Page 100 of The Glass Empire
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"Daxitr Volkov." He said the name like it meant something. "I killed Aleksander's first wife. Twenty years ago. She was beautiful, your predecessor. You look a little like her. The same dark hair. The same steady eyes."
I felt something cold slide down my spine.
"He's been hunting me for decades," Volkov continued. "He's killed everyone I've ever loved. My brothers. My cousins. My sons. He's been slowly, systematically destroying my family. And now he's found me." He smiled. "Or he thinks he has."
"You're the one he's been looking for," I said. My voice was hoarse, barely a whisper.
"Yes. And now I have you." He touched my face, his fingers cold against my skin. "He'll come for you. He always comes for the women he loves. That's his weakness. That's always been his weakness."
"He doesn't love me. He's using me."
"You believe that?" Volkov laughed—a low, ugly sound. "You really believe he's capable of using you and nothing else? I've known Aleksander Mire for twenty years. I've watched him destroy everyone who ever crossed him. And I've never—never—seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you."
"He's using me as bait."
"Bait, yes. But also love. They're not mutually exclusive, little one. He loves you. That's why he's coming."
I felt the tears building, hot and sharp, behind my eyes. I blinked them back. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
"He won't come," I said. "He'll let me die."
"No." Volkov shook his head. "He'll come. He always comes. And when he does, I'll kill him. Slowly. The way he killed my family. And then I'll kill you."
He stood, turning away from me.
"Watch her," he said to the other men. "I'll be back soon."
The door closed behind him. I was alone with the shadows and the cold and the knowledge that I was going to die.
He'll come. He always comes.
The words echoed in my head, over and over. I tried to believe them. I tried to convince myself that Aleksander would ride in on a white horse and save me from this basement, from the men who wanted to kill him, from the fate that was waiting for me.
But I couldn't.
Because I knew the truth.
I was just bait. A tool. A means to an end.
And when the end came, I would be discarded.
I must have fallen asleep, because I woke to the sound of footsteps.
The door opened. Light flooded the room, blinding me. I squinted, trying to see who was coming.
It was Volkov. He was holding a phone, the screen glowing in the dark.
"He's here," he said. "He's at the gate. He's demanding to see you."
I felt something shift in my chest. Hope, maybe. Or fear.
"He came alone. No guards. No weapons. Just him." Volkov smiled. "He's either the bravest man I've ever met or the stupidest."
"He's not stupid," I said.
