Page 24 of The Bone Doll
“But you don’t?” Igor raised a critical eyebrow.
“Syra has defeated arusalkaand a screamer,” Viktor said.
The lord slowly looked up, appraising Syra. “You have?”
“And a red creature,” Syra said.
Viktor hid his scowl. When had she done that?
“Anupiór,” murmured Igor. He turned to Viktor again. “And this … doll … is the root of her power?”
“It strengthens her,” Viktor said, though he wasn’t sure if he understood how Syra’s or the Bone Doll’s magic worked.
“You do not need to speak as though I am not here,” Syra protested.
Of course, Lord Igor ignored her. He resumed his perusal of the ledger. “This had better work, Viktor. I don’t need another one of your failures on my hands. If the woman can’t control theleshy, you will wish you weren’t born.”
Viktor remained perfectly still. He had endured brutal beatings and crushing humiliation at his father’s hands. What more could his father really do? He just hoped that Syra would be … treated well? allowed to return to the tundra? He just hoped Syra never faced his father’s wrath, he decided.
Lord Igor lifted a small metal bell that sat on the corner of his desk and rang it. “Leave. I have better things to do than speak to my worm of a son.”
Viktor stared at the floor as a servant arrived, bowing obsequiously before guiding him and Syra from the room. He dared not look at her. He wasn’t ready to see her shock, her disappointment. He clung to the sound of her voice as she told himI want you. He would much rather hear that than talk about how he had lied to her for three entire weeks. His dread slowed his heart and weighed down his limbs.
Syra stopped, pressing her hand to a vine-covered window. She didn’t move, even when the servant turned back and raised his eyebrow at them.
“Give us some space,” Viktor said tightly, and the servant walked a dozen feet away. Viktor turned to Syra. He couldn’t meet her eyes. “Syra?”
“You said Lord Igor was your employer.”
“He is. In a way.” Viktor rubbed the back of his head. He hated that flat tone she had. He wished he had told her the truth sooner. “I do what he says, and he gives me a supply of silver.”
“But that was a lie.”
He winced. “I don’t relish my familial relationships. I try to … forget.”
“You wish you were someone else,” she said. “You want it so badly that you pretend to be someone you’re not.”
Yes.He wished he was someone that Syrawanted. He wished he was someonedeservingof her. Lord Igor’s son was acoward and a weakling. Syra was so strong, so intelligent. She didn’t deserve a failure.
“I have been myself.” He put a hand over his heart and lied. “Everything I have done has been honest. I just don’t want to talk about my family.”
“Yourselfisn't employed by a lord.You’re a lord,” she said. It was an accusation “Why didn’t you tell me? What would that change?”
He finally met her gaze, his expression miserable and his shoulders sagging. “Truly, it started off as me just not wanting to talk about my family. But then I worried that you might not like a Ruthenian nobleman. You liked me … as I was. And I liked you. I didn’t want anything to change.”
“You have to tell people the truth,” Syra said.
Viktor stepped forward, brushing her black hair away from her face. “I will,” he promised.Somehow. Eventually.“From now on, I won’t keep anything from you.”
She leaned her cheek against his hand. “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”
He knew he should tell her about his father’s true intentions. But he loved the feel of her warm, brown skin against his palm and the way her eyes searched his face. He wanted to hold this moment forever. He would tell her everything later.
“No.”
Chapter 16
Amongst Family
