Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(104)

The door burst open, and Aleksi stormed in, then slammed the door behind her. “Asshole! You’ve got it wrong, Mihai. I’ve never been anything but loyal to Fydor.”

“You were not supposed to leave your room until the danger had passed,” a deep voice said from outside the door. “You promised to defend this entrance to the castle in case the Uniter tries to gain access this way again.”

She jumped but made no sound when she discovered Nik and Elena in her room. “Okay, fine.”

“Aleksandra, you know how I feel about you. I would never—”

“Fuck off, Mihai. Just go.”

After many long minutes of silence, she took a long breath. “Ballsy move coming back here, Niki baby. Fydor has been in a rage since you were “stolen” from him.”

Nik sheathed his father’s sword and pulled his sister into his arms. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “He’s been too high to do much of anything since Borya left.”

“Borya was here?”

“Yeah. He locked Fydor in the rec room with him for a while. Fydor has been f*cked up since. Said something about a vision Borya had about Mom proclaiming you king or something. Really shook him up. Well, that and the quality one-on-one time with Borya.”

“Are there any other mind readers here?” Elena asked, still singing in her head.

“No. There are no vampires or sorcerers. They are the only ones with that power. And not all vamps at that.”

Thank goodness for small favors. She stopped humming and reveled in the silence in her head.

“I’m here for Mom,” Nik said. “Elena saw her burning at the stake. Where is she?”

“Her apartment, I guess. She never leaves anymore.”

Pulling Elena close, he leaned down, his familiar minty smell folded around her like a warm blanket. “Say it,” he whispered. “I need to hear it.”

“I love you, Nikolai Itzov.”

“Aw, shit. Don’t make me barf,” Aleksi teased.

Nik’s lips met hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, sword still in her hand. He ran his warm palm down her back and pulled her against him, then gave her butt cheek a squeeze, which made her whole body flush hot. She’d never get enough of this man. Good thing they’d live forever… Well, if they made it past tonight. “Wait for me. I’ll be right back,” he said against her lips.

He stopped just inside the door. “I can’t wait to introduce you to my mother.” And with a gorgeous grin, he slipped out the door and out of sight.

Focus. She shook off her lusty haze and pulled the vial out of her pocket. “Here’s the plan. You need to get it into Fydor’s stash somehow and make sure he takes it sometime before midnight tonight.”

“He takes that shit all the time. Mom got him hooked on it by calling it medicine. He thinks it makes his thinking clearer. Getting him high won’t work.”

“This ‘medicine’ won’t make him high. It will kill him.”

For a moment, her eyes lit up, and then she slumped down onto the bed. “Impossible. He won’t let me anywhere near. He’s on a bender and says he knows I’m in with you somehow. It will never work.”

“Who is he letting close?”

“No one. He just broods alone in his room. The entire place and everyone in it is on lockdown. Including me.” She buried her face in her hands.

There had to be a way. She turned the tiny bottle in her fingers. Always another answer. She’d spent her time in graduate school troubleshooting potentially hopeless problems. She just needed to step back and think about it logically and analytically: goal, obstacle, solution.

First, define the goal. Well, that was easy. Get Fydor to drink the replacement elixir, which meant getting it into his possession in such a way he would ingest it today.

Define biggest obstacle. Easy as well. Lack of proximity and access.

Discover solution. Not as simple. She had to get someone close enough to sub that vial into his supply, but he had closed himself away.

There’s always an answer. Always a way… She paced the room and stopped short dead center. Adrenaline surged through her in a prickly wave. The solution was obvious as well. Her stomach sank. Nik was not going to like this. Not at all. “What is the one thing your uncle wants to get his hands on more than anything else in the world right now?”

Aleksi raised her head from her hands. “You.”



Nikolai peeked around the corner to find only one bear shifter standing guard outside his mother’s apartment. Wrapping his hand around his father’s sword handle, he slid it from the sheath on his back and took a deep breath. The sword felt warm and alive in his hands, and for a moment, he could almost feel his father’s presence. For you, Dad. I’ll free her for you.

The guard’s head was separated from his body before the beast had even registered the danger. The door was locked, but it was easy enough to find the key on the guard’s ring. Careful not to track blood into his mother’s room, he paused inside the doorway. “Mother?”

No answer came in return. He shut the door behind him and crossed the room he had spent so many hours in as a child. Still decked in white and gold, the airy space reflected his mother perfectly: classic, elegant, understated—so unlike his uncle.