He'd taken care of the blades for her. Collected them, wrapped them up, and left them here for her as if he knew how much they meant to her.
Why would he do that? What did he expect his kindness to buy him? Did he actually think her trust might come so cheaply, or was he just hoping for another chance to force himself on her the way he had with that kiss?
She really didn't want to think about kissing Nikolai. If she thought about his mouth on hers, then she would have to admit to herself that as unexpected and uninvited as his kiss had been, force was hardly to blame for it happening.
The truth was, she'd enjoyed it.
Mother Mary, but just thinking on him now lit a slow, liquid heat in her core.
She'd wanted more of him, despite that every survival instinct in her body had been screaming for her to get away from him, and get away fast. She hungered for him - then and now. Burned for him, in a place she'd long thought to be frozen over and dead. And that little admission made what he'd said about Mira - the implication that whatever he'd seen in the child's eyes might somehow involve Renata and him intimately together - all the more unsettling.
Thank God he was gone.
Thank God he would likely never return after what he'd discovered here.
It had been a long time since Renata had gone down on her knees to pray. She knelt before no one anymore, not even Yakut at his terrifying worst, but she bowed her head now and begged heaven to keep Nikolai away from this place.
Away from her.
No longer in the mood for training, especially when memories of what had taken place here last night were still ripe and swimming in her head, Renata grabbed her shoes and walked back to the lodge. She went inside, replaced the bar on the door, then walked the hallway leading to her room and what she hoped might be at least a few hours' sleep.
She sensed something out of place even before she noticed Mira's door was unlatched.
No lights were on in the child's room, but she was awake. Renata heard her soft voice in the dark, complaining that she was sleepy and didn't want to get up. More nightmares? Renata wondered, feeling a pang of sympathy for the child. But then another voice hissed over Mira's groggy protests, this one cold and harsh, clipped with impatience.
"Stop your sniveling and open your eyes, you little bitch."
Renata pressed her hand to the paneled door and pushed it wide. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Lex?"
He was bent over Mira's bed, the child's shoulders caught in a bruising hold. His head swiveled around as Renata came into the room, but he didn't let go of Mira. "I have need of my father's oracle. And I don't answer to you, so kindly get the fuck out of here."
"Rennie, he's hurting my arms." Mira's voice was tiny, pinched with pain.
"Open your eyes," Lex snarled at her. "Then maybe I'll stop hurting you."
"Take your hands off her, Lex." Renata stopped at the foot of the bed, her sheathed blades a tempting weight in her grasp. "Do it. Now."
Lex scoffed. "Not until I'm through with her."
When he gave Mira a hard shake, Renata let loose with a blast of mental fury.
It was just a spurt of power, only a fraction of what she could give him, but Lex howled, his body jerking as though he'd been hit with a few thousand volts of electricity. He reeled back, dropping Mira and falling away from the bed, ass-planted on the floor.
"You bitch!" His eyes bled amber fire, pupils tight slivers in their center. "I should kill you for that. I should kill the brat and you both!"
Renata hit him again, another small taste of agony. He slumped, clutching his head and moaning from the debilitating second blast. She waited, watching as he worked to collect himself from his sprawl on the floor. He didn't pose much of a threat to her like this, but in a few hours he would be recovered and she would be the vulnerable one. Then she might have a bit of hell to pay.
But for the time being, Mira was no longer of interest to Lex, and that was all that mattered.
Lex glared up at her as he dragged himself to his feet. "Get out of my...way...goddamn...whore."
The words were choked, sputtered between his gasps for breath as he clumsily moved toward the open door. When he was out of sight, his footsteps scuffing along the hallway outside, Renata went to Mira's bedside and hushed her softly.
"Are you all right, kiddo?"
Mira nodded. "I don't like him, Rennie. He scares me."
"I know, honey." Renata pressed a kiss to the child's brow. "I'm not going to let him hurt you. You're safe with me. That's a promise, right?"