Zaal skidded to a halt. Suddenly losing all his anger, his fear was evident in his expression.

“Come any closer, I’ll slit the fucking Russian whore’s throat,” Jakhua taunted through gritted teeth. I met Zaal’s eyes. He had no idea what to do.

“Don’t fucking hurt her!” he hissed. The knife pressed further against my skin. I could feel the sharp cold metal draw blood. A muffled cry slipped from my throat.

The sound prompted Zaal to step back. He repeated, “Don’t hurt her.”

Jakhua laughed a humorless laugh. “The animal fucking talks!” I shivered at the disdain in his voice. Zaal’s jaw clenched.

“The Volkovs have cost me a fucking lot of money. That cunt, the new knyaz, taking you from me has lost me tens of millions in Type A sales.”

I closed my eyes, trying to breathe calmly. But when the knife pressed against my throat even closer, I gasped for breath. When I opened my eyes, Zaal was pacing, hands fisting at his sides.

Jakhua pulled on my hair, my head snapping back until the pain shot down my spine. “And this bitch, this fucking whore is going to die. I’m going to kill them all.”

“No!” Zaal thundered. When his green eyes met mine, my body went limp. His expression had changed, but his eyes, they told me something new. They were telling me “good-bye.”

“No!” I said desperately.

Jakhua ripped at my hair. “Shut up, bitch.”

Zaal tensed, then dropping to his knees, quietly said, “Take me.”

My heart stopped. I felt like it frosted over inside my chest. “Zaal! No!”

But Zaal wasn’t looking at me, he was looking straight at Jakhua. “Let her live, and I’ll come with you, willingly.”

I could hear Jakhua’s heavy breathing in my ear, a heavy breathing that turned to relief as Zaal spoke those words.

“I have to make my money back,” Jakhua said. “I need one hundred percent obedience. You are to go back on the drug. I need you back for demonstrations of its effectiveness.”

I held my breath as he spoke those words. No! I tried to tell Zaal with my eyes, but his eyes were firmly focused on Jakhua.

Several seconds passed in silence. Zaal then got to his feet. He took a step closer. Then his eyes met mine. I couldn’t stop the tears from pouring down my cheeks as I read the resignation in his face.

Without taking his eyes from me, Zaal agreed, “I’ll come with you. I’ll go back on your drug. And I won’t resist, just let Talia live.”

My face contorted with the same amount of pain I felt crash through my body. Jakhua abruptly stepped back, the knife removed from my throat. “Your papa would be ashamed of you, 221. Fucking a Tolstoi. Like some fucked-up Romeo and Juliet shit.”

Zaal stepped forward, ignoring Jakhua, and I shook my head. “No!” I cried, my throat rasping with the rawness of my cries. “Please! You can’t go back. You can’t let him do that to you again!”

Zaal’s nostrils flared. His face paled with sadness. He stepped closer. I pushed his warm palm against my cheek. “I will gladly go, to save you. To let you live.”

I shook my head again, but I could see the deep resolve in his eyes. “No, Zaal. They’ll take away your thoughts. They’ll steal your memories again. They’ll make you kill again. You’ll be back living in darkness! I can’t, you can’t, please…”

“But you will live,” he whispered. My heart tore as I heard the break in his deep rasp. He didn’t want this. He wanted to be free, he deserved to be free.

“Zaal—”

“I will happily give up my life for yours.” His eyebrows pulled down in devastation. “I cannot imagine a world without you in it, you brought me the sun. I can live in darkness again knowing that you are shining here on the outside.”

Racking sobs tumbled from my mouth, their severity bruising my empty lungs. Zaal closed in, and with the gentlest of touches, he pressed his lips against mine. The pain from my split lip hit my face, but I didn’t care. I never ever wanted to break from this kiss.

Zaal pulled back, pressing his forehead to mine, as if he was committing this touch to memory, a memory he would lose as soon as he was injected with that fucking serum again. I couldn’t stand the thought.

“You deserve to live,” I whispered.

Zaal’s lips spread into a sad smile. “I have lived, Talia. In the short time I have known you, I have lived more than I could ever have dreamed.” His eyes stared at mine. “I have lived only because of you. I have … I have gained a full heart, a full heart for you.”

I closed my eyes at the pain of this moment, of his acceptance of this fate. Suddenly he was ripped away. Snapping my eyes back open, I watched in horror as the guards dragged him away toward the stairs.

I thrashed in my chains, trying to get free. Zaal shook his head, telling me to stop. Stilling, and unable to breathe, I stopped. I watched as they approached the stairs.

Mustering the last of my raspy voice, I shouted, “Zaal!”

He turned his face as he reached the bottom step and, with his hand on his heart and tears in his eyes, he said, “You are … for me.”

With those words the final dagger pierced my heart. I knew I’d be ruined for life. As Zaal began his ascent, I met his eyes, and declared in a hoarse voice, “I am … for you.”

Zaal swallowed, closed his eyes, and as the guards forced him up the stairs he disappeared from view.

All energy drained, a crippling grief sweeping through my body, I sagged in the tight chains, sagged and cried, cried until darkness claimed me, and I could cry no more.

Chapter Eighteen

Talia

“Down here!”

I stirred from sleep on hearing a male voice shout upstairs. I heard the rush of feet. Footsteps stormed down the steps to the basement.

I was aching, in pain, and my head throbbed.

“Shit! Talia!” I heard. Cracking my bruised eyes open, Luka ran my way. Luka and Mikhail, and byki, lots of byki.

“Luka.” My mouth formed the word, but my throat felt like it was filled with razors.

“Get her down!” Luka ordered. I smiled in my head, my lips too weak to make the gesture. He sounded like a leader, finally like the man he was born to be.

A sudden pain shot through my body as I was freed from my chains. Every muscle in my body screamed as the blood began to fill them, forcing them back to life.

Strong arms held me and lifted me off the floor. Something was put to my lips. Cool water immediately filled my mouth. I struggled to swallow through a raw throat, but I forced myself. I had to tell Luka about Jakhua, about Zaal. I had to save him. Luka had to save him.

“Get her robe!” Luka called. I heard footsteps on the stairs as someone obeyed his order.

Luka poured the water over my face. A towel followed as he cleaned my face, the soft material feeling like stabbing needles.

Luka’s hand pushed my bloodied hair back from my face, and he asked, “Talia? Are you okay?”

My eyes widened and filled with water. My body jerked. I tried to move. I needed to move. We needed to save Zaal.

“No,” Luka said as my body arched with pain. “You need to wait. Your body needs time to adjust.”

Looking into Luka’s brown eyes, I cried, and rasped, “He took him. He came and took him from me.”