𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓 𝐌𝐄 ━ 𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐢 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐯

𝟓𝟎𝐊 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋

this is a prequel to "don't tempt me",

it's when the characters first met

enjoy!

━

ANGELIQUE WASN'T SURE what to expect when they said she would be sparring with the younger prince but it definitely wasn't this.

Instead of a pampered ass in gaudy clothes like his older brother Vasily, Nikolai Lantsov was quite the opposite. Yes, their features were the same, like the golden hair and the tall stature, but any other similarities ended there.

Nikolai Lantsov had a clever gleam in his eyes, a mischievous aura about him. While Vasily always seemed bored, Nikolai seemed... alive. The handsome prince studied Angelique with a playful grin, that really meant no harm other than to unsettle her.

"So you're the half-breed who is to be my sparring partner? They told me you're good with weapons."

Angelique arched a brow. Was he testing her?

"And you're the bastard of the palace, I suppose," she replied impassively. "They told me you needed help with weapons."

Nikolai's grin grew wider, if that was possible. "I like you already."

"Wondrous." Angelique drew out two of the palace's practice swords and tossed Nikolai the other one. "Let's start."

Nikolai's bravado seemed to end there. He wasn't completely lost to how to spar, but he wasn't practiced enough and the only help he had ever gotten was probability from some fencing fancy tutor.

Angelique fought like it mattered, he fought like it was a game.

She either disarmed him or had him on the ground within a few minutes of every single round of sparring.

On the umpteenth time Angelique had to offer her hand to pull him up from the turf, she took the sword from his hand and replaced it with a pistol.

Hazel eyes gazed at her questioningly. "Why are you handing me a pistol?"

Angelique didn't answer right away, instead only saying, "Come with me."

She led him across the sparring grounds and to the shooting range. Once Angelique placed him thirty feet away from a straw dummy, she crossed her arms and said, "Fire away."

The pistol twirled in his hand. Without another word, he lifted it, aimed, and fired.

Like Angelique guessed, he was more adept at wielding firearms than blades. Shot after shot rang in the air. None that didn't make their target, which was always either in the neck, stomach, or heart. With the final bullet in the barrel, Nikolai fired it straight in the head of the straw figure before turning to grin at her.

Angelique added another observation to her mental portfolio of Nikolai Lantsov.

Loves theatrics.

"Not too shabby, right, lovely?" he said. "But I still need to know your point of making me kill the poor straw boy."

"I just wanted to see that you weren't totally defenseless."