Finding Fire

Chapter 23

Nicolas hated to see her go. Once her footfalls reached the top of the staircase, Aleksander turned to him.

"I know this will be hard for you, but we have to be civilized," he said to Nicolas.

Nicolas sneered at him. "The night you stole this palace was the worst night of my existence. You had your king murdered by his most trusted soldiers."

"Maybe if his most trusted soldiers were willing to do that, there was good reason," Aleksander argued.

Nicolas shook the chains in frustration. "For him to be killed by his own men was a disgrace. Now his murderers are living in the kingdom he built. He united us. Civilized us! And yet you act as though he was the traitor."

"You didn't see the beast we saw. He sheltered you from the reality. His appetites were growing massive. He could decimate whole towns in a matter of hours. Women, children, animals—nothing was safe from him. This whole kingdom was about to crumble. I acted to protect the very thing he'd spent his life building."

"You acted to take the very thing he spent his life building," Nicolas spat at him.

Aleksander's jaw was clenched tight against the need to say more. He settled on, "Obviously, this is getting us nowhere. Is it true what Anna says? Someone led her to you?"

Nicolas didn't want Aleksander to know anything about Annabelle. He answered with a question of his own. "Is it true that your men have been watching her for the past fifteen years?"

Aleksander cocked his head at Nicolas. "It's funny how you keep acting as though you are still in power here, though I'm the one outside of the cage." He tapped on the bars to prove his point.

"You don't scare me," said Nicolas. He was son of Kirill. Second hand and blood of the king. They had ruled for over four centuries. One traitor couldn't threaten him.

Aleksander raised a skeptical brow. "Is that a fact? I tend to scare most people. What about Anna? Does she scare you?"

Nicolas fought to keep his body language neutral.

"She's already a big hit here. Word of what she did with Robert spread like wildfire. All the men are trying to get a good look at her. Some of the pure bloods have gone centuries without a human willingly giving them a bite. She will have lots of men following her around for the duration of her stay."

Nicolas couldn't help the growl that came from his throat. Aleksander smiled at the reaction he provoked. "You are scared of something," he muttered.

"Let me out of these chains and I can show you exactly how scared I am," he threatened.

"Tell me about how Anna found you, and I will see to it that she's protected," said Aleksander.

"Your wife loves her. I don't believe she's in danger from you as long as your wife is around," reasoned Nicolas.

"You're forgetting something. If someone is truly after me, then Evie is in danger as well. If it comes to Evie's safety or Anna's, I would snap your girlfriend's neck like a twig. Don't doubt it for a second."

Nicolas couldn't contain his rage at the threat. His fangs cut into his lip, and his wrists burned where he now strained at the silver.

"How she found you. Tell me now," Aleksander ordered.

Now that Nicolas had confirmed Annabelle wasn't safe alone in the palace, he knew he couldn't take chances with her life. "An anonymous man called her phone while she was jogging by my building. He told her what apartment I was in and that I'm a vampire."