Chapter Six: The Dinner Where Anton Smiled
Damian should have stayed in bed.
He did not.
Elena found him in the dining room, dressed in black, his face composed, his body lying through posture.
Anton sat across from him.
Blond. Polished. Smiling.
Elena disliked him before he spoke.
“So this is the famous Dr. Vale.”
She checked Damian’s pulse at the wrist without asking.
His skin was cold.
Anton watched.
“How intimate.”
Elena did not look at him.
“How infected.”
Damian’s mouth nearly curved.
Anton’s smile thinned.
“I was expressing concern.”
“No,” Elena said. “You were measuring weakness.”
The room went quiet.
Luka shifted near the wall.
Damian looked at her with something dangerously close to pride.
Anton folded his hands.
“Damian, your doctor is bold.”
“My doctor is accurate.”
Elena hated the possessive.
She also heard the warning in it.
Anton leaned back.
“Bold women have always been costly for you.”
Damian’s face emptied.
There.
A crack.
Elena saw it.
Anton saw that she saw it.
He smiled wider.
“Saint Agnes was a long time ago.”
The air died.
Elena turned slowly.
“What do you know about Saint Agnes?”
Anton lifted his glass.
“Enough to know love makes men stupid.”
Damian’s voice dropped.
“Anton.”
But Anton had already made his mistake.
He looked at Elena.
“Ask him why your father came to him before Varga.”
One sentence.
Clean.
Deadly.
Then he stopped.
Too late.
Elena’s face did not change.
Inside, something split open.
Damian stood.
Too fast.
Elena caught his elbow under the table before he tore his wound again.
The gesture was hidden.
Anton’s eyes flicked down.
He understood enough.
His smile returned.
“I see.”
Elena released Damian and stood.
“This dinner is over.”
Anton laughed.
“You give orders here?”
“No.”
She looked at Luka.
“I give medical instructions.”
Luka moved.
Anton watched Damian being helped from the room.
His expression lost its polish.
For one breath, Elena saw the truth.
Anton did not want Damian dead only for power.
He wanted to prove Damian could be made helpless.
And he had just found the cleanest blade.
Her.
