Kat. A name she used so rarely. And he uttered it as if he had known her before.
It was as if an out of tune string on a violin had just snapped violently, what had been beautiful music halting and leaving her with an off-key note reverberating through her system, the princess stranded in the echo. She had not had time to even bring the cigarette he had given her to her lips. Her body was still, only the thrumming of her heart betraying what she was feeling in that tumultuous moment. With the ringing of the flat tone drowning out anything else Erica felt as though she had been swallowed by silence, only the sound of her small exhale of breath reaching her ears.
He had called her Kat before.
Their time together had been brief, yes, long ago enough that both parties did not correctly identify the other immediately. But nowâ now she realised why she had felt a familiarity within him. Something she had thought simply to be a similarity when it fact it was the same.
For a second, Ekaterina hoped that he had not experienced the same clarity as her. She could envision his devilish smile when they had first met, those bright, intelligent, different eyes that had drawn her closer, and nights she had spent tangled in the arms of someone who she now knew to an incredibly infamous pirate. A man who had ended the life of her friend for his âcauseâ.
The smoke from the cigarette wafted into the air, hanging in the space as she did.
He returned to the table, of course. She could not outrun any of her past, it seemed. It had followed her here, brought her here. But rather than shying away or denying it, the princess knew that would do her no good, she instead opted to face it head-on.
When she felt his gaze upon her, her mouth curled up into a morbid smile before meeting his stare with equal intensity. âMe,â Erica countered, finally bringing the cigarette to her lips, inhaling and exhaling with a relaxed air to her movements. It was as if the knowledge that she had known Alex Lawrence in such an intimate yet casual fashion gave her confidence, and she exuded a compelling power about her. Finally, she was in her comfort-zoneâ with one of the more influential and dangerous pirates on the island, no less. Ekaterina Markovy dug her claws into the hearts of the men she seduced, left her mark, and most importantly, did not let them forget her. As promised, he had not. Not entirely.
She was well aware of the lies she had told Alex when they had met before, but just as she had had to hide away her true identity, so had he. No amount of trading âyou tricked meâ spiels would change the fact that it was all out of self-preservation, for both of them. They were survivors in this complicated world. When they had been together, they had thrown away anything messy, stripped themselves down to bare simplicities. Just a man and a woman passing through who wished to spend their time with each other. And when it was done, there had been no tearful goodbyes, no betrayal. It had just been over. Hearts had not been broken, their tryst a pleasant memory to look back on.
And as she was looking back on it, even she could find the humour in their current situation and, it seemed, so could he. Maybe it was the fact that he was gazing upon her with more than indifference or maliciousness that she could now recognise his features, remembering his face as it had been beforeâ how he had once looked at her, and she him. Leaning forward, her smile morphed into a devious grin. âDid you want a kiss goodbye? We never had one. Did we?â
He strode back to the table, lips lifting into a smile. He rested his fists on the surface of the table, leaning in to her. Alex shook his head slowly, his eyes taking in her features as slowly the penny started to drop. The certain way her lips curved, her careful but sharp gaze that seemed to know exactly what you were thinking before you even thought it. Even the way her hair fell now. She was the girl he had met over a decade ago, one that he had never thought about after he had left the port that night but had never forgotten.
"I suppose we could now be considered the princess and the pauper."
They had each lied to each other's face with no remorse; no regret and with knowing they had both been lying. But they had simply not cared. They had not been together for any deep reason. Simply another body to warm their bed and for a different kind of company that they couldn't find elsewhere. But of all the things he had expected her to be, maybe the daughter of some wealthy man looking for another life than the one full of all her wants and needs (even that he still couldn't understand). But never had he expected to be sharing his bed with a princess. Alex's mind worked rapidly, coming up with every solution possible.
It was one of the most logical options now he knew the truth. He was brought up to be suspicious of everyone. No one did anything without reason. And the mandatory assumption for the reason was to hurt him. Alex knew better even as he spoke the words. She hadn't known who he was, just as he hasn't known who she was. This was almost disbelief worthy. There was no way that the world would play such a sick joke on him. Alex chuckled, shaking his head slowly.
"Going from lovers to mortal enemies. If anything, I would say this is my most accomplished feat yet." His words were spoken with a hint of cruelty, a smug tone. "If I knew all it took was to kill ones friend, I would have tried this years ago."
Alex didn't kiss her, his breath ghosted over her lips but all he did was run his thumb over her lower lip, a stroke of fond nostalgia before he flicked her hair and pulled back. "That was another person, another life. You won't find him here on the island. Pull another one of those stunts and I'll have you in the dungeons for the rest of your stay. There is a fine line between brave and stupid. Learn the line, Miss Ekaterina."
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