“I suspect the only thing I could do to make her happy is to allow her to stab me in the neck,” I said, rubbing my eyes.
My father, who usually shows about as much emotion as a shark, is stifling a chuckle. “Even when you care for someone, it is easy to make mistakes, be too proud, perhaps, and insist on all the control in the relationship.”
“That does seem familiar…” Mother murmurs.
“Of course,moy lyubimyy,my beloved,” he agrees. “But back to you, my son. I fear you inherited my need for control-”
A noise that sounds suspiciously like a snort cuts him off.
“And while this might be a crucial quality as Pakhan,” he says, ignoring the interruption, “it can be disastrous in a courtship and marriage.”
“Your father speaks wisely,” Mother chimes in. “I know you and Mariya are both extremely stubborn, but one of you must call a cease-fire. I expect it to be you.”
I smother my groan. “I understand.”
“Good!” she says pleasantly, “I love you, my darling boy.”
“YA tozhe tebya lyublyu,I love you too, mother. Good night.”
“Oh, and son?” My father is still on the call.
“Yes,Otets?”
“If you present us with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy,” he said with a distinct chill in his tone, “I will send you to our Siberian outpost to oversee our mining interests there until you are thirty-six. Am I clear?”
“Crystal clear, sir,” I croak.
“Very well,” he says pleasantly, “goodnight.”
Chapter Nine
In which we learn about the Leader’s Challenge. It is not good news.
Bad News - blink 182
Konstantin…
“Welcome to your first Leaders Challenge of the year.” Professor Fukumoto is looking far too happy and Lucca and I exchange uneasy glances. “This challenge will be different from the ones you have faced in the past. They will force you to conquer your fears in order to survive - ah, to succeed.”
This sounds bad.
“As always, you must pick your team of nine equally from the other three majors,” he continued. “I cannot give you specifics, but you will want a team that can handle an unusual amount of stress and potential danger without panicking. Trust will be crucial.”
Ordinarily, I would get a charge after Fukumoto announced the challenges for the year, when he would hint at what we’d be facing. This time, every one of us in the lecture hall looked like we were in Hell’s waiting room, just waiting for our ticket to get punched for the descent down to a pit of flaming tar.
“How can we have Tati and Mariya on our teams for this?” Lucca says, running his hands through his dark hair and making it stick up more than usual.
“Everything here at the Academy is a risk,” I groan, “but to intentionally throw them in the path of this kind of danger…” We’re walking back to our rooms through the elaborate center court facing the Dean’s building. The elderly gardener is trimming one of the boxwood hedges.
“Hey, Larry, how’s it going today?” Lucca stops, tapping the old man’s knuckles with his own.
“As fine as always,” he says with the first smile I’ve ever seen on his face. “How’s life in the Leader program?”
Lucca’s grin drops in a hurry. “Not great. We just got our first Leader’s Challenge for the year. Professor Fukumoto’s hints were not inspiring.”
Larry chuckled, a rusty, wheezing sound that indicated that he didn’t do it often. “That man loves his mysteries. Just remember that they can’t put you in life-threatening situations. Well…” he hesitated, “notblatantlylife-threatening situations.”
Our chuckles are just as weak. “Oh, I’m Konstantin,” I said, offering my hand, “I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
