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Isidora pats Niki’s shoulder, an obviously condescending gesture. “Nikita, I think it’s time to find you a man. You’re so sensitive. You need someone to take care of, to give you perspective.”
“When I want a man, I’ll find one myself,” Nikita snaps. “Until then, I’m happy to be single and in control of my own life. I’d hate to have to spend every day with my own personal watchdog shadowing my every move.”
Sure enough, Manuel, the castrated bodyguard Nessa described to me, is lurking a few yards away. At the mention of her jailer, Isidora’s face falls. And in that moment, I catch a glimpse of just how unhappy she seems. How miserable and cruel. How she’s so sick of tearing herself apart that she has to do the same to other people, just to get by.
Isidora turns her scowl from Nikita to me. If looks could kill, we’d both be struck dead. “Excuse me, ladies. I haven’t said hello to Morgen Antonov yet.”
With that, she stomps away, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder.
I whistle softly. “I feel drained after watching that.”
“That’s what’s known as a beatdown,” Niki proclaims. “I hope you were taking notes.”
“I was too scared of you to take notes.”
She smirks. “It was my privilege to put her in her place. Isidora is a condescending bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone else.”
“That’s a mask,” I say, clutching my pendant instinctively. “She’s miserable and lonely. She’s trying to hide it behind her pretty clothes and her expensive jewelry. In another world, the two of you might have been friends.”
“Sure, if she wasn’t such a colossal fucking bitch.”
“Did she strike a nerve, Niki?” I ask gently.
Nikita’s closed expression tells me that my assumption is definitely on the nose. “No, of course not. Why should I care about being married? I have no interest in being trapped that way. No offense.”
“None taken.”
Nikita sighs. “I forgot how much I hate these parties. Where is Misha? He’s supposed to be talking to these people so I don’t have to.”
I’ve been wondering the same thing. The room feels so much lonelier without him. The fact that I have his handiwork drying on the insides of my legs is keeping him on the forefront of my mind as well.
“I think I saw him leave with Konstantin a little while ago.”
But when I scan the room and see Konstantin standing with a few of the council Vors by the grand piano, I don’t see any sign of Misha. Instead of interrupting Konstantin’s conversation, I decide to slip out myself and track down my husband.
“I’ll be back in a bit, Niki. Going on a scavenger hunt.”
She waves me on, having spotted an opening in the line at the bar.
I try our bedroom first and then his office. When I find that they’re both empty, I poke my head outside. Maybe he was in need of some fresh air as much as I am.
As soon as I step down off the porch, I hear hushed voices. It takes me a second to pick Misha out of the darkness.
He’s standing with his back to me in front of three other men, all dressed in black. I can tell immediately they aren’t our guests. They have the creeping aura of men who don’t really belong anywhere. Except for prison, maybe. Or a locked box at the bottom of the ocean.
“Misha?”
The tallest of the creepy trio turns to me. “You must be Paige.” His voice is slick like pond scum.
My skin crawls at the sight and sound of him, but I don’t want to look weak now. I pull my shoulders back. “I am. And you are?”
He smiles blankly. “A friend of the family.”
Misha turns to me with cold eyes. “I’m finishing up here. Wait for me inside.”
I shouldn’t have come out here. Misha’s expression is setting off every alarm bell I have.
“Of course. I’ll see you soon.”
