Chapter 5

Valeria:

By the time I reached the eastern wing, I had decided that if one more person looked at me with pity, curiosity, or whatever that expression was supposed to be, I would lose my mind.

Three maids followed me into the room. I stopped in the middle of it and turned. They froze. One held a tray of tea, another carried folded clothes, and the third had already begun toward the wardrobe as if she planned to organize my entire existence before I could breathe.

“You can leave,” I said.

The youngest blinked. “Luna, we were instructed to…”

“Do not call me Luna.” Her mouth snapped shut, and I rubbed my temple. It was not their fault. I knew that. But I was done being the person that everyone expected me to be.

“I don’t need anything,” I said, forcing my tone low. “I want to be alone.”

The maid with the tea glanced at the others. “Alpha Romanov instructed us to remain available to you.”

“And I am instructing you to leave.” None of them moved. I stared until the youngest lowered her gaze. “Is there another language I should use?”

“No, my lady,” she whispered.

“I am not your lady either.” She seemed lost. I sighed. “Valeria. My name is Valeria.” Her eyes widened as if I had suggested something scandalous. I pointed to the door. “Please… leave.”

That finally did it and I watched as they walked out.

“Thank God,” I breathed.

I pulled the robe from my shoulders and threw it onto the nearest chair before walking to the window. Snow covered almost everything outside, white and untouched beneath the dark, broken only by the estate lights and the guards moving near the walls.

I looked down at the ring on my finger before I twisted the ring once and pulled it free. There was no need to humiliate myself more than I was by wearing it. I had just placed it on the table when the door opened.

“I said that that I want to be left alone,” I said, not bothering to turn, expecting one of the maids.

“And I doubt that it was an order that you should have given considering that my maids were instructed, by me, to stay by your side at all times.” Nikolai said, angering me more than he should.

I folded my arms as I turned to face him. “Do doors work differently in this house? Because it seems to me that the art of knocking a closed door is not one that you have?”

“This is my estate.”

“And this is my room.”

His gaze sharpened. “Your room within my estate.”

I smiled without humor. “Wonderful. We have established ownership. Was there something else that you were coming here to prove?”

He closed the door behind him and the air changed. His eyes moved toward the door. “Why did you dismiss the maids?”

I stared. “That is why you came here? Because I dismissed them?”

His jaw tightened. “I gave them instructions, and you chose to give them different ones without asking me.”

“I didn’t need them, and chose to want to be alone for the night.”

“They were placed here for a reason.” He said, making me raise an eyebrow.

“They are neither ornaments or things for you to place them where you want them to be. While I might be nothing more than a duty, other people do have souls and mindsets that they can think with.” I said, giving him a cold sarcastic smile.”

“Do not make everything a challenge, Valeria.”

His brows lowered. “You walk into my room without knocking, question me because I told three women I wanted ten minutes alone, and somehow I am the difficult one?”

“You are in my territory, a stranger within my territory… give or take, you need to know that we are forced to take some precautions.” He said, making me scoff.

“I am inside a bedroom.” I snapped. “One that you assigned to me. I think that I can have my own privacy within until walking out.” I kept going before common sense could intervene. “And unless one of those maids secretly doubles as an assassin, I think I can survive fifteen minutes without supervision.”

“They are not there to supervise you… they are here to attend you as my wife.”

“You made your rules perfectly clear, Nikolai. Separate rooms. Separate lives unless some ceremony requires us to stand beside each other and pretend this marriage resembles anything normal.” I snapped, glaring at him. Something flickered in his eyes. “So I am following them.”

His eyes changed, almost silver, but not completely, and the sight sent an unwanted shiver through me. I hated that he noticed. His gaze dropped briefly to my throat, then returned to my face. “Careful.”

“With what?” I raised an eyebrow.

“With how far you push me.”

I laughed. “You already rejected me, threw me out of your room, and banished me to another wing. What exactly are you going to do now?”

He moved, and one second there was space between us; the next there wasn't. My breath caught in my throat and Nikolai stood close enough that his chest almost touched mine and I had to tilt my head back. Heat spread beneath my skin and my heart raced as his scent wrapped around me, stronger now, and every bit of anger tangled with something I refused to name.

“You enjoy provoking me, don’t you?” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

“I enjoy reminding you that I am not afraid of you,” I shot back.

“You talk too much.” He smirked, looking me in the eye.

I smiled. “And you are too accustomed to people shutting up when you tell them to.”

His hand closed around my jaw and I held my breath as his thumb rested beneath my lower lip. For a second, neither one of us moved. His eyes dropped to my mouth before he looked me in the eye once more.

Instead I whispered, “What happened to staying away from me?”

Something broke in his expression. Then his mouth crashed against mine. There was nothing gentle about the kiss… it was anger and frustration and something far more dangerous that had been sitting between us since the council chamber.

I gasped. His hand slid from my jaw to the back of my neck and pulled me closer until every sensible thought disappeared. I kissed him back, and I hated myself for it. I hated him for making it feel so good. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer as I stood on my toes, deepening the kiss.

His mouth moved until I could barely breathe. When I tried to pull away for air, he followed, kissing the corner of my mouth, my jaw, before returning to my lips. “Nikolai…” I breathed.

He kissed me harder, and my knees hit the edge of the bed and I fell backward onto the mattress with him above me. He braced himself with one hand beside my head, the other sliding around my waist. His eyes were silver, and though my instincts told me that I should have been frightened, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down on me as I spread my legs, allowing him to settle between them. His hand tightened at my waist while mine threaded into his hair. He growled against my lips and the sound made my stomach twist.

Then his mouth moved to my neck, sucking on my sweet spot before I felt his canines against my skin. “Nikolai?” I whispered, my heart racing, and that was when he stood beside the bed, breathing hard. I pushed myself up on my elbows. His eyes were still silver.

“What the hell?” I demanded. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

He ran a hand through his hair, I stared at him. “You kiss me, throw me onto a bed, and now what? You remembered you rejected me? What the fuck is your…”

His jaw clenched. “Stop it, Valeria…”

“You were the one who wanted distance,” I snapped.. “You decided I am nothing but your contractual wife, and then you walk into my room because I dismissed a few maids and…”

“I said stop.” His voice carried a force that made the windows seem to vibrate. “Stay in your room tonight,” he said. “And I will recommend that you don’t go out.”

My mouth fell open. “You came into my room, and you cannot kiss me like that and then walk away.”

He looked over his shoulder. His breathing had steadied but his eyes had not. “Yes,” he said coldly. “I can.”

Then he opened the door and left.

I stared after him until the door closed. My lips still tingled and my heart still raced. I touched the side of my neck where his mouth had been and one thought drowned out every other.

Alpha Nikolai Romanov was a hypocrite.