chapter thirty-five
THE CREATURE
W atching her through the night while she was cradled in my arms felt wrong. Sometimes she would shift, and I would think to let go of her and flee before remembering that I was not in her chambers in secret. She was in my arms because she wanted to be.
When she yelled at me last night, I felt a constriction around my stomach and chest. It was not at all pleasurable like it had been many times before.
The entire situation stressed her to the point of lashing out.
She had become more unstable as the days went on.
There was no doubt that her mentality had suffered in turn.
I’d assumed that a country getaway would be relaxing, but it had made her decline faster than I thought.
The way the gravity around her was heavy, more so than normal.
She needed to be alone. I needed to take her away. Socializing was not good for her. She needed a place to unravel.
When I finally pried myself away from her that morning, other guests were already awake, and a few gentlemen were scattered about the lounge drinking morning tea and trying to absolve their drunkenness. One dark-haired figure on the couch, in particular, pulled my attention.
“This seat taken?” It was more of an announcement that I would be sitting, not a question. I did not care for this fool’s permission.
I took the seat across from our dark-haired acquaintance.
“It is now,” Viktor said with a tight smile. “What brings you to this specific corner?”
“Why, I thought the company would be pleasant!” I said sarcastically.
“Late start to the morning?”
“Ah, well, departing a lady’s chambers too early would be improper. I thought I’d bring her breakfast.” I smiled. “No one to keep you in bed this beautiful morning?”
“You’re quite sharp for just waking up.” He ignored my previous comment, sipping his tea and glancing at the unbound stack of papers on his lap.
“Who said I went to sleep?” I smirked. “Some of us are kept occupied throughout the night.”
“Was she also aware, or do you like it while she sleeps?” His eyes darted in my direction.
“Is that what you tell yourself? To make you feel better about being rejected?” I smiled innocently.
“You’re on thin ice to begin with.”
“Pardon?”
“No matter.” A smile returned to his face as he handed me the stack of papers he had been annotating. “Give these to Alina when you head back up, yeah?” He stood and patted me playfully on the cheek before leaving the lounge area.
What on earth was that? Thin ice? With whom?
The papers in my hand looked to be a lab report.
Not something I tended to read for fun, but then I saw her name on the front, right next to his name.
It was a sickening reminder that I was not allowed to kill him, no matter how infuriating he was.
I could only hope Alina would tire of him soon and he would fade into the background.
She was like a cat, playing with many interesting things until she grew bored.
Viktor was no different. She would be rid of him once she was done with her research.