Chapter 7 #2
Sighing, I glanced down at my phone. A strange itch under my skin had begun earlier tonight.
A relentless clawing, a sensation that something happened.
A pulling I had not felt in months. One that caused a deep knowing in my gut that everything had changed, and her time running away from me—from us—had officially run out.
That I was about to get everything I had finally hoped—wished—for when it came to her.
A cost I would pay, and a sin I would take to my grave if it would finally tie me to her in a way even the liar, deceiver, and betrayer that lived within her would be uncomfortable with breaking from.
For once, I decided that I would ignore the insidious feeling clawing in my gut—the sense that I instinctually knew was a forewarning. As I turned to walk away, my phone lit up, vibrating across my desk as a harsh exhale of relief shuddered out of me.
Printsessa calling…
A dangerous chuckle whispered past my lips as I answered.
“Lenochka.” Not completely expecting it to be her on the other end, I waited on bated breath, preparing for the disappointment that this would likely be a prank by one of her friends. “Is your pretty pussy missing me? Does she want me to drop everything and play with her again?”
“Artyom. I need you to come find me. I don’t know where I am.”
Dread sank into my chest at the haunted quality of her voice, and before I even registered it, I was sliding into sweats and grabbing my shoes and keys.
She had only ever called me out of the blue like this once before—almost three years ago…
almost to the date. And the resulting events…
had been devastating to us both, to say the least.
The event—the result or repercussion more-like—caused by our ill-fated luck or disregard for making sure protection had been used for each of us, had damned her.
It had led to events that I truly never hoped to live through again.
Her break in sanity from the scandal it would have caused and her resulting temporary banishment her rigid adoptive parents had enforced.
All in the name of making sure their standing in town would never be besmirched by a girl who refused to bend her will.
The horrors I saw flash through her gaze for weeks after I had found her walking barefoot, in tattered sleepwear, through the forest at the cliffs…
had almost torn my soul to shreds, and in many ways, they had, even though I hated admitting it.
The carnage the monster inside me wanted to wreak on those who hurt her was daunting, but I knew deep down those faces were closer to home than we wanted to admit.
“Artyom, please!” Audrey cried into the phone, as if she were on the cusp of an invisible attack. That feeling I knew all too well—the one vulnerability that we both allowed the other to see.
“I’m on my way, Lenochka. Just breathe for me. Tell me—” her shaky breaths began to steady over the line “—what do you see? Hear?”
“It’s dark. I see the trees and the outline of a house. I hear footsteps. Hurry!”
“Wait for me, Printsessa, I’ll find you. Trust me.”
I opened the app on my phone and waited for the small red dot to appear, tapping my hand against the screen in agitation, wishing I had never made that promise to only use this in times of need.
Why did I ever agree with her? She had given me permission to insert a subdermal tracker in her skin just over three years ago, before the Yateses sent her away, even if she had likely forgotten it was there since then…
but it had saved her on many nights like these.
“Lenochka, I always find you. Just stay here with me.”
I knew answering her call would change everything between us.
Her desire to leave, to stay away as best she could and my dream that she would choose to return to me naturally—not against her will.
Her call for help would not go unnoticed by those our truths were hidden from.
Neither of us had ever been able to refuse the other when one needed help, a vicious cycle that I knew I would not be breaking…
even today. Don’t pretend like you do not sit in your manor and pine for her, you spoiled bastard.
We were two ravaged souls who circled each other endlessly, always wanting something just out of reach.
Fuck.
If only I had known of the events that would come months later.
The heartache and devastation she would create.
The deceptions and betrayals she would unearth and use for her gain.
All in a desire to beat her faceless enemy, The Gamemaster that was pulling her strings, forcing her to make choices that even I would be unable to.
Maybe I would have chosen to ignore that call.
To refuse her just this once.
But I had never been a liar, and even now, I could not regret a thing.
Shadows burn brightest among the fires this life created.
And my Printsessa would never run out of darkness with me.
1 Printsessa (Russian): Princess