Page 157 of Crimson Oath
Water.
She took a deep breath and called the mist in the air to steady her.
Yes.
She looked at Oleg, and the fierce devotion in his eyes nearly brought her to her knees.
A hundred years?
A century of service.
She looked at the hopeful faces spread out in front of her. Wide-eyed children and skeptical youths only a few years younger than she had been before everything in her life turned upside down. Mothers. Aunts. Uncles and grandfathers.
She wasn’t qualified to lead any of them.
But she did remember what it felt like to be human.
“You have opened your arms to me.” She choked back a sob that threatened to escape from her mouth. She could not cry. She would not. She would be strong for the people who had given her a place. A home.
The family that had welcomed her. Who had cared for her.
“You opened your arms to me,” she said again. “But you must be the ones to choose.”
The humans in the crowd kept their eyes on her.
She heard the wordsuratiagain.
Sister.
“If you want me as your terrin,” Tatyana continued, “Iwilldo my best. I will devote myself to this even though I am young and I am learning. I will make so many mistakes, but I promise you that I will do my best.”
Someone in the crowd said again, “Surati.”
“Rusa Surati,” another said, and there was gentle laughter.
“Youmust choose me.” Tatyana smiled. “Not anyone else. I will only accept the ruby dishana if it is the will of the Poshani people.”
“Surati!” a young woman shouted. “You are our sister, Tatyana le Tala!”
She had no idea what all that meant, but she lifted her eyes to Oleg’s.
His chin was lifted, and in his eyes, she saw both grief and pride.
Milaya. Her lover mouthed the endearment before his face settled into a stoic mask.
“Tatyana le Tala!” more of the Poshani shouted. They threw flowers on the stage. “Terrin of the Poshani! Terrin Surati, holder of the ruby goblet!”
Tatyana lifted her chin and touched the flower crown on her head as Tenzin, the fierce little thief who had put this knife to her neck walked over and held out a bright red goblet a little larger than a pomegranate.
“I believe this is yours.”
Tatyana looked at Vecchio, her hands hanging at her sides. “This was you.”
“Sometimes the wrong things happen to good people,” Benjamin Vecchio said. “And sometimes the right things happen to the right people.”
The goblet lingered in Tenzin’s hand, taunting her with its beauty, and all she could think was:Oleg couldn’t have made it more beautiful than this.
Tatyana turned to Kezia and Radu, the two vampires who would sit with her. Not as authorities but as equals. “I will never take this responsibility for granted. I will always look out for the most vulnerable.”
