CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ALEXEI

The click of the lock, a clear punctuation mark against the velvet hush of her gilded prison. I watched her, in the mirror of my study, the reflection a sliver of defiance fluttering in the luxurious room. Her anger, palpable even through the polished glass, was a delicious heat against the ice of my control.

She'd thrown her tantrum, a petulant child flinging accusations and tears against the bars. Predictable, in a way. But beneath the surface, something else glinted. A spark of cunning, a flicker of resistance that intrigued me. I'd expected compliance, a hollow echo of her broken spirit, not this simmering defiance.

Her scream, raw and desperate, had echoed through the halls, a primal cry against the gilded silence. I almost smiled. It was the first genuine sound I'd heard from her, the first hint of the fire that burned beneath the ashes of her captivity.

I watched, a predator observing his prey, as she approached the feast, h