Page 160 of Crimson Oath
“You doubt my skills? My hair used to be longer than yours.”
“I would have liked to see that.” She took a steadying breath. “I’m ready.”
He kissed her forehead. “Yes, you are.”
As they left the trailer and walked to the terrin’s tent, Oksana walked over to meet them, holding the gift that Oleg had quickly arranged.
“Terrin Tatyana.” Oksana paused and inclined her head. “A gift from the Kievan Rus to the new leader of the Poshani.”
It was a battle-ax in the Varangian style, forged with a single curved head and balanced for Tatyana’s weight. Ludmila, being closer to Tatyana’s size and weight, had picked it from the weapons she’d brought from the citadel, and Oksana had overseen the quick construction of the guard and belt by a Poshani craftsman.
If Tatyana was going to execute Vano, she would use Oleg’s blade to do it.
Tatyana’s face revealed nothing when she held out her hands to take the weapon. “Thank you, Oksana. It is a beautiful gift.”
She handed the axe to the Hazar on her left, who looked at Oleg and gave him a nod of approval.
Oleg walked behind Tatyana, a little to her right, and watched as the frightened young woman who had wept in his arms put on the mental armor to face a century of leadership.
Mika came to walk beside him. “She will do well once she gets the feel for it.”
“I know.”
“You always did have a weakness for powerful women,” Mika muttered. “There was that queen in Spain for a while. Several Scandinavian princesses. That clan leader from Bohemia in the twelfth century.”
“Mika, shut up.”
As she approached, the Hazar guards pulled back the entrance to the tent, and then everyone except Tatyana stopped and she walked forward.
She turned and met Oleg’s eyes. “I will speak to my brother and sister first.”
The Hazar seemed to approve of this, judging by their pleased expressions.
Oleg stood next to the Hazar holding Tatyana’s weapon and asked, “Have you tracked down all of Vano’s people yet?”
His expression revealed nothing. “We have.”
“And?”
“Hazar take an oath to the clan, not the terrin.” The vampire turned to Oleg. “If any of our number violate that oath, they are dealt with by their brothers and sisters.”
Oleg had a feeling that any of the Hazar who had knowingly cooperated with Vano were going to face the same fate as their former terrin.
After some time, Radu poked his head from the tent and pointed at Oleg, snapping his fingers as he motioned for him to come.
Oleg paused just long enough to hear Mika let out a sigh. “Oh, that is the most satisfying?—”
“Shut up,” Oleg said. “If you do not want me to kill you.”
Oksana snickered as Oleg walked forward, ducking his head underneath the entrance of the terrin’s tent.
Vano was bound by heavy chains at the neck, the wrists, and the ankles, and those chains were locked around the central tent support that had been carved with the terrin’s crests.
Oleg was already mentally designing Tatyana’s crest, which she would carve into the beam before the next kamvasa.
Vano sat on the ground, staring at the far wall with a slight smile on his smug face. One of his ears was missing, and blood dripped down his neck.
Judging by the blood trail, Kezia had been the one to take the ear.
