𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐝 || 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘞𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘸 (1) ✓

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞.

Previously on Shades of Red...

Both of the girls were oblivious to the woman who was watching them, stumbling upon them when she went to go and shower. A small smirk appeared on her face while a light bulb seemed to go off in her head. She had a chance of surviving if Raven and Black Widow were out of the picture, she might even get some of the food she sees them eating. God, she could almost taste the steak now.

"Dreykov?" The dark haired woman called confidently towards her teacher.

"What is it, Matilda?"

Third Person POV:

"Revna and Natalia, I caught them kissing in the hall." Matilda confessed.

"What?" Dreykov snarled, "That's impossible! You better not be lying to me."

"I'm not," Matilda swallowed down her fear, "I promise. They're probably still over there, go and have a look for yourself."

Dreykov narrowed his eyes at his student, his teeth grinding together as this entire situation was getting the better of him. It was a tedious task to break Natalia and Revna, but he knew that Revna was the one who would cave. He could use Natalia to his advantage. Dreykov inhaled deeply, calming himself down before he smiled at Matilda, a cold chill traveling down her spine.

"Thank you for your service, my dear. Go and tell the cook I sent you, she'll reward you nicely."

Matilda grinned, quickly thanking her teacher by kissing the golden ring on his hand and then scurrying away, not waiting for him to change his mind. Dreykov smoothed out his coat, and instructed all his guards to gather all the students and have them line up by the mats.

If Revna and Natalia wanted to put on a show, then by God they were going to put on a show.

Revna's POV:

"I don't like this." Natalia whispered over to me and I subtly grabbed her hand, giving it a soft squeeze. When I went to let go, the ginger squeezed my hand tighter.

"I'm sure you're all familiar with our students Revna Liv and Natalia Romanova." Dreykov started, his voice booming off the walls in the spacious room, "We all know they're the best in this room, yes? So why don't we find out who's the best between them."

"Yeah, I don't like this." Natalia shook her head while I glared daggers at the man who only smiled tauntingly at me.

"Ladies, step forward." The Russian man side stepped, gesturing for us to come forward. I squeezed Natalia's hand before dropping it, walking to his side with my head held high. Red took her spot next to me as Dreykov began walking around us, like he was sizing up his prey.

"Revna, did you know that Black Widow spiders usually kill their mate?" Dreykov smirked, "Once they have no more use for them, they devour them."

"Not all of them. Some of them can even live on the web for a while." I snarled lowly, not liking what he was getting at.

Dreykov chuckled, "For a while? Still, a while isn't permanent. It's not forever. And you don't really believe that there's enough room for both of you, do you?"

My fists clenched tightly together and Dreykov chuckled to himself, licking his lips before speaking, "You both are going to fight to the death. Prove who's better and which one gets the web all to themselves."

"And if we refuse?" Natalia spoke.

Dreykov rolled his eyes and pulled out his gun, pressing the cold barrel against my temple, "Then I'll kill you both."

"Fine." I grumbled, pushing the gun away from my head before turning towards Natalia. We had a silent conversation, her eyes changing based on her emotion before finally I nodded, offering her a half smile to let her know it was okay. There was no way I was winning this fight, my arm was still broken and my body was still healing. I didn't want to win this fight, we just had to fake it long enough.

Natalia nodded and the fighting commenced, our only weapon was our fists as I let her beat me up. Every punch and kick of hers left a bruise on my skin, me throwing my own hits in there so it wouldn't seem like I wasn't trying.

The ginger tackled me to the floor and I winced, "You hit really hard."

"Sorry." Nat breathed, out of breath from all the fighting.

"You're gonna have to knock me down. He's not going to be satisfied until one of us is on the mat."

"I'm not killing you." Nat hissed, gripping my wrists tighter in her hand.

"Then you're gonna have to get pretty damn close. It's okay, red. I'm missing you already."

Natalia cocked her fist back and punched me in the face, her eyes glazing over the more she hit me. My vision began to fade as I started choking on my own blood, head lulling to the side as I smiled at her.

Natalia got off me as I coughed up some blood, not daring to get up as my breathing came out in ragged pants and gasps, wheezing while my chest tightened.

"Well done." Dreykov said you could hear the smirk in his voice. I blinked open slowly to see him place a hand on Natalia's shoulder before they walked out of the room and the girls watching seemed to disperse.

"Come on, let's get you back to your room." One of the guards grumbled, picking me up and slinging my limp figure over his shoulder.

Natalia's POV:

"Revna?" I whispered entering her room. When I didn't hear a response, I walked further into the room, gasping when my hand touched something wet. Looking closer I gasped at how wet the bed sheets were, soaked in nothing but her blood.

"Revna?!" I called again, shaking her shoulder until eventually her one good eye slowly opened. I sighed in relief and pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, "I thought you were... I didn't know if you were.."

"Dead? Me too. Guess I couldn't stay away." The raven haired woman chuckled, coughing violently afterwards. I climbed into bed with her, cradling her head against my chest while I raked my nails down her cheek.

"We need to leave." I said after a heartbeat of silence, "We can't stay here anymore."

"Agreed."

"We'll make a list tomorrow, come up with a plan." I sighed.

"I want to find Yelena. She deserves to come with us."

I hummed, "We'll worry about it tomorrow. Right now you need all the rest you can get."

I kissed her forehead and heard her breathing start to even out some, "Goodnight, my love."

a/n: the drama continues, only a few more chapters left of the first book! thank you all so much for reading! if you didn't enjoy this chapter then there's always next one. have a great day/night my loves ❤️❤️