Page 9 of Rurik
Her heart jolted. “A jewel thief?” Was he kidding? There hadn’t been anything in the files on that. All she knew of the brother Mikhail was that he’d lived in England for a few centuries and had recently gotten into a deadly fight with an English dragon. It was part of the reason the serum had come into the Brotherhood’s possession. But international jewel thief? Rurik had to be kidding…right? She started to pull away, but he curled his fingers around her arm, possessive butgentle.
“Afraid of me again? I never promised that I was a good man. My family, well, we are quite the opposite, especially me.” His words rolled along her skin, giving her goosebumps. They scared her, but not enough to make her run. She couldn’t let him know she knew what he really was. She had to pretend that she didn’t know what he was talkingabout.
“Are you in the Mafia, the Russian Bratva or something?” Yeah,thatsounded like a proper question to ask. No way that could get her in trouble.Sheesh.
The hard smile he flashed her sent a wave of heat throughher.
“Bratva? Those fools have nothing on myfamily.”
That was the truth. She’d spent the last few weeks reviewing everything she could about the Barinov family, and they had survived countless numbers of attempts by the Bratva to rub them out or marginalize their power. The smart ones learned to leave the Barinovs alone. The dumb ones didn’t last verylong.
I really shouldn’t be here doing this.But she had to prove that she wasn’t a helpless little girl anymore. She just wished she had chosen a less harebrained way to doit.
“So you’re a Russian club-owning badass,” shesaid.
His lips twisted into a crooked grin. “Something likethat.”
“Does that mean you’re dangerous?” She was teasing, but she also wanted to see if he would argue he wasn’t. He’d already admitted he wasn’t a good guy, but she was curious to see how far he’d open up about himself to a “mere mortal” who wasn’t supposed to know what he reallywas.
“I—” The apartment doorchimed.
Rurik growled to himself and left her to answer the door. A man in a waitstaff uniform rolled in a cart with covered serving trays. He paid the man, who set the dishes on the table and promptly rolled the cart backout.
“What kind of apartment building has room service?” she asked as he lifted the lid to reveal two steaks with asparagus and mashed potatoes. She’d always loved a goodsteak.
“I own this building, and I like the convenience, so I had a skilled kitchen built in. My tenants are wealthy and happily pay for room service when they want it. I hope this is all right. I assume it’s a more American fare?” He passed her a white napkin rolled oversilverware.
“Yes, this is perfect. Thank you,” she said. “So if you own the building, I take it the nightclub business payswell?”
“Well enough, but my family has always had money, and my oldest brother is quite good atinvesting.”
Now that made sense. The Brotherhood’s files indicated the Barinovs seemed to have a good source of wealth from collecting jewels over the centuries. They were obviously shrewd investors too. She was about to ask another question, but Rurik cut her offgently.
“Enough about me. I’m more curious aboutyou.” Rurik took a bite of his steak before continuing. “Why visit Russia? Surely Russia in the middle of winter is not a good vacation spot. I could picture you on a tropical island in a teeny red bikini.” Hewinked.
Charlotte blushed. “I’m not really the bikini type.” She’d always felt too self-conscious to wear something so revealing on a body so curvy. The tight-fitting dress she wore now was bad enough, but there was no way she would wear a bikini inpublic.
“Then whyRussia?”
Charlotte shared part of the truth. “I’ve always loved history. I wanted to see the Winter Palace while it snowed, but the forecast for the trip seems to indicate only rain, so I decided not to travel to Saint Petersburg. But still, there’s lots to see here.” She’d loved learning about the czars and the whole Anastasia mystery when she wasyounger.
Rurik’s rakish grin faded, and his eyes softened with shadows ofsorrow.
“The Winter Palace is quite beautiful when it snows. We used to have the most wonderful winter balls there. Outside, the windows would glow with gold light, and you could hear music drifting across the ice and snow. In a world of white and heavy winter silence, the palace was brimming with colorfullife.”
His gaze grew distant. He seemed to be seeing something past her, many years ago. He probably didn’t even realize the slip he’d made by admitting he’d been there when the palace had hosted balls. Charlotte couldn’t imagine what it must be like to live as long they did. She wanted to know more. She had so many questions about his life as a dragon, but she couldn’t reveal herself. Not yet. It might get herkilled.
Rurik focused on her again. “I think I know someone powerful enough to summon snow, if that is what you wish.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He dialed a number and spoke a few secondslater.
“Grigori…” He grinned at her. “Can you make it snow in Saint Petersburg tomorrow, say around noon? I’m taking a lovely young woman to the Winter Palace.” He listened to Grigori, the oldest brother, Charlotte remembered from the files. “Thank you.” They hung up. “Grigori will make it snow foryou.”
Charlotte laughed, pretending to assume he was only teasing her. But she couldn’t help but wonder if what he was saying was possible. Nordic ice dragons were able to manipulate precipitation. But Grigori, Rurik, and their third brother, Mikhail, were Russian Imperials. Perhaps Grigori would call in afavor?
It occurred to her that while she was here she wanted to gather as much data as she could from Rurik. She would have to collect blood samples from him both before and after the serum was administered. She wanted to see if he could confirm if dragons had anything in common with the latest research coming from studies on Komododragons.
Researchers at George Mason University had created a synthetic version of a peptide found in the blood of Komodo dragons. They had dubbed it DRGN-1. DRGN-1 had proved to be tough against microbes. Bacteria stuck together to create biofilms that attached to surfaces and help to protect themselves during an infection. Even infected wounds healed faster with DRGN-1, and the layers of skin were rehabilitated. If Rurik and other shifters had similar peptide structures in their blood, it might explain how their bodies aged so slowly and healed soquickly.
I could change the world, make it a better place. What she really wanted was to find a way to make the human world and the supernatural world have a way to communicate, to build trust. It would solve so many problems, but neither world was ready for that yet, which meant her options were limited. It eased the guilt of what she was planning to do, but only just. She was lucky that Rurik distracted her with hiscompany.
