neck and squeezes. “I don’t like people treating me with the disdain you do. I always try to be nice, but some people just won’t comply, and that makes me sad.”
The sensation of his disgusting skin against mine tugs me away from the nightmare for a moment and I’m aware of his glittering obsidian eyes. If strong emotions trigger my mind control, then why not now? I need my magic.
“Leave me alone,” I say, hating the way my voice cracks.
Nikolai pulls me towards him by the neck and looks down, moistening his lips. “You may fool others by downplaying your abilities, but not me. I know you’re strong, but you need to be stronger, Maeve. I'll teach you how to fight back.”
His hand on my neck tightens and I claw at his fingers. What is he planning? To take my blood? Assault me?
Summoning up physical energy, I lift up my knee and smack him in the groin. Surprise replaces his grin and his grip on me loosens as he yells. Snatching my chance, I push past Nikolai towards the top of the stairs. He seizes my hair and I stumble and cry out as he yanks me backwards. My scalp stings as I’m forced to tip my head upwards as he pulls.
“That was stupid,” he hisses and pulls tighter.
I recoil as his face moves closer to mine and my heart slams harder in my chest. “Get off me.”
“Show me your magic, little witch. Stop me.” His dark aura overwhelms me, the shadows winding around and binding us.
Tears push against my eyes, but his challenge is a chance I need to focus on. The images of his victims continue to loop in my head, but I can’t find my way back inside his mind.
“Are you testing me?” I say, eyes watering.
He makes a derisive sound. “No. I’m teaching you compliance.” Nikolai’s other arm snakes around my waist in a grip I can’t move from. “I'm rather skilled in mind control.”
His words draw an icy line down my spine. “No.”
“Stop me,” Nikolai repeats and runs his tongue slowly across his teeth.
I’m paralysed by him and his magic, but my survival instinct is strong. I concentrate on the magic in the air around me and a different voice whispers in my mind; one that wants to feed on his darkness.
A stronger energy. Blackwood.
The moment Anastasia told me I contained Blackwood magic, I swore I’d fight to never connect with this part of me. I have no choice. I'm forced to draw on the dark power as I pull energy from the summoned shadows wrapped around us.
The magic streams into me, different to the warm, tingling I recognise when I’m at full power. This is cold. Heavy. Overwhelming. Energising. I mentally reach out and tear into Nikolai’s mind.
As I suspected, behind his bravado he’s weak; weaker still because he’s used up his magic fighting against mine. Nikolai shouts out and draws me closer to him, grip around my waist tightening. Gritting my teeth, I plunge into his head and attempt to takeover. His grip on my hair loosens and he drops his arm, giving up his hold but not voluntarily.
Nikolai fights back as he pushes me back out of his mind and onto the floor. Breathing heavily, Nikolai stands over me. “Stand up, witch,” he says. “Do what I tell you.”
I blow hair from my face and refuse to comply.
“I said, stand up,” he yells.
My limbs take on a mind of their own—his mind—and I struggle to my feet. No. The wall is cool beneath my palm and I concentrate on the wallpaper’s rough sensation. I’m in control, I repeat in my head, over and over.
“Come here.”
I hang onto my autonomy as I hold onto the wall, but my mind becomes a muddied puddle I can’t see beneath.
Run.
A voice echoes in the emptiness, almost inaudible and I obey. Pushing myself from the wall, I charge forward and knock into Nikolai. He barely stumbles, but I’ve enough time to stumble by and reach the stairs.
Chapter Twenty-One
MAEVE
Nikolai's shadow magic whips around my face and I struggle to see where I’m going as the surroundings narrow into a tunnel. The same sensation from when Anastasia gripped my mind comes over me, pulling at me like a magnet wanting to click back to Nikolai.
I fight against crying out at the pain in my head, and for the first time in weeks, I feel helpless in this strange supernatural world.
I place my hands on the stair rail and blindly feel my way down the stairs. My vision clears more the further I move from him. I grasp at a handle on a nearby door and shove the door open.
I find myself standing by a square courtyard covered in dirt with an arch in the wall opposite that leads away from the house. A smell of manure and fresh straw from the nearby building fills my nostrils. Stables. I stagger forward towards the archway.
This time when the pain hits my head I scream out, unable to suppress the reaction. I fall onto my hands and knees, arms trembling and too weak to push myself up. Nikolai’s booted feet appear in front of me and he crouches down.
“You’re weak, Maeve.”
His words sting after weeks of people telling me I'm strong. I've grasped onto a belief that I can fight this man, which now slips. My hair hangs into the dirt and I focus on slowing my rapid breathing—on pushing away the fear that’s paralysing my magic.
“I’m not,” I say hoarsely to the ground.
Nikolai moves his face towards my ear and whispers words that confirm he wants to drag me into my worst nightmare. Metal flashes as the moonlight bounces off a small blade he holds.
“Prove it,” he says.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask as he drags my hand towards him. “You can’t. Your sister—others—they'll be angry you interfered.”
“Anastasia thinks she’s in charge because she’s Daddy’s girl. Screw that.” His eyes harden.
I’m the victim of sibling rivalry.
The sharp blade touches my palm, at the spot healing from Anastasia’s assault, and I lose control, allowing the shadows to enter me and give me the power I need.
I’m there. In Nikolai’s head. He’s looking at me and thrilled by my fear feeding his sick fantasies. He doesn't care that he'll upset his sister and the Dominion by harming me. I can see everything in his depraved mind.
Nikolai believes this will subdue me. That I’ll become compliant. His.
He’s here too, thrashing around at my new grip on his mind. I make him drop the knife and his inner voice growls. His struggle against my invasion pauses but my relief is short-lived. His new attack begins, using more of his abhorrent thoughts in an attempt to shock and interrupt me.
I can’t blank them out and I falter.
But if I don’t keep fighting, I’m lost.
He brandishes the knife again, curling one hand over his other wrist to steady his hold. The sickening images spur me on, and I fight to control him—to throw the knife away.
One last image sends me over the edge, myself naked, broken and bloodied, and a tsunami of magic fuelled by hatred washes from me. Nikolai doesn’t deserve to live. He's a twisted killer. He wants to kill me. I’ve never experienced a loathing as strong as this before and the magic whispers at me to finish him.
With pleasure.
The horrific scenes in his head vanish and are replaced by shock as he fights against lifting the knife upwards towards his throat. The magic streaming through me meets something inside his evil soul and stokes the darkness inside me.