“Unusual like yours. Blue with that one patch of amber, which is the exact same color as the Nina’s.”
All I see when I look at Ava is Nina. Her nose, her dimples, her freckles. That one different patch in her eyes didn’t stand out to me as unusual, but I know what Vanya is getting at.
“You think it’s a form of heterochromia.”
“It’s a genetic condition. Runs in the family. And it can be partial. People used to say it was the mark of the devil.” Vanya taps her cane against the leg of my chair. “You’re not a stupid boy, Tyoma. You can put two and two together.”
I loosen my tie and lean back, looking at the ceiling. The conversation seem absurd.It’s wishful thinking from Vanya — she wants the best for me, she wishes that everything was as neat as it would be if Ava was mine. If Ava was mine, I would marry Nina in a heartbeat, take Vanya’s place on the Council, and there would be no questions or disapproval.
It’s almost four in the morning. I’m exhausted and shaken from the attack at the gala. Babushka is getting carried away, making up stories so she doesn’t have to distort the purity of the family, or whatever Valentin was concerned about the other day.
As much as I wish Ava were mine, that Nina hadn’t slept with another man, it’s not the truth. I have to accept that we were apart,and things happened during that time.
I tense my knuckles around my glass. There are things that I couldn’t control, no matter how much I would have liked to.
“She would have told me,” I finally say.
Vanya shakes her head and tuts her tongue.
“Not if you hurt her badly enough, Tyoma.”
16
ARTYOM
“Her and Ava are both home, sir.”
Ivan confirms her whereabouts every night since the gala and it’s a weight off my shoulders when he confirms they’re safe.
I wish I could keep them both here with me, but I know that with Denis and Polina plotting whatever they’re plotting, it was better to let her go home.
I’m the main risk to both of them right now.
That doesn’t mean I’m not stepping up her security arrangements.
“But there’s another issue,” he continues.
My heart pounds against my ribcage, and I get a sick feeling in my stomach as he explains the guards he’s seen watching Nina during the day.
Different guards from the ones that I’ve assigned her.
“Whose are they? What do they want?” I demand, my hands curling into fists.
I’m not an anxious person, but this is enough to drive me mad.
I’ve brought Nina and Ava into danger because of one dance at a gala, and I’ll never forgive myself for it.
“We’re working on it,” he replies. “We don’t want to cause an issue near her apartment building.”
“Right, right. Of course.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
A gang shootout in her backyard is the last thing Nina needs while her best friend recovers from a gunshot wound in the hospital.
“What if I distract her? I’ll make sure she doesn’t notice what you’re doing.”
We make a plan. One that means I get to see Nina tonight.
I’ve barely seen her since the gala a week ago. She’s been working, and visiting Lily in her spare time, who has woken up from her coma but is still looking at a long recovery. I don’t want to remind her I’m the reason she ended up there.
