Page 104 of Crimson Oath
“Yes, and I’d do it again. Who was threatening you tonight?”
“I didn’t wantyouto kill her.” Tatyana pushed past him, but he grabbed her hand, keeping them connected even as she walked away.
“Tatyana—”
“I was going to kill her.” She spun around. “Iwantedto kill her. Or Mika could have done it. I knew it would hurt you and you’d already killed Luana?—”
“You don’t protect me!” Even the thought of it made him furious. “I’ve already told you this. That’s not how my world works.Youdon’t protectme.”
“Then what do you want from me?” She pulled her hand away from his grip. “You want me to need you” —her hand curled into a fist over her heart— “but you wantnothingfrom me.”
He shook his head. “You know that is not true.”
“Oh, that’s right. You want toownme.” She walked to him and bared her fangs. “You want me like a trophy sitting in your dead mate’s house, fucking you when you happen to remember that Iexist.” She lifted her chin. “What a lucky girl! To wait in the wings for the great Oleg Sokolov to grant me his attention.”
Everything in his cold, hard chest softened, and he felt his heart beat once. “Is that what you think of me, volchitsa?”
“You want my world to be nothing but you.” Her mouth twisted in a grimace. “You want to own me, but you want to know what is worse?” Tatyana blinked, and pink tears rolled down her cheeks.
Oleg said nothing.
“If I had stayed with you in Sochi, I would have let you do it.” Her smile was bitter. “If I had stayed with you, I would have become nothing. And then…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Thenyou would have hated me.”
He slowly straightened. “If you think that is what I want for your eternity, I have failed.”
She said nothing, but she shook her head and wiped her eyes with the back of her right hand.
Oleg grabbed her hand and kissed the tears of salt and blood, tasting the flavor of his failure. “I will think of what you said tonight, and we will talk more tomorrow.” He folded her small hand between both of his. “But tonight you must tell me who frightened you.”
“Oleg—”
“Not because I do not think you are capable or intelligent, but because I am older than you and I know the immortal world better than you do. If there is danger, I want you to know what to do.”
She said nothing.
“Will you acknowledge this? That I may understand the opaque politics of the Poshani better than you do?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “Fine.”
He waited for her to speak.
“Vano,” she said quietly. “Vano threatened me.”
Oleg growled. “I will kill him.”
“No, you will not.” She pulled her hand away from his.
Yes, he would. He’d been wanting to kill Vano anyway, and this was as good an excuse as any. He already suspected that the man wasworking with Ivan behind his back, and now he’d frightened the woman Oleg cared for.
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You shouldn’t even be here, and if you march out and set Vano on fire?—”
“I will not do that if you explain why he threatened you.” Oleg put his hand on her shoulder and led her to the sofa across from the wall of books. “Unless you are in immediate danger, I will wait to kill him.”
“You cannot kill him.” Tatyana sat down. “Not for this.”
Oleg sat next to her and waited for her to speak.
After a time, she started. “I’ve made friends with some of the human women who are cooks for the kamvasa. They’re the ones who helped me learn Poshani. Vano arrived a few nights ago, and last night I heard him yelling at those women for wasting money by giving the children snacks and treats.”
