My mind stirred, and something drifted through fog and shadows before reality finally tugged me awake.
I blinked, as my senses slowly focused on something soft and warm against my skin. Velvet sheets beneath me, plush and thick, and a fur blanket that cocooned me like a stolen warmth I didn't remember inviting.
I exhaled and a small sound escaped my throat, simultaneously reaching out to clutch the sheets around me, feeling an odd combination of haven and confusion. Where… where was I?
My vision slowly cleared as I looked around the faintly lit room. A soft glow danced across the walls in uneven flashes. I caught the scent of burning firewood-a pungent, smoky smell that felt sharp against the chill hanging in the air. Inviting up to some extent. I blinked again, noticing the flicker of flames coming from somewhere nearby, their crackling sound giving the illusion of a small, roaring beast trapped just out of sight.
Flames… my throat tightened and I instantly was hit by the memories.
For a moment, I couldn't tell if the scene was real or a cruel mirage my mind was playing on me.
My head throbbed, every attempt to think too deeply met with a dull ache, like memories submerged underwater, unreachable and unclear. The last thing I remembered… flames, yes. And a pair of eyes watching me viciously.
I shook my head and the ache intensifying. I let out a groan, clutching at my temples as if the pressure might somehow pry the memories free. But instead, a wave of nausea rolled through me, and I forced myself to take a deep breath, my eyes still struggling to adjust.
My hands curled around the sheets, and I pulled them closer, instinctively using them to cover myself. The texture, the warmth… it was almost comforting. Almost. But the unease still gnawed at me, making my heart beat faster.
And when I felt the velvety texture being too close… I realised… I was naked.
My eyes widened and I shuddered. Judas… where did he bring me? Where was I? And… why was I here?
When I finally forced myself to sit up, I noticed something I hadn't registered before: an enormous window-no, more than that, a wall of glass. It stretched from floor to ceiling like an expanse of pure transparency that opened out to… nothing. Just snow. Blindingly white, stretching endlessly in every direction, as if the world had been swallowed up by ice and frost. I'd never seen snow like this before, an ocean of white as far as I could see. No trees. No markers. Just empty, white vastness.
I shivered, wrapping the blanket tighter around my shoulders as I draped my legs over the ebd and dragged the sheets with me. The silence was heavy, too suffocating I could die and was broken only by the occasional crackle of the fire. How long had I been here?
My mind was still a mess of fractured thoughts and snippets of the forest flashed through my head. I tried to think back, to piece together the gaps, but the effort felt like pushing against a solid wall of pain.
And then, a scent-one I recognized instantly-filtered through the haze, sharp and familiar. My pulse spiked, my heart racing as I turned quickly, dread and anger boiling in my gut as one.
There he was. Judas.
He'd just stepped out of the bathroom, hair damp and clinging to his forehead, water glistening over bare skin, shamelessly stark naked. And that sight… my stomach clenched instinctively, a visceral reaction to the sheer danger of him standing there in all his raw power. That monstrous thing between his legs-a sight burned into my mind, unbidden memories flashing of how many times he'd taken what he wanted, ruthlessly and unapologetically.
I swallowed, fighting down the instinctive wave of fear and bracing myself, anger thrummed under my skin. He was calm, far too calm and those icy eyes assessed me with a smugness that ignited my fury. He didn't care about boundaries; he never had. And as he took a step forward, that infuriatingly unreadable gaze locked onto me, my fists clenched.
The silence stretched, taut and electric, but I refused to be the first to speak. I just stood there, clutching onto the sheets like my life depended on it, as if they could shield me from him.
He reached out as his hand moved toward me and as if he had every right to touch me again. Without thinking, I slapped it away, hard. His hand recoiled and a faint scratch appeared… red and angry. The sting against his skin brought a surge of satisfaction, no matter how minor.
"Do not touch me," I growled not knowing from where this courage as coming from. Only thing I knew, he had brought me in another cage. This time… with intention of never letting go.
He killed Ivan… and as much as I tried not to care. I did. I got someone killed.
And to make everything worse… he almost took a bullet for me. No… he had no right to play the hero. He was not the hero. He was a nightmare, made from flesh and bones, and he did was sin. At least that's what I told myself as I glared at him. I couldn't let him get too close, that's only hurt my little heart. I did not want to feel anything for him, not even hatred, cause if I feel something… I'd lose myself… for worst.
I averted my gaze as he barely blinked and it didn't took an idiot to see a glint of something dangerous flickering across his face as he looked at his hand, then back at me, that same predatory smile curling at his lips. I knew that smile. It was the look of a conqueror who believed he'd already won.
A man who enjoyed challenges.
I wanted to tear that smug look off his face, to wipe away that confidence, but I was too aware of how close he was, of the searing memory of his skin against mine. And damn him, it was working.
"What?" he finally murmured and I tried not to glance at him. "A caged bird now wants to fly, huh?"
I narrowed my eyes. "I did what I had to do… any person in my situation would…"
His smile widened and I swallowed hard. Who was I even trying to convince. He knew I betrayed him. I knew what he'd do to me.
He leaned in and that familiar scent overwhelmed my senses as he dropped his voice to a near-whisper. "No, I think you'll fight," he whispered twirling a strand of my hair in his fingers. "That's what makes this so much fun, isn't it?"
His hand trailed from the loose strand of my hair to the bare skin of my shoulder and I instinctively flinched. A shiver ran through me despite every instinct I had to recoil. His fingers were rough, yet strangely soft, as if he wanted to leave an imprint there.
A mark I couldn't scrub away.
"Why... why are you doing this?" My voice wavered, and I hated the vulnerability in it. I didn't want to give him that satisfaction.
He tilted his head, feigning innocence as his eyes raked over me intently. "Doing what?"
"Keeping me alive."
A low, dark chuckle rumbled from his chest. "Do you want to die, ptichka?" His voice held a note of mockery, as if the idea amused him.
"I-" I searched for the words, feeling the weight of his gaze pressing down on me. "Why did you pull the trigger?"
He raised an eyebrow, his lips quirking into a smirk. "I don't know. Why did I pull the trigger, little bird? Why didn't I kill you when I had every reason to?"
His grip on my shoulder tightened, fingers pressing into my bare skin and a strange thrill ran through me… confusing and maddening. He leaned closer, his heated breath warm against my neck as he whispereddangerously, "Tell me, ptichka, why are you here? When you should be out there... burning with that bastard."
"Don't." I turned my head away, trying to hide the shiver that betrayed me. "Don't twist my words. You always screw around and leave me with more questions that I intend to ask. You do not make this easier, you do not-"
His hand shifted, and I gasped as it slid to the back of my neck, pulling me closer until I had nowhere to escape, nowhere to look but into the depths of his unrelenting gaze.
That wicked laugh coiled around my senses leaving me more terrified that ever. It was a sound that vibrated through me and twisted my stomach in knots. He stepped closer, his body crowding mine, the heat of him almost suffocating as his eyes bored into me with that smug, knowing glint.
"Oh, ptichka," he purred, tracing a finger slowly down the side of my face. "You're right; I don't make things easy. But why should I? You think I'm here to comfort you?" His thumb brushed over my lips lingering with a maddening gentleness. "No. I'm here to remind you exactly what happens when someone tries to play me."
My pulse pounded in my ears as I glared up at him refusing to back down, but he only chuckled. "And what exactly would happen to me?"
His hand closed around my wrist pulling me roughly against him. "I'm not going to let you go, so stop wasting your breath," he caressed my cheek. "Stop asking me things you don't wanna know."
"Or you're the one who don't know what you'll do to me, huh?" I whispered, voice shaking as I tried to wrench my arm free, but his grip tightened, and he gave me that glare. "You brought me here on your whims, on impulsive decision cause you couldn't stand the thought of me running away from you. You hate to lose control!"
He leaned in, his lips brushed my ear as he whispered, "Keep telling yourself that, baby. But you know the truth-my control never slipped away. You want me as much as I want you."
"No. No, I don't want this," I spat, even as my body betrayed me with a shiver that he surely felt. "I don't want you. Why can't you understand?!"
His fingers wavered on my collar bone and for a second I thought he'd snap, but when his lips curled up and the damn dimples emerged, I knew this was a gone case. I had lost it all. My mind, my thoughts, my soul, my body… and my rationality.
He gently bit down on his lower lip, looking at me with those intense pale blues of his as if he was thinking hundred ways to devour me. "I don't need to understand anything as long as you're here with me. This… will be your new cage like I said."
Irritation flared up. He brought me to this barren place, where there was no sign of life as far as my eyes could take. This was no condo of his, but a villa. If I had point one percent chance of escape in the city, here I had zero. He had thought it through. It both terrified and amused me how his brain worked. And there was no reasoning with him. The more I'd argue, the more excited he'd get. I couldn't risk provoking him when I didn't even know who I was against. Him or myself.