Chapter 9 Oleg
Oleg
“What do you mean, she is gone?” Oleg was fuming. He had spent nearly all night entertaining and charming the immortal guests of the Báthory Summit, and all he wanted—all he required—was an hour or two with his mate.
“I called Sándor,” Mika said. “She left the ball and proceeded immediately to the airport.”
Oleg narrowed his eyes. “Was Kezia with her?”
“My spies say the elder Poshani terrin is still in her mansion in the city and will remain here for at least another week, doing follow-up meetings and finalizing contracts that were negotiated during the summit.”
Which meant that Tatyana left for another reason. There was no rush and clearly no emergency since Kezia was remaining in Budapest.
Mika walked to the blue upholstered chair in the corner of Oleg’s dressing room and sat, stretching his legs out. “What did you do?”
“Nothing.” Oleg ripped off the kaftan and tossed it on a chaise. “We danced. I could not dance with her again—that would not have been strategic.”
Mika rubbed his temples as if he could get a headache. “Did you make plans to meet when you saw her last night?”
“No.” Oleg kicked off his boots. “Not definitely. She didn’t know what her schedule would be.”
“You did burn her gloves,” Mika muttered. “Maybe she was upset about that. It certainly set tongues wagging at the ball.”
Oleg froze. “And? What was the consensus of the gossips?”
“No consensus. It’s as it always is with you two. Some say you are lovers. Some say you are angry because she stole from you. Some say that she hates you, and others say that you hate her. Everyone agrees that you two react to each other, which is not a secret.”
Oleg nodded. “Good.”
“It is noted by almost all that Tatyana le Tala remains polite and practical with everyone she interacts with… save for you.”
He smirked. “I should hope not.”
“Ivan was muttering something about her, but I couldn’t catch it. They danced, and then he left the ball shortly after that.”
Oleg lifted his chin. “Was there a connection made between the two events?”
“Not really. He danced a couple more dances after her, then went to meet all his men at a club downtown.” Mika waved a hand. “Everyone knows that Ivan isn’t the ballroom sort.”
“What did they talk about?”
Mika pursed his lips. “She shut him down. He was trying to get her to run ground cargo for him again. He—not incorrectly—thinks that she’s the main roadblock to getting the Poshani to work in his territory again.”
“She’s not the only roadblock. Kezia and Radu both know what happened with Vano.”
Vano, the previous terrin of the Poshani, was dead because he’d entered into a secret alliance with Ivan to seize more power and had backed Ivan against Oleg.
And in the midst of that, he’d violated Poshani hospitality laws and stolen from the people, which was why Vano was dead and Tatyana was terrin.
But Ivan didn’t know for certain that Vano had been found out. All he knew was that Vano was dead and the new Poshani terrin didn’t want to work with him.
“Drop it in a few of Ivan’s ears on the ground: Tatyana is cautious.”
Mika frowned. “Tatyana is cautious.”
“Yes, but that’s the reason they’re not getting Poshani ground support now. It’s because the Poshani don’t see Ivan as a reliable or safe partner.”
“None of that is false.”
“I realize that.” Oleg turned and batted Mika’s boots off the low table in front of the chaise. “But some of Ivan’s people are not going to make the connection until it is spelled out. They are directly losing money because Ivan isn’t reliable. Tell our spies to make it clear.”
“Fine,” Mika muttered. “Consider it done.”
“And find out where my wife flew.”
“Easy,” Mika said. “I already know. She’s going to her mother’s house.”
Oleg curled his lip. “Shit.”
If there was anyone more protective of Tatyana than Oleg, it was Anna Asanova. His mother-in-law could be absolutely feral, and she was unmoved by charm, fear, and bribery.
Anna and Oleg had an uneasy truce, but if Tatyana was upset with him for some reason…
“Why would she be angry with me?”
Mika shrugged. “She was talking with the Fire King’s son after she danced with you and Ivan.”
Oleg curled his lip. “So she was.”
Could that silver-haired bastard be the problem? Probably. He was in love with Tatyana whether his wife would admit it or not.
What had he been doing when Tatyana and Arosh’s son had been speaking? He cast his mind back to his mental catalog of dance partners.
The Austrian princess.
The Tajik heiress.
Various daughters of important vampires who wanted face time with him.
The youngest daughter of that Latvian shipping magnate.
And Alina.
He had danced with Alina twice.
Oleg frowned. “Do you think she suspects something between me and Alina?”
Mika shrugged.
But he didn’t say anything, which was very unlike Mika.
Oleg spun around. “What do you know?”
His closest friend sat up. “What is this? Am I your chief boyar? Or am I your schoolmate who passes notes to the girl in class?”
“Both,” Oleg growled. “I’ll ask you one more time—what do you know?”
Mika sighed. “There are rumors.”
“About?”
He rolled his eyes. “You were dancing with Sophia Jansdatter, were you not?”
“Yes.”
“Who is engaged to be married to her sire’s shipping partner.”
“Yes, we were speaking of it. It’s a political marriage, and she seemed perfectly content with it. She doesn’t mind him, and she will be taking her current partner to Wilhelmshaven when she moves.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed—we’ve all noticed—a certain trend toward the traditional, strategic marriage these days, have we not?”
“Yes, we all know they go in and out of vogue with our kind. I still don’t have any idea what this has to do with Alina and…” Oleg curled his lip. His fangs were already down. “Me and Alina?”
“You danced with her twice. You have aligned interests.”
“I think she has a blood mate, though she doesn’t talk about him.”
“And? What does that have to do with anything? Sophia has a girlfriend, and she’s marrying the shipping heir.”
Oleg stared at Mika, knowing that vampires would gossip about anything. “Fuck.”
“Yes, well…” Mika shrugged.
“Can I summon the druzhina to kill Ivan and everyone who tries to defend him?” Oleg asked. “With my axe?”
“As enjoyable as that sounds, I don’t think that will make your wife less angry about the rumors that you and Alina Machabeli are planning a political marriage to unite the northern Black Sea ports.”
Oleg grabbed a rack of coats and slammed the entire contraption to the floor. “Fuck!”
Mika leaned back and propped his feet on the table again. “Shall I call Lazlo and Rudov? I’m sure one of your brothers would be happy to sharpen your axe.”
Oleg flew from Budapest to the citadel the following night. He had texted Tatyana but received no answer, and then he called her and received a message that her phone was off.
Which meant he was in a foul mood.
Meeting with his governors via video chat was hardly likely to put him in a better one, but it was a necessary evil.
“The port in Murmansk is progressing on schedule.” Pavel updated the group of eight governors. “Once the corresponding infrastructure has been built in Utqiagvik, we will have direct shipping routes to the West.”
“And this is important because…” Ivan lifted an eyebrow. “Are the Canadians buying our fuel these days?”
“We’re not thinking about the immediate future,” Oleg snapped at Ivan. “We’re looking forward to the next century.” Mentally he added, Try to keep up, idiot. “Thank you for the update, Pavel.”
Juliya, his brother Rudov’s daughter and governor of Oleg’s central region, chimed in. “You had meetings at the Báthory Summit as well, didn’t you Pavel? Can you share with us any developments?”
“The human war is becoming a preoccupation, even for immortal organizations. It’s not that they cannot find ways to move their goods into our market, it’s that with all the legitimate avenues closed, it is costing them more money and taking a chunk out of their profits.
” Pavel twisted up his mouth. “I hate to give Ivan credit, but keeping a grey market fleet might have been wise.”
“Thank you!” Ivan chuckled and leaned toward the camera. “And finally my wisdom is vindicated. Now that is looking ahead to the next century.”
His daughter Polina wasn’t amused. “Except your trucks don’t have anything to move in Moscow because you’ve pissed off the Poshani, Ivan. Did dancing with the new terrin solve anything, or did it just give you a hard-on?”
A few people chuckled, and Oleg expected Ivan’s temper to spark, but his brother was surprisingly sanguine.
“I believe Zara’s little bookkeeper might be more receptive to my advances than I previously thought.
” Ivan’s eyes gleamed. “Zara knew what she was doing when she turned that one; she’s a pretty little thing. ”
Oleg would have sworn that Ivan was looking directly at him, but he wasn’t. He was looking into a single camera, not at him, though it was possible he was trying to get a rise out of Oleg by mentioning Zara.
“Tatyana le Tala is a vampire of our clan.” Lazlo’s gravelly voice took over the feed, and everyone else went silent. “Though she is bound to the Poshani now, she shares our blood. Get your head out of your ass and have some respect.”
“She’s smarter than you.” The quiet voice that chimed in was airy and distant, not unlike the vampire who spoke. “She is playing you, Ivan.”
Lidik was one of his most loyal governors, not because she shared his blood—she was a wind vampire—but because Oleg had once saved her life.
And for Lidik, that was all it took to pledge her loyalty for eternity.
Oleg smiled internally when he saw the sneer on Ivan’s face.
“Your evidence for this statement?” Ivan asked. “I’m old, but my fangs aren’t dull.”