Page 138 of Crimson Oath
And the tension was back. “Oh?”
“I didn’t want you to be shocked when he arrived,” Rumi said. “I know that you have your issues with him.”
“Thank you.” She glanced at Rumi. “Do you truly think he would win a vote for terrin if one of them steps down?”
Rumi waved a hand. “No. I don’t think he would even put his name forward, because he has a huge empire to run, doesn’t he?That would be like asking a prime minister to sit on a school council.”
“He would be lucky to lead the Poshani,” Tatyana snapped.
“Ha!” Rumi threw an arm around Tatyana’s shoulders. “I love that you think so, but truly, he is a host to us and that is all. Most of our roaming areas overlap with his territory, and he has always been fair with us, which is not like his sire.” She patted Tatyana’s shoulder. “Still, I can tell that things are not easy between you.”
“We’re not…” How was she supposed to explain? “Anytime I was around Oleg, I always felt like he was keeping secrets from me, that he had an ulterior motive.”
Rumi nodded. “That seems accurate for most vampires, don’t you think?”
Her shoulders slumped. “How am I supposed to live with people like that for centuries? It’s so much… bullshit, Rumi.” Tatyana snapped, “I am surrounded by bullshit.”
Rumi laughed. “So don’t put up with it. Just be yourself and make the rest of them change if they want to be around you.”
“I might have a very short life,” Tatyana muttered.
“But it will beyourlife,” Rumi said. “Yours and no one else’s. That is all we can do, my friend. Human or vampire, we must live the life…” Rumi’s eyes locked on something in the distance, and she curled her lip.
Tatyana knew before she even turned to look. “Vano.”
“He’s been lurking around the kitchen trailers all week.” Rumi kept her voice to a murmur. “I don’t trust him.”
“How was he elected terrin when so many of the Poshani seem to dislike him?”
“He put on a good face for decades,” Rumi said. “But now? Everyone is hoping he will give up the ruby goblet. He’s greedy. There are rumors that the two vampires who left paid him off to let them out of their contract.”
“It would have to be a lot, correct?”
Rumi nodded and started walking again. “Even for emergencies,there is a penalty because it disrupts everything about the planning. But we adjust.”
“Did you report his attack on Katrina to Radu or Kezia?”
Rumi turned to her. “How did you know about that?”
“I saw it,” Tatyana admitted. “I was coming to meet you, and I saw him threaten you.”
Rumi’s voice was fierce. “Did you say anything?”
“No, but Vano knows that I saw. He… he wasn’t happy.”
Rumi’s hand tightened on her arm. “You must be careful, Tanya.”
“I’m a guest here. Are you telling me I may not be safe?” She was curious what Rumi would think of Vano’s threats, but she didn’t want to put the woman at risk. “I thought the safety of the guests was the first priority of the kamvasa.”
“The kamvasa doesn’t last forever,” Rumi whispered. “And you don’t have an aegis. Vano could hurt you. He knows horrible people.”
She lowered her voice. “What kind of horrible people?”
Rumi shook her head. “Just don’t cross him, and forget what you saw.”
The nightafter her meeting with Kezia, Tatyana heard a polite knock on her door. When she opened it, Oleg Sokolov, high lord of the Kievan Rus, was standing at her doorstep, wearing a formal grey suit with an intricately embroidered cape over his shoulders.
She stared at him, and he took her breath away. She felt the idiotic urge to swoon, so she quickly snapped, “So where is your crown?”
