But it was in his gaze where she found it …
The nerves.
Irritation.
The way his stare darted from one person on the plane, to the next. When the flight attendant came into view behind the curtain at the front, his gaze was quick to dart to her, too. It was like he was an animal who had just been shoved into a very tiny cage, and he was watching every little thing that moved around him. His muscles were taut like springs when she reached over to place a hand on his wrist.
He was a coiled snake.
Ready to strike.
“Hey,” she murmured.
Pav looked back to her. “Yes?”
“Did they take your knives?”
It was meant to be a joke.
He caught on.
Pav grinned. “They did. Apparently, I could not bring them with me.”
“That’s too bad.”
“I know.”
“Flying isn’t bad, you know?” Viktoria shrugged. “It’s one thing I don’t mind that much.”
He nodded. “It’s not the plane.”
“Then what?”
“Too many people.”
Oh.
She hadn’t thought of that.
He wouldn’t be used to this.
Just like the party …
“They’re foolish,” he murmured, dark gaze drifting to her again. “They think I need a knife to kill everyone on this plane.” A dry laugh passed his lips, though he barely even moved at all. “I only need five minutes and some inspiration.”
Well, damn.
“You still terrify me,” she whispered.
Pav smiled a little. “Good. I should. I would be more worried if I didn’t.”
• • •
Pav stayed close to Viktoria’s side as they headed out of the gate. He’d kept quiet for most of the trip to Russia, and she hadn’t found she wanted to say very much, either. He had accepted one of her earbuds to listen to music with her. He’d made sure to keep a careful distance with his hands, never reaching out to touch her like he first did by squeezing her knee.
Now, though?
As they walked down the corridor toward arrivals, his hand rested at the small of her back with a light touch. Viktoria wasn’t sure if that was more for her, to keep her close to him and away from the swarms of people, or if it was because he was looking to steady himself in a strange and new environment.
Either way, she liked it.
And she didn’t want to deal with that right now.
Something else was on her mind.
“Pav?”
“Hmm?”
“Did you know who he was in the chambers?” she asked softly. “Did you know what he had done to me?”
Pav didn’t take another step and he didn’t ask her who she was talking about. It was like he just knew she meant Boris and was avoiding saying the name of the monster who had haunted her days and nights for two years.
In a blink, Viktoria was swung around. All it took was a quick press of his hand against her back before he had her backed into the wall of the airport’s corridor. She was hyperaware of the people passing them by like nothing was wrong. They didn’t even look their way.
Not that it mattered.
Now, all she could see was him.
Pav got close until it was only him clouding her vision. Her gaze caught his, and suddenly, she found that she didn’t want to look away at all. Her heart raced like crazy, but as much as that feeling usually added to her fear, right then … she enjoyed it.
Maybe this man had a point.
Maybe fear was slightly better when one wasn’t all that scared of it.
“I never know who they are,” he murmured. “And I didn’t know who he was, or why he was there. Just that he had earned his place in hell, and I was there to make sure he understood that. On my life—I promise it.”
Viktoria nodded, and swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“Just okay?”
“What would you have done had you known?”
Pav’s cheek twitched, then. “Before I knew you or after?”
“Does it matter?”
“That’s not an easy answer.”
“Then, what?” she asked.
He leaned in closer and pressed a quick, soft kiss to her lips that felt feather-light before it was gone. As he spoke, his lips still brushed against hers. “I’d have killed him, and he’d have known every single second why he was dying.”
Before she could respond, Pav had pulled her away from the wall, and the two of them were walking down the corridor again. Like nothing had happened, and his words weren’t still echoing heavily in the back of her mind.
Yes, this man was something else.
A monster, for some.
Maybe heaven sent, for her.
That was yet to be determined.
Viktoria hadn’t expected to find her father waiting for them at arrivals with a man standing behind him. Usually, a car was there to pick her up. The man would stand with a sign that had her name written on it and nothing more. He wouldn’t even speak to her, which she preferred, considering she would panic the entire drive to her father’s family estate.
Was Konstantin giving her father a bit of leash to move?
Was he allowed to leave the estate occasionally?
She didn’t miss the way Vadim’s gaze widened as he saw Pav walking in stride beside her. Quickly, his gaze darted back to his daughter and he smiled. “Viktoria, you’re back soon …”
She didn’t reply to that. “Daddy.”
Then, he looked to Pav. “And Zhatka, I didn’t think there would ever be a day when I would see you outside of the chambers.”
Pav was unmoved.
Cold, like ice.
Still, like a statue.
“I suspect,” Pav replied, his tone dead, “that was exactly your intention for me, too, Vadim.”
Her father only smiled.
10.
“OH, GOOD, you’ve learned how to use the cell phone.”
Pav scowled at the wall in the bedroom
