two

Alexei

Death was not the peaceful valley of nothingness that he had imagined.

Either that, or he was not completely dead yet. Alexei was being jerked roughly awake, and there wasn't one single thing about this that he liked.

"Please," he whimpered, and the word hurt so much as it struggled through his throat, that he didn't want to say any more. But there were hands still on him, and he was about to be sick. "I can't be touched. Please stop."

The hands stopped.

Alexei turned onto his side and was violently ill. It had nothing to do with the fact that he had been strangled, and everything to do with the hands that had been on him.

"I'm sorry," a familiar voice said, sounding strange.

It was crying, that's what was strange about it. Wilder was crying. And alive. Both strange. Alexei tried to brace his arms on the ground and lift himself to his knees, but the sensation of being touched overwhelmed him again, and he was once again ill all over the icy pavestones.

"I'm sorry I touched you," Wilder kept saying uselessly. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry."

At least, he made no effort to assist him by laying a hand on him, which was a small blessing in a night of horrors.

"It's quite all right," Alexei tried to say and breathe at the same time, which wasn't the most intelligent idea he had ever had. It came out as ‘bghffm'. "All right," he repeated, taking a deep breath that hurt like the devil. He looked up from the ground, at his guard's towering form. He looked like hell as well. "Alive, are we?" Alexei said.

"Barely," Wilder replied. "Thanks to you, Your Highness," he added. "The assassins are both dead."

"Don't call me that," Alexei said on reflex, and began the excruciating process of climbing to his feet. It took him three efforts and one near swoon, but eventually, he managed to stand, lurching, next to Wilder. "Are you well?"

"No," Wilder croaked. His clothes were torn and bloodied, and his chest already mangled with bruises. "And neither are you. Wait, what should I call you if not ‘Your Highness'?"

"Doesn't everybody call me Hades?" Alexei said, looking at the dead bodies distractedly.

So he had killed them, after all. And he himself hadn't died. A night of complete and absolute failure then.

But at least Nikolaos and Wilder were alive, so that might count for something.

"These assassins are getting more and more deadly," Alexei murmured. "The last ones, last week, were weaklings. But these ones nearly killed us. Maybe we should do something about it."

"We are," Wilder bent down to kick one of the men, to make sure he was dead. "You hired me as your personal guard, and you have a whole regiment of soldiers back at the club."

"I am being spied upon," Alexei said. "That's why I left the club without telling you: I was hot on the heels of a dirty little spy. A boy who came nights in the row at the club, pretending to gamble. He stole my cat, too."

"He nearly cost you your life," Wilder said quietly, "my Lord Hades. Wait, your cat?"

"You're right, that's worse than giving me my title," Alexei replied. "Just call me Mikailoff like my friends do, will you? And it nearly cost you your life. Mine, as you well know, does not count."

"Don't you bloody say that," Wilder screamed, or he would have if his voice hadn't been shattered by the assassin's grip.

"Hush," Alexei stepped closer. "Have you forgotten my instructions? They weren't that many."

"I remember," Wilder choked. His skin was black, his muscles rock-hard, his height almost inhuman. He looked like a Greek god of vengeance come to life—except for the choking, of course. "You don't like to be touched, you don't like to be disobeyed. You like to die."

"Quite right," Alexei smiled in the darkness. He liked this man. Smart. Cynical. A bit too emotional for his tastes, but he was no Valentine, thank God. "And one more: I don't scream."

"Why the hell not?" Wilder exploded. Yes, definitely too emotional. Will have to do something about that. "You should have screamed when the man first attacked you, my lord, so that I could have found you in the darkness and fog. How else was I supposed to find you and save your life?"

Alexei opened his mouth to reply something that he would no doubt immediately regret, when a bloodcurdling scream split the air.

"Like that," Wilder said, helpfully.

They looked at each other. The scream repeated itself, ending in a heart-stopping gurgle.

They ran.