Chapter 20
Tatyana
“Did he give you notice he would not be in attendance?”
Tatyana glanced at Kezia from the corner of her eye. “He did.”
“His reason?”
They were sitting in a box at a small concert hall where a chamber orchestra was performing a set of Tchaikovsky pieces to welcome Rudov and Kezia to the city.
Kezia and Radu would both be attending the wedding, but only Kezia would attend the weeks of formal events leading up to the grand finale.
“Urgent business called him away,” Tatyana said. “That’s all.”
“Hmm.” Kezia didn’t look pleased.
“If there were an emergency in Warsaw among my people, I would leave to take care of it and I would not make excuses for my absence,” Tatyana said. “I cannot expect him not to see to his own businesses with the same diligence.”
“I suppose that is fair.”
What she wasn’t telling Kezia was about their… disagreement the night before.
Tatyana didn’t know what had provoked Oleg’s attack on Ivan, but what had been a surprisingly fun evening at Pavel’s home had turned into what her old friend Grimace would call a clusterfuck.
Grimace was in the concert hall that night, dressed in a suit of all things and sitting in Rudov’s box. He was in the second row, and he kept glancing over at Tatyana.
“From what I hear, Oleg lost control last night and nearly killed Ivan.” Kezia smiled a little bit. “That would solve our problem, wouldn’t it? A relief to get rid of the man.”
“He won’t kill his brother,” Tatyana said. “And now Ivan has his guard up. I was hoping we’d be able to kill him while he was here in the city, but Sándor and I have been talking. I don’t know if that’s going to be possible now.”
“Ivan is staying with Pavel,” Kezia said. “Pavel is cautious by nature. He’ll increase the security at his house.”
“To guard against his own knyaz?”
“Do you think any of them love Oleg? They do not. Maybe his personal druzhina loves him, but his brothers?” Kezia shook her head.
“He is simply the one who rose to the top. Do not let down your guard. Your husband-to-be could easily face a challenge from within. Don’t forget what Vano said before he died. ”
“About?”
“About those in Oleg’s clan who were plotting against him.”
Tatyana flashed back five years to the doomed vampire planting seeds of doubt in Oleg’s head before he was killed.
“You don’t want to know who else in your clan is plotting against you?”
“Do you want to tell me?”
“Polina.”
“Is that so?”
“Pavel.”
“Fascinating. Anyone else?”
“Rudov. Am I lying?”
“Oh yes. And maybe no.”
Polina was Oleg’s own daughter, and Tatyana had seen the affection and trust between them, but Pavel? Rudov? She didn’t truly know either of Oleg’s brothers. Perhaps they hated him as much as Ivan did and they were just more quiet about it.
Were the threats against her husband more than she had anticipated. Ivan? She could probably figure out how to kill one very old and powerful earth vampire.
But not three of them.
“The vampire who plotted with Vano to control our people must die,” Kezia said. “I am starting to think less of your future husband that he lets his brother live. It has been five years.”
“He’s old,” Tatyana said. “Over a thousand. Five years probably seems like a tea break.”
Kezia gave her a look again. “If you are unwilling, I know a very good assassin who has been out of the game for some time. I believe I could lure her back. It would be expensive but—”
“Not necessary.” The last thing they needed was more people involved. “I don’t want to hire for this. We have our own people. Lethal Hazar who still hold grudges against Vano. We can trust them. I don’t trust anyone but our own people.”
The corner of Kezia’s mouth turned up. “Good.”
“Thank you for coming,” Tatyana said sincerely. “It’s good to have more Poshani in the city with me attending these events.”
“I heard a chaugan match was on the agenda. You think I would miss the chance to watch Truvor’s sons gleefully bash each other via socially acceptable channels?”
“Chaugan? What’s that?” This was the first Tatyana had heard of it, though she had a feeling that Rumi might have mentioned it when she was distracted.
“An old form of polo.” Kezia noticed Tatyana’s look of confusion. “You know, horses, sticks, balls.”
“I know what polo is. Are you telling me that Oleg and his brothers are polo enthusiasts?” She was having a hard time imagining all these massive men on horseback. Though she did know that Oleg enjoyed riding, some of the Kievan Rus vampires were even taller than her husband.
“It was something Truvor loved. It’s from Persia originally. Some of Radu’s people enjoy it too. But in the Kievan Rus version, they only play it in the snow on these special horses that Rudov breeds, and the competition can get quite bloody.”
“Do they use polo mallets or axes?”
Kezia chuckled. “The axes only come at the end. The winning captain has the right to take part of the losing captain’s hand.”
“What?” Tatyana’s voice was loud enough that others turned to look. She lowered her voice to continue. “Are you joking?”
“They don’t do it most of the time.” Kezia wiggled her fingers. “Limits how many chaugan matches you can play.”
“I should think so.”
“Back when they all wore braids, the losing captain had his braid chopped off. They started cutting their hair, so I suppose they had to substitute something or where’s the fun?”
“Fun?” she whispered. “This game sounds terrible.”
Kezia shrugged. “They love it.”
They turned their attention to the music again. The room filled with applause as one piece finished, and there was a rustle of papers as the musicians readied themselves for the next piece.
As soon as the music started with a loud crash of cymbals, Kezia leaned toward her.
“I can smell Oleg all over you. Are you indulging again?”
It would be impossible for Tatyana not to smell of Oleg with as much of his blood as she’d taken.
She offered her sister a little shrug. “Chemistry was never the problem with us. He’s very good at sex and…
” She cast her eyes over the hall with a bored expression.
“There’s not much to do in this city while I am waiting to be wed.
Except perhaps brush up on my riding now that I know about this game. ”
Tatyana had grown up riding horses at her grandparents’ farm, but she’d become a far more proficient rider since joining the Poshani, who loved horses. Racing was one of their favorite activities during kamvasa.
Kezia laughed a little bit. “Well, that’s one type of riding that’s a little more fun, isn’t it?”
Tatyana stared at the stage.
“I don’t blame you,” Kezia continued. “You might as well enjoy the perks of your husband-to-be even if he is a barbarian. Sometimes a little bit of rough scratches in exactly the right way.”
“Hmm.” A little bit of rough was hardly how she’d characterize the firestorm that was sex with Oleg, but she hardly wanted to detail that for Kezia.
Her sister nodded at something in Rudov’s box. “Of course, you could expand your horizons too. He can’t object in a political marriage. That one is trying to get your attention, and he’s quite pretty.”
Tatyana looked over and saw Grimace trying to catch her eye. “Yes, I know him. I don’t think he’s—”
“Pretty baby,” Kezia cooed. “Sometimes the young ones are so eager to please. Humans. You can make them do anything you want.”
That was probably true, but Tatyana was having a hard time seeing Grimace as a fully grown adult even though he clearly was.
“He’s a contractor for Sokolov. I knew him from school when I was human, oddly enough.
” It wasn’t completely a lie. “Quite a brilliant computer hacker. Backed by Wallace Enterprises.”
“Oh.” Kezia pouted. “If he’s one of Gavin’s people, I can hardly poach him. I don’t want to irritate the Wallace clan.”
Grimace likely had no idea how fortunate he was to be under the umbrella of Gavin Wallace, who ran a network of hotels and bars that served as neutral ground around the world. No one wanted to anger a vampire who could cut off access to a worldwide collection of safe houses.
Tatyana said, “He probably wants to talk to me about security access here in Saint Petersburg. Oleg set up a secure server for me for Poshani business so that no one in his organization has access to our data, but I’ll still be able to work remotely.
Grim—Konstantyn is probably wanting to talk to me about it. ”
“At a social event?”
Tatyana rolled her eyes. “My entire life for the next month is a social event or wedding planning, sister. If I don’t take a meeting here, I probably won’t see him for days. I’ll be very relieved when this is all over.”
And that was nothing but the truth. She rose, caught Grimace’s eye, and angled her head toward the exit. “I’ll be back.”
“Or don’t.” Kezia smirked. “Nothing wrong with sampling some fresh blood, is there?”
Tatyana didn’t even try to respond.
“Wow.” Grimace was smiling hugely. “You look… Wow.”
Tatyana glanced down at the blood-red dress Diana had hung in her dressing room at dusk. It complemented the bouquet of red lilies Oleg had sent with his note.
“Thank you.” She had worn more evening wear in the past week and a half than in the entirety of her immortal life thus far. She often had three different outfit changes a night. “Why were you looking for me?”
Two Hazar were stationed outside the door to their concert box, but they kept their distance as she and Grimace spoke.
“I apologize for pulling you away from the concert.” He lowered his voice. “But there’s a security matter I want to talk about, and I didn’t want to go through your social secretary.”
Tatyana frowned. “Of course.” She glanced around the hallway and noticed a door with a brass plaque that read Smoking Room just to the right of the bar. “Shall we?”
Grimace nodded. “Please.”
Tatyana motioned to her guards and nodded at the smoking room. She didn’t sense anyone in the room beyond, but it was better if they made sure.