Anastasia Romanov

by Svetlana Ivanova

  "I wish I could be so sure like that from the beginning," she whispered.

  "Why? Do you still love her?" I asked because I was unable to curb my curiosity and —jealousy.

  "I will always love her," she said and I had to turn my face away. I physically couldn't look at her face without showing my disappointment and hurt. Anastasia placed her hand on my cheek, coaxing me back to look at her. I tried not to, but she insisted.

  "Look at me, Vale," she said. I bit my lips to keep the burning feeling from pouring out from my chest. When our eyes locked once again, she smiled sweetly. "Of course, I will always love her, but not in a romantic way—not anymore. I never thought it could ever be possible. I thought I was going to wander the world in my loneliness forever but I was wrong. I was wrong because now I found you. And I found myself hopelessly in love again."

  A tiny smile threatened to etch back onto my lips. Anastasia took my hands in hers and kissed them.

  "I have found someone who could bring me back from the dark emptiness. Someone who warms my heart with her courage and love," she said and kissed my palms then looked at me with ardent light shining from her eyes. "I love you, Valerina."

  Joyful tears lingered on the rims of my eyes. I went over and took her face in my hands and kissed her. I couldn't hold back my longing for her anymore. Our lips merged in a sudden burst of intoxicating bliss.

  "Come here," she said in a whisper. I moved over to her. Anastasia reached for my body as I reached for hers.

  As I settled over her lap, she started kissing down my exposed neck ravenously. I tilted my head back, baring my throat in submission. My lips parted with a sigh as her tongue assaulted the pulse point below my jaw. She held me tighter. I looked down and her mouth opened beneath mine. Our tongues laced around each other like serpents.

  A rush of happiness and craving flowed through my veins. In that moment, I craved her more than anything in the world.

  Maybe I could never explain the thing I did to Anastasia earlier, but now I understood perfectly why I did it. Deep in my heart of heart, I wanted this beautiful princess in every way and every manner, and I wasn't ashamed to feel this way ever again.

  We broke away from each other’s mouth to catch our breath, drawing our foreheads together and savoring the tranquil bliss around us.

  "You know how I would agonize in bed at night, thinking and knowing that all I want is to reach over to you and have you all to myself one day," she said. "I wanted to show you my feelings in this way since the first day we met."

  "You're not the only one," I whispered back.

  She smiled.

  Then she turned to nuzzle my breasts earnestly. I became breathless again when she slipped her arms around my waist and pulled my hips into hers.

  Things began to heat up as her hands roamed over my sides and down my backside. My body involuntarily moved in a lustful rhythm, and we sighed together.

  "The thing you did to me earlier," she said in a raspy voice. "Can we do it again?"

  "You knew?" I said in surprise.

  "Of course! How could I not?" she chuckled softly.

  "But you weren't even breathing!"

  "I'm a special vampire," she said with a smirk. "I can't just die easily—not with you bawling your eyes out and tickling me half to death."

  "I did not!"

  "Really? What do you think woke me up?"

  "Anastasia, you're so mean!" I cried. "I just didn't know what I was doing! I was so scared that you wouldn't come back."

  "Oh love," she said softly and kissed my cheek again and again. "I thank you for protecting me and bringing me back."

  Without another word, she laid me down onto the rug. My heart pounded in tandem to my growing passion. It was strange how I became so shy all of a sudden when her hands started removing my clothes, one piece at a time, so slowly that I could barely notice when I was naked again. I saw the burning fire in her eyes and felt the icy pleasure in her touch.

  Before I knew it, her tongue found my erected nipples, rolling over them and sucking them sensually. She moved down between my breasts to my stomach. Then she found me there, waiting in readiness.

  My body twisted and arched from the delicious throbbing needs below my belly. I wanted Anastasia to fill me with her own needs. I wanted her nakedness against mine. I craved her body and essence—all of her— to mingle with my own.

  Anastasia devoured me hungrily until my body felt like it was on fire. It was my first time, or at least, it felt like that to me. She knew it, too, and she was careful. Anastasia pulled away and laid her slender body over mine. I ran my nails along her smooth back and grazed my teeth on her shoulder.

  Her eyes blazed with intensity as she slowly and gently slipped her fingers inside me, going into the depth of my desire. My breath hitched in my throat. I whimpered and felt like I was melting away from under her. My legs began to shake. She pulled them around her waist as we rocked to the love-making motion. The sweet scented arousal was thick in the cold air.

  I bit my lips from moaning in pleasure, but to no avail. My breathing came up short and heavy, and I thought my racing heart was going to stop any time soon. Anastasia understood my struggles and withdrew, leaving a hollow desperation in my body. I was disappointed, but she just smiled and kissed my forehead.

  She lay down beside me and turned me over on my side. Her chest pressed against my back. Then she raised one of my legs up and rested it over her hip. I tilted my head to her in confusion but only to find her lips clamping over my mouth.

  "Good girl...be still," she whispered. With her mouth over mine, lavishing me with her ravenous tongue, she reached down.

  Then those slender slippery fingers slithered back into my heated core. It was a pleasuring shock and I gasped, feeling myself swallowing her deeply from behind, smoothly and almost too eagerly. My hips jerked and shivered from the tingling sensation. A gathering built up inside me. It was different from the last time I had felt. Every muscle in my body were twitching and drawn taut in a raw and intense fulfilling pleasure.

  "I love you," Anastasia whispered behind my ear as she kept moving inside me.

  "I love you, too," I choked the words out. I could feel her smile. She sensed my impending climax. I was peaking and falling in a perfect bliss.

  Slowly but surely, I exploded and broke apart with a strangled cry. My body convulsed as I came undone desperately.

  Anastasia helped me ride off the wonderful sensation until I reached the apex of my climax.

  After it was over, I descended back, all the while still shuddering and whimpering deliriously.

  Anastasia gathered my shaking form into her arms and kissed my temple again and again. Her hand stroked my panting chest and bare belly. After a long moment later, my breathing evened out again, and she whispered in my ear.

  "You're so beautiful like this. Do you know that?" she said. "But let's get under the cover —it's freezing. I don't want this beautiful body to get sick."

  I giggled weakly and turned around to face her again then we kissed. Anastasia wrapped us in the thick blanket.

  I didn't realize how cold it was until then, yet cuddling each other we shared the other's warmth. It was a surprise that even Anastasia blushed hot against my naked skin. I curled up into her even more. She stroked my hair gently. I was so contented and satisfied in every ways humanly possible as I listened to her heartbeat. It was the most wonderful sound I had come to love. It was now my very own beat of life.

  Chapter 32

  We made love again, and I was pleased that I could satisfying Anastasia just as she did me. But the blissful moment didn't last long. As I laying satiated in her arms, Anastasia suddenly pulled away and probed herself on her elbow with searching eyes.

  "Tell me, Valerina..." she said. I felt my body stiffen at the serious tone in her voice.

  "Tell you what?" I asked, tilting my head to stare at her.

  "Is it true that you and Trotsky were planning to assassinate my sister?"<
br />
  I felt cold all over from the guilt.

  "Anastasia...I'm sorry..." I tried to speak but she pressed a finger to my lips.

  "I won't hold you at fault," she said. "Just tell me the truth."

  She looked squarely into my eyes. I knew it was time to tell her everything.

  "Yes, it's all true. We were planning an operation for an attack in Moscow when you were in hibernation."

  "Was it Trotsky's idea all along?" she asked, and I nodded slowly back.

  "He wants to dethrone your sister," I said guiltily. "You are second in line. When the Grand Duchess’s gone, you will be the Empress. Then Trotsky will use you to form a puppet government and free the slaves. He knows about your weakness for the humans."

  Anastasia let out a bitter laugh and shook her head, then she heaved a long sigh.

  She turned to me again. "Valerina, the vampires have walked the earth far longer than you, humans. What made you think we are that easy to defeat? My sister had even taken back Russia. Your assassin friends ignored the consequences of this action. You're eager to set things in motion but you never stop to think about what is hidden beneath the surface. Trotsky just use you all to meet his ultimate goal because you are loyal and fearless."

  "No! The General is not like what you think!" I protested. "He kills for a higher purpose. He will accomplish what he believes in—to bring peace to humanity and to rebuild the old world for us."

  "Listen, Valerina," she said. "I don't blame you for believing the way you do, but Alexandra Romanov always has her plans. You think she won't expect an attack after one of her generals got killed? We can prevent this bloodshed. If you want to see your sister and your friends alive again, you must stop them."

  "But I have betrayed the order by running away with you," I said. "Even if the hunters won't execute me, they certainly will not listen to me."

  "They will!" she said without breaking her stare. "If you bring me back to the General, I will talk some sense to Trotsky."

  "I'm afraid it's too late," I said softly. "Your sister's coronation is tomorrow. The hunters must’ve already launched their mission by now."

  Anastasia was silent for a while. I watched her elegant brows knitted together.

  "How far are we from the capital?" she asked.

  "What are you going to do, Anastasia?"

  "Vale, I have to go back to Kremlin tonight," she said. "I'm the only one who can save us all."

  Seeing the look on her face, I could do nothing but comply.

  "I know how we can get to Moscow faster," I said.

  We went out to an area by the stable afterward.

  "I don't think even your fastest horse will get us there in time," Anastasia said. She was now dressing in one of my hunting outfits: black leather jacket, leather pants, combat boots, and all the gears. When she threw a black cloak over one shoulder, I had to admit that her sublime form and grace made breathing difficult for me.

  "Who says we're riding?" I said to distract myself and then went over to pull a lever hidden in the ground. The dirt-covered floor slid opened, revealing an aircraft below.

  "Ah, now I see." Anastasia breathed in understanding.

  "Damir built it for me in the case of emergency," I told her. She turned to me with an arched brow.

  "Your Damir wouldn't be happy that I use it now, would he?" she said. There was an edge in her voice that I almost forgot she had.

  "Will you stop referring to him like that? He and I are just friends," I said pointedly. "We grew up and trained together, but he's not my Damir."

  Anastasia's lips curled up in mirth.

  "I wish he could hear this," she murmured.

  "You're so childish sometimes," I scoffed and Anastasia shrugged back.

  "There's no fun feeling old when you're already old," she said.

  I just shook my head at her. When I got everything checked and tested, I pushed a button to open up the roof. But as I headed over to the pilot seat, Anastasia gripped my arm.

  "Let me fly," she said.

  "You can fly?"

  She gave me an offended frown.

  "I'm over a century old, Valerina," she said. "There's hardly anything I don't know."

  "Except how to tell a rabbit's gender," I said. She swiftly pulled me into her by the waist.

  "That lips of yours need to be sealed forever with mine."

  It caused the heat to rush up my cheeks. Her cold breath on my face sent shivering temptation down my belly and up my spine. Then she kissed me roughly, stirring the tingling sensation from my toes. Every time we kissed, I felt like being electrified. She released me again, leaving me breathless and wobbly and also slightly aroused. I couldn't believe I craved her already—after all we just had sex.

  "I wish we had more time," she said, "but time is of the essence. We have to leave now!"

  I nodded.

  With some more rechecking, we climbed up into the aircraft together. Anastasia took over the pilot seat and settled herself inside the cockpit.

  "Impressive," she said to herself as she put on the helmet and adjusted the headset. "Your Damir really is a smart boy."

  "Anastasia, I have about seven blades hidden in various parts of my body," I told her. "You don't want me to run one through you, do you?"

  She burst out laughing.

  "How exciting being in love with an assassin," she said to herself, and I bit my lips from smiling. "Alright now, ready?"

  When I told her we were good to go, she started the engine by pressing the buttons and switching on air compressor like an expert. Then lights started blinking as the aircraft hummed to life.

  Soon after, we were able to take off into the bright Siberian sky. Anastasia tiled the plane away from the mountain, heading towards the impending war that awaited us at the capital.

  Chapter 33

  Alexandra

  THE WINTER WAS HARSH this year. The sun was stripped of its light and warmth. Trees sent up crooked, bare branches into the frostbitten air. From the vertex of the palace tower, I stood watching the sky with snow-packed clouds hover over the ghost city.

  It was the scene that made my heart clench with haunting memories.

  On this day, three years ago when the weather as cold and bitter as this morning, I lay dying in the midst of betrayal and jealousy. Ever since I was back in Moscow, I hadn't thought of it once.

  Now, I remembered what had happened so vividly like I was reliving it. I wouldn't have lost just my life but also a chance at love with Avery, which would be the most painful death of all.

  All I wanted for the rest of my life was to cherish the one who saved my heart from all the greed and the chaos, but it seemed reality always came to snatch my happiness away.

  As I looked at the red domes of St. Basil's Cathedral, Victor's voice drew my attention away from the gloomy view.

  "Your Majesty, it's high time we leave for the procession," he said.

  "I'm not a Czarina yet, Victor," I said without turning. "Must you start calling me so formally already?"

  "It's just a matter of time, isn't it?" he said. "Once you take the throne, you have the power to safeguard our peace."

  "Safeguard our peace," I echoed his word. "What you mean is a war without the sanction of the Allied Nations. It's going to be fun like the good old days, isn’t it?"

  The sarcasm wasn't missed by my adviser, but he merely let out a soft sigh.

  "It's for the future of the Empire," Victor said. "We are doing the other nations a favor by standing up against the greedy tyrants."

  "Are you sure we're not one of the tyrants?" I said. "Look at this place now, Victor. We're like the winter to the world. Everywhere we go, nothing grows, nothing changes—all frozen in the gloom. Maybe the idea of us killing each other isn't so bad after all. Maybe after all that, something good might blossom again."

  Victor fell silent for a while.

  "You have changed a lot," he noted at last.

  I chuckled to myself.

&nb
sp; "You know that I died twice—brought back by revenge and then by love," I reminded him. "Perhaps, I might've gained some sort of wisdom after all."

  "Alexandra, it's moment like this that I couldn't decide who you remind me of the most."

  I finally turned to face the old vampire. Victor was adorned in a sleek military uniform, holding a crested sword at his belt. But the man didn't look as comfortable donning an epaulet as I did. I had had years of experience in formal engagement, except this time it was different.

  "You look pretty sharp in uniform," I complimented him. He gave me an embarrassed smile back.

  "So do you, Your Majesty," he said. "I'm pretty sure if Emperor Nikolas had seen you now, he would have been very proud of you."

  I laughed and glanced down at my coronation attire— the Supertunica, the long coat of gold silk and embroidered ermine cape that reached my ankles. Its crimson velvet was heavily rimmed with gold and silver threads. My royal surcoat was also woven with intricate lace and the national emblem featuring a double-headed eagle.

  No matter how I insisted on the simplest possible regalia, the Kremlin armory still sent me a rather extravagant one. But at least, they did follow my instruction to alter the design, which resembled my father's coronation garment. I was probably the first and the last Romanov heir to be wearing it this way.

  Well, who was there to tell me what I should and shouldn't do now?

  "Anyway, where is Avery?"

  "She will be joining you shortly afterward," he replied.

  "Did you bring her the dress?"

  "Yes," he said, "though the lady was quite surprised to see it."

  "Oh? I almost forgot that she was the person of a modern age," I muttered to myself. "Now, I wonder if she's mad at me for making her wear it."

  "It could be to the contrary, Your Majesty. I'm sure she will love it," Victor reassured me with a smile.

  "I hope so." I nodded back. "Alright, let's get moving then."

  Outside the palace gate, an impossibly long line of processional parade was organized. There were horses as well as royal cars. The guards stood in their long winter coat. Their obsequious posture perfectly resembled that of lifeless toy soldiers.