While She Sleeps

Once upon a time, Mikhail fell in love with Irina...

And he's been paying for it ever since.

Mikhail

Five years ago, I thought I'd found my future bride. What I found instead was betrayal, torture, and a death sentence I barely survived.

I lived through hell for one reason: Irina Semenarova. So she could live through it too.

Today is that day.

Kidnapping her was easy. Framing her for the attack on her brother, even more so. But having her alone, completely at my mercy, is where everything falls apart.

Every night I tell myself I need to make her suffer. Every night my hands say otherwise.

I promised myself I'd ruin her.

I never planned on ruining myself in the process.

Irina

I'm the black sheep of a family that would give most black sheep nightmares. I never wanted the empire I was born into-I just wanted out.

My brother thinks I'm coming for his throne. Someone tried to kill him, and I can't remember if it was me. I can't remember the threats I supposedly sent, or how I woke up in a house that should have never existed.

Staying hidden should feel safe.

It doesn't-not when my nights belong to a masked man who shouldn't know my body this well, who shouldn't be able to find me even in my dreams, and who looks at me like destroying me is the only thing on his mind.