Page 119 of Crimson Oath
It looked like a kind of mosaic. “Hmm.”
“Haven’t you seen a puzzle before?” She walked over. “My mother loves them.”
“Is this a competitive game?” He sat on the couch and immediately saw at least a dozen pieces he could put into place.
“Are you serious right now?” She sat next to him. “Have you never seen this before?”
“I have solved many puzzles, but this looks like a painting that has been carved into pieces.” He shook his head. “Why would you do this?”
“Because it’s fun to put it back together.” She picked up a piece and pointed. “See? That’s the picture it’s supposed to make.”
There was a box standing up on the table with a picture of boats in a harbor. It was a watercolor painting.
“It’s not a competition.” She tried the piece she held in one location, then another. “You do it with friends or you can put it together by yourself.”
Oleg looked at a void where a small mast was isolated against a blue-green sea. He quickly scanned the pieces scattered on the table, found the piece, and put it in place.
“See?” She leaned against his side and placed another piece into the broken picture. “It’s a good way to pass the time.”
“Hmm.” Oleg sat on the couch, enjoying the sensation of Tatyana’s body pressed into his own. She was like a cat, leaning on him, and the weight was intensely pleasurable. “This is a children’s game.”
“There are children’s puzzles, but this one has a thousand pieces, so it should take me a while to…”
Oleg quickly put a dozen pieces into place, working from the bottom of the puzzle up.
Tatyana nodded. “It seems that mosaic artists may have an advantage when putting puzzles together.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You catch on quickly.”
Oleg put his left arm around her and used the other to put pieces into place. She took a deep breath, and he felt her blood settle.
He turned his head and kissed her forehead. “I should not have stayed away from you.”
“That is such a twenty-year-old asshole thing to do,” she muttered. “I didn’t expect game-playing from you.”
“I wasn’t playing games; you told me to leave.”
“I didn’t tell you not to come back.”
Oleg paused in his relentless puzzle construction and turned to look at her. “I am sorry that I stayed away too long.”
Tatyana looked up, meeting his stern gaze. “What are we now?”
He had no idea.
“Us.” He kissed her forehead again. “Just… us.”
More pieces of the boats. Starting on the long pier that jutted out into the water. Tatyana leaning into his side with her right hand resting on his thigh. Oleg leaning his cheek on her head.
Peace.
“I called you an asshole to the new vampire who joined the kamvasa,” Tatyana murmured. “Once out loud and several times in my head.”
“Is this a confession?” He smiled. “I’m sure it’s not the first time you’ve called me an asshole. You might need to come up with some new insults, or you will get bored.”
Piece by piece, Oleg built the dock until he was not going in order but building the picture from one element to the next.
“Who is the new vampire?”
“The one I mentioned.” Tatyana reached out and started putting pieces of the sky into place. “Benjamin Vecchio.”
