54
Korolev Pact
As soon as R left, I went looking for my nephew, who was locked in his room, lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.
It was a child”s bedroom, clearly set up by my husband for him. The walls were painted sky blue. There was a mural at the head of the bed with the image of a motorcycle, a large desk, an area for him to play comfortably, and light-colored furniture that added warmth and brightness to the room.
Before entering, I knocked but received no response, so I decided to let myself in.
When the door opened, he merely grunted, ”You didn”t have permission to enter,” to which I responded that I didn’t need anyone’s permission because it was my house and he was a minor.
Instead of confronting me as I expected, he just stared at the colored plaster.
”Did you have fun today?” My confrontational tone made him redirect his gaze towards the door without saying anything. He frowned. ”What’s wrong? Didn’t like how your eagle prank ended?”
”You didn’t have to kill it!” he exclaimed.
”Right, it would have been much better for it to perforate my skull. What on earth were you thinking putting salmon in my hair?” My nephew shrugged, not even denying it.
”I thought it would be funny. I figured you’d get scared and run off trying to shoo it away, not kill it.”
”A Korolev never flees,” I reflected aloud, ”we face the enemy to the bitter end. It”s in our nature, whether it’s an animal, a person, or an imaginary being. We act; we never stand by idly, like you’re doing with me, even if you make mistakes, because I”m not your enemy.”
”You are!” he spat angrily.
”No, I”m not, I”m your aunt, and you need to learn to distinguish those things. The greatness of a Korolev lies in being a great strategist, having a critical eye, knowing when to enter a battle or when to wait and, above all, choosing your opponents wisely. Being a good observer is also a trait of our family.”
”I”m not from your family!”
”You are. Like it or not, you”re my nephew, my brother”s son, and the sooner you accept it, the better for everyone.”
”And if I don’t, what will you do? Send me to a boarding school? I know I annoy you, you want me out of this house, you can’t stand me.”
”You’re not exactly a devotee of my presence either,” I countered. ”Look, nobody told me I was going to end up with a kid in my life, I have nothing against you, it’s just that I”m not good with anyone under eighteen.”
”But your sister is sixteen.”
”But Sarka is very mature for her age and doesn’t pull harmful pranks.” Adriano crossed his arms.
”I understand you”re upset with life, even with the decisions of the man you consider your father, but let me tell you something that perhaps others haven”t because they think you”re too young to understand.” I looked at him seriously as he
fixed his brown eyes on mine. ”Life isn”t fair.” He snorted.
”Are you telling me or complaining?” he replied disdainfully.
”Both. You need to internalize it because it will do you good. I’m sorry you lost your mother; it shouldn”t have happened, just like I shouldn’t have lost your father or mine. But life took something from you and in return gave you a place among people who have made room in their lives for you, people who didn’t have to do it and yet, they are there, they”ve protected, cared for, and respected you. I can’t deny that, no matter how Capulet they are. And now, your real family, the one you truly belong to, is also here. My sisters, my mother, and I, we are where you belong.”
”You are nothing!”
”Yes, I am, and your actions prove it.” He looked at me, not understanding my response.
”My actions?”
”You act like a Korolev, our blood runs through your veins, and that’s why you behave as you do.” Adri scoffed. ”Let me tell you something. When my sister Irisha was born, I didn’t want her.” My revelation seemed to surprise him.
”I don’t believe you.”
”Believe me. It was a nuisance for me, and sometimes it still is. It was a chubby annoyance that followed me everywhere, disrupting the harmony and peace established between Yuri and me. It did nothing but bother, ask questions, and hinder. I was so fed up with it that one day when your father and I went out to hunt mice, birds, and lizards to feed our snake...”
”You had a snake?” he interrupted, amazed.
”You bet, a black mamba, beautiful and lethal. It died when I was nineteen.”
”And it bit you? Is that why you used to give my father oral sex?”
”No, it didn”t bite me or anything like that,” I avoided the comment on the fellatio incident.
”What was its name?”
”Blacky. It wasn”t a very original name, but it was the only one Yuri and I agreed on.” Adriano sat on the bed, interested.
”And what happened to Irisha the day you went to get food for Blacky?” It was the first time he seemed interested in anything I was telling him, so I decided to continue with the explanation.
”Wel, as she was a crybaby and never let us hunt because she felt sorry for the little animals we used to feed our pet, I created fake tracks to make her think we took one path while we hid in another, among the bushes. Like what happened to you this morning, I created my own version of the story in my head. I thought she would get scared not seeing us and would go back home scared to find herself alone, but that didn”t happen.”
”And where did she go?”
”Let me continue telling you, and you”ll find out.” Adri nodded. ”We spent a long time outside, and when Yuri and I returned, Irisha was nowhere to be found. We didn”t think much of it; we thought she hid somewhere in the house as revenge for not finding us, so we went to Blacky and then went out to the garden to play, without paying attention to her. When dinner time came, mom went crazy looking for her because she thought she had been with us the whole time.”
”How old was she?”
”Six.”
”And where was she?”
”She got lost, and Yuri and I were afraid of our father”s reprisals. He was a very tough man.”
”Did he hit you?”
”Sometimes, when we messed up too much and deserved it.” I ventured into the room. Adriano was so engrossed in the story that he didn”t stop me. I settled into a reading chair near his bed, next to a shelf full of books suitable for his age.
”No child deserves to be hit,” he countered.
”Well, it might not be well seen now, but that doesn”t mean it can”t sometimes be necessary, at least in our case. Yuri and I were always a bit rebellious and loved getting into trouble.” I saw a hint of a smile on his face as he imagined us. ”You can”t deny that what we did deserved a beating of epic proportions.”
”Maybe a big punishment. But not a beating.”
”Different points of view,” I argued.
”Did you go looking for her?” he insisted.
”You bet, Dad mobilized all his men. He thought she had been kidnapped, in families like ours, it”s very common.”
”Were you ever kidnapped?”
”Fortunately, no. We were very closely watched.”
”Go on, what did you and Yuri do?” It was the first time I mentioned my brother, and it moved me. It was silly, but something stirred inside my chest.
”We didn”t say a word; we made a pact of silence because we were afraid of the consequences. We begged to go look for her, but they wouldn”t let us out. My mother cried inconsolably, and we pretended to go to our room. We were the only ones who knew the path she took, and we couldn”t go out looking for her!”
”In the end, we decided to escape. From my room, there was a pipe through which my brother and I slid down to the lower floor. We were loaded with our flashlights and Yuri”s pellet gun. It was night, and you never know in the forest.” Adriano blinked several times.
”And did you find her?”
”Yes, she had been trapped for hours, didn”t realize it, and stepped into a burrow hidden in some brambles. Her foot got stuck among the underground roots, and she couldn”t pull it out. Her face was full of streaks from crying, she had almost lost her voice from shouting for help. Her little hands were full of wounds from trying to free her foot, and she was shivering from the cold. I had never felt so bad about something. After all, it wasn”t her fault for being so clingy, she just wanted to be with us, by our side. My brother and I freed her, and he carried her on his back all the way back.”
”Were you punished?” I shook my head.
”Irisha never said we set her up; she could barely speak, and when she recovered, everyone assumed she had gotten lost looking for us.”
”Why didn”t she say anything?”
”She might not have told because she was too young to understand the magnitude of what we did. I”m not sure. However, from that day on, she stopped following us and distanced herself.”
”And your parents didn”t suspect that you found her and they didn”t?” I shook my head.
”They were so happy that we found Irisha that, although they scolded us a little for escaping, they ended up rewarding us for the rescue.”
”That”s unfair!” he exclaimed, hitting the bed.
”What is?”
”That they rewarded you! If you had told the truth, they would have punished you.”
”Then, according to your idea of justice, it would be fair for me to tell R what you”ve been doing to me these past two days, right?” Adri fell silent. ”That”s what I thought. Adriano, things aren”t black or white; there are many nuances, and we have to find them. I propose something.”
”To confess?”
”No, a truce. You don”t try to ruin my life, and in return, I”ll try to change your idea that I”m a witch and that I only want to get rid of you. I”ll look for things for these days that give us a chance and make you decide whether it”s worth it or not for us to get along decently.”
”What do you mean?”
”Well, maybe you”ll never be able to love me, that”s not in my hands, however, we can try to make coexistence not hell and tolerate each other. Do you agree?” He weighed my words.
”And do you promise not to try to send me to a boarding school?” I held up my hand, raising my pinky. Yuri and I always sealed promises like this when we were little.
”Koroleva”s word, when we give it, always keep it, you can trust me.” Adriano raised his hand and offered me his pinky. A small warmth ran through my chest, and I knew I had made a good decision.
That night, after thinking a lot about what we could do, I started working on the list. I wrote and crossed out several ideas when large hands took my shoulders.
”I see you”re very focused.” It was true; I didn”t even hear him approach.
”I”m finishing up the activities I want us to do with Adri; I think I”ve come up with some ideal ones.”
”I like that you”re involved,” he murmured, dragging his beard over my neck to nibble on it. I sighed.
”Everything okay with Dante?” He didn”t respond because his mouth was too busy. His hands flew to my breasts. ”R...” I murmured with goosebumps.
”I”ll tell you later; right now, I really want to fuck you. I haven”t been able to stop thinking about all the things I want to do to you.”
”You always want to fuck me.”
”That”s because you”re too damn hot, and you ride my cock like nobody else,” his reflection made me laugh. ”What? She adores you, and so do I.”
”I can see that,” he stopped abruptly, his eyes on the paper.
”Did you put going to a shooting range with Adri as an activity for tomorrow? And an extreme survival courses for the day after?” I smiled, intertwining my fingers behind his neck.
”They”re productive activities that I did at his age; Yuri and I loved them, I”m sure we”ll enjoy them.”
”I would suggest for Saturday hunting bears and drinking their blood, and on Sunday, abandoning him in the Gobi Desert to see if he makes it to Spain.”
I laughed openly, unable to help it. ”Adriano is a Korolev; he”ll love the shooting gallery,” I purred as his hands slipped into my neckline and pinched my nipples with fervor.
”We”ll talk about that later... Now, the only weapon that”s going to be fired is my assault rifle between your legs. Come with me, amore, I”m going to give you the first lesson in target shooting.”