Chapter 11
elaine
“Sorry, Caitlyn,” Vera said. “We were just stopping by, but we have to run to make our flight.”
“Your flight?” Caitlyn blurted. “Where are you flying to?”
“Vera!” I whispered. “Are we leaving her? What if Yulia does something to her?”
Vera grimaced. “We cannot bring her with us.”
“I’m not abandoning my sister!”
“What are you whispering about?” Caitlyn shouted.
Vera sighed, hard. “Do not leave this spot,” she said, and she turned to Caitlyn. “We’re just heading to a house upstate. Do you want to come? It’s a big place. And your mother isn’t invited.”
Caitlyn’s eyes shone. “You… do you really mean that?”
“You could stay as long as you wanted.”
She looked down, clasping her hands at her waist. “I would love to… I just don’t want to cause Elaine any problems.”
“Well, we’re going to be late,” Vera said. “I’m going to take you to the car.”
“Ah—what? Right now? I haven’t showered or anything. I need my stuff.”
“We’ll swing back for your stuff later.” Vera scooped up Caitlyn in one arm, and Caitlyn squealed in surprise. “Stay right here,” Vera whispered to me. “Out of sight of the windows. Don’t move anywhere without me. I’m handing off Caitlyn to Petra so we can go separately and avoid getting tailed.”
“Petra’s here?”
“She’s a damn good set of wheels. Compensates for her other shortcomings. She just arrived.”
I nodded, and I stayed around the corner, behind the pantry, out of view of the window. Vera took Caitlyn and slipped off through the front of the house, and I pressed myself back up against the wall, breathing hard while I listened for every movement in the surroundings.
Just stay still. Stay out of sight.
Just stay still…
My heart dropped at a sound—not from the windows, not from the outside.
From the pantry.
The draft.
The pantry had always been drafty below the floorboards. An opening in the foundation.
I whirled back just as the pantry door flung open, and I jumped out of the way of a gleam of metal—a blade, carving through the air where my throat had been just a second ago.
“Well,” the figure said, a woman with long hair so pale it was almost white and an ink-black eye mask, an ornate dagger in her hand. “It would seem Vera taught you a trick or two.”
“Yulia,” I whispered. Her lips, cherry-red, spread into a smile.
“A wiser woman would have screamed.”
“There’s no use killing me.” Even through the gut-wrenching panic, I held up my hand, flashing the ring. Yulia hesitated, clutching the dagger tighter.
“So… you’re with them.”
“Vera will protect me.”
“You’re bluffing,” she said. “There’s no chance you married her so quickly.”
“Vera is very fast when she wants to get something done.”
She scoffed, and she took a step closer, dagger gleaming in the light that filtered in through the curtains. I didn’t back away. “What did she offer you?”
Fear coursed through me like a hot liquid. But I couldn’t let it show. If I wanted her to believe we really were married, that Yulia truly would have no reason to kill me, then I couldn’t let her see the smallest sliver of fear. I smiled. “She’s my wife,” I said. “That’s enough, isn’t it?”
Yulia snorted, lowering her dagger just an inch.
I could tell she was sizing me up, trying to tell if I was telling the truth.
“You would do well not to take up with her. She is a twisted, broken psychopath with nothing but ruthless efficiency where her heart once lay. Nothing but bloodlust where love should have been.”
“She was a child who was hurt,” I said quietly. “Nobody is beyond repair, Yulia. It’s never too late to heal. There’s a woman beyond the pain. And she’s beautiful.”
She snorted, gripping her dagger tighter, eyes gleaming.
And then she lunged.
It all happened in an instant, Yulia darting in, dagger flashing in the light, and it struck with a metallic clang against another blade—a knife gleaming next to my face, sparks flying on impact.
Vera.
She stood next to me, her arm around my waist, seemingly having materialized from nowhere, her blade catching Yulia’s inches from my throat.
Vera’s eyes burned with cold fire as she spoke. “You come one inch closer to my wife,” she said, “and they’ll never find enough of you to bury.”
“Vera Farkas,” Yulia said. “You’re faster than I remember. You’ve been practicing.”
“No. Just more motivated.”
My heart beat faster at the way she held me, claimed me, protected me. Even as an act…
Yulia turned her gaze back to me.
“You did not flinch, Elaine Whitner,” she said. “Are you fearless, or are you foolish?”
“I knew you wouldn’t hurt me,” I said. “I’ve seen a lot of people in difficult situations. I know when someone is willing to hurt someone… and when someone is only hurting themselves.”
Yulia scoffed, but I saw the intensity in her eyes. Vera moved me behind her, flexing her fingers as she held the blade up against Yulia’s.
“Is this finally the time I get to kill you?” Vera said.
“It is perhaps my long-awaited opportunity to get rid of you, Wolf,” Yulia said. “If Elaine’s inheritance will go to you… I will simply have to get rid of both of you.”
“My pleasure,” Vera growled. “I’ve been waiting for this.”
“Wait,” I called, but they didn’t—blades gleamed, and they both moved too fast to follow, a loud clash as they lunged, first towards Yulia, and then towards Vera, backing up and then again towards the middle, blades held against one another in a different configuration than before.
“Stop!” I shouted, stepping in between them, and they both gave me looks of surprise.
“Elaine—” Vera started.
“You know there’s no use,” I said. “If you kill me and Vera, it goes to somebody else. We’re not clueless.”
Yulia narrowed her eyes. I turned to Vera.
“We don’t need to fight,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Tch.” Vera looked away. “I guess my wife doesn’t want me making a mess in her family’s house. Until next time, Yulia.”
“You are an interesting one, Elaine,” Yulia said, her voice slow and careful. “Watch yourself.”
And as quickly as she appeared, she was gone, slipping through the door and out the back. Vera turned to me with her eyes burning.
“That,” she said, “was stupid of you.”
“I…”
“And very strong.” She took my hand, pulling me towards the front door. “We bought enough time. Petra has moved Caitlyn safely. And the damn cat. I know a route we can take that will lose them.”
“A route…”
“Just be careful.” She grimaced. “It’s a high place.”