Page 24 of Essence of Fear

“Fascinating.”

It really wasn’t.

He thought the way she said it was, though.

Viktoria looked up at him again, all ice-blue eyes wide and fear still lingering around her aura. Yeah, he could still taste it, too. As strange as that was. He could feel it, and he wanted to soak it all in. Because despite the fact she was clearly terrified of him, she was trying to suppress it. She pushed it down, and he wanted to know why.

Why for him?

“Almost done,” she whispered.

Pav nodded. “Spasibo.”

Viktoria said nothing and went back to her work.

He went back to staring at her again.

Seemed like a fair trade, no?

• • •

“Do not remove the wrappings for at least six hours,” Viktoria said as she finished packing up the kit she’d brought along. She didn’t look up at him as she worked, but he didn’t mind. “Make sure of it.”

Pav nodded as his fingertips drifted over the cellophane that had been taped over his tattoos. “Understood.”

“No scratching.”

“I won’t.”

“And that’s it,” Viktoria said, standing straight and turning to face him. Although, instead of looking his way, she looked at her brother standing beside him. “Is that all for me?”

Pav didn’t miss how Viktoria had easily reverted to the woman who had been sitting in the chair when he’d first entered the office. Cold and made from stone. Unfeeling and distant. She didn’t want to be there, she just was.

He wondered why.

Konstantin nodded. “That is all. I’m grateful.”

She nodded and then glanced Pav’s way, finally. “I probably won’t see you again, but it was … interesting to meet you, Pavel.”

He didn’t miss how she purposely didn’t use the words good or nice to describe meeting him. Not that he blamed her. He wouldn’t use those descriptors about himself, either.

“And you, Viktoria,” he returned quietly.

She didn’t wait to be dismissed by her brother like every other person who came into Konstantin’s presence would do. Pav watched her go and didn’t turn back to Konstantin until she was entirely gone from the office, and the door closed loudly behind her.

“She’s broken,” Pav said.

Konstantin blinked, but quickly fixed his expression. “Pardon you?”

“That woman. She is broken. In her mind … something is wrong.”

“I—”

“I can tell,” he interjected before the man could interrupt him. “Mine is the same way.”

Konstantin cleared his throat and shifted on his feet as his gaze darted to the door where his sister had disappeared. “Viktoria has reason to be a little different from everyone else. I won’t lie and say she doesn’t have issues—she clearly does. This was … different, though.”

Pav reached for the shirt and jacket he had thrown over a chair earlier before sitting down to let Viktoria work. Slipping the shirt on, and then the jacket, too, he asked, “What was different?”