Page 83 of Unholy Tsar

My heart starts pounding again. My brain screams. Something is horribly wrong.

“That’s right, little girl. It’s me,” the man says, his gravelly voice thick with a Russian accent.

Yeah, that’s definitely not Maksim.

“Wh-who are you?” I rasp, scurrying back as he approaches the bed.

“I am your Maksim.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Oh, yes I will be.”

When he reaches for me, something in me shatters. A high-pitched shriek rips from my throat, and I make a run for the door. But before I can get there, a frigid grip wraps around my wrist and pulls me back.

A sack is thrown over my head. Then I’m hoisted over the stranger’s shoulder.

“Stop! Let me go!” I scream, struggling against his hold.

“Shhh, little tsarina, or you’ll wake everyone.”

Before I can cry out again, I feel a needle pierce into my upper arm. Something is pumped into my system, draining any strength or resistance. I try to kick and punch and yell, but my body fails me.

“Maksim…”

His name dribbles out of my lips as I succumb to darkness.

“No, princess. You’re mine now. Finally.”

And just like that, the world disappears.

30

MAKSIM

Other than a terrified security guard, the mansion in St. Petersburg was almost completely empty when we arrived.

For a second there, it looked like we’d been played. Again. But then I pressed my knife to the security guard’s throat and politely asked him to spill his guts or else…

And the fucker did just that, eventually confirming that a strange man and woman had been using this place for the past few weeks and that his boss had authorized their presence.

For some reason, though, they’d left early this morning.

“Where did they go,” I ask, pressing my blade deeper into his Adam’s apple.

“I-I don’t know, I swear…”

“Well, then, you’re no good to us anymore, so—”

“No, wait! I-I overheard they were going to an old Gulag site.”

“And where is that?”

He provides coordinates detailed enough to reveal he’s more than just an innocent bystander.

“Got that, Dante?” I ask, when he’s done.

“Got it, boss. Looks like the place is about a two-hour drive north of here.”