“Maybe,” I tell her. “I have help come in and handle most of this stuff, though. Dinner and lunch will more than likely be prepared by someone else.”
She nods and chews, the delicate skin of her cheeks turning rosy from the sudden rush of nutrition. “So, it sounds like you’ll be busy with business all day. What’s there to do around this giant castle while you’re away?”
I have to sit back and think. I’ve only fully explored this place once. Mikki might’ve said something about a sauna somewhere, but I can’t be sure. “Mikki might be better to ask that question than me.”
She raises her eyebrows. “Seriously? You live here. Don’t you know?”
“No. You have seen how big this place is, haven’t you? I’m afraid if I did do some exploring, I’d have to bring a map and a guide.”
“Touche’,” she says, laughing. “Well, I guess I’ll do a little exploring while you work.”
“I had better not find a single thing out of place.”
She gives me a coy smile and says, “Yes, Daddy.”
A chill runs up my spine and I smile back. I finish my orange juice and say, “I’ve got a little time before I have to do some errands. Come on. Let’s play a game.”
I stand up and put my hand out. She takes it, a playful smile on her face as I lead her out of the kitchen.
We walk through the halls until we get to my study. Here, I’ve been a few times since I moved in. Somehow, it’s the quietest room in the house. It’s an old place, so even when there’s no one here, I usually hear sounds of the wood settling or the window whistling against the windows. In this room, however, it’s so quiet I can hear a pin drop.
She walks in behind me and looks around at the wall of books on the shelf on the south side of the room. The ceilings are high and the shelf goes all the way to the top. At the end of the bookshelf is a ladder that you can climb on to get at the books near the ceiling. There’s a writing desk on one end of the room, couches by the window, a fireplace near the couches, and on the other side of the room is the reason we’ve come in here.
“Over here,” I tell her, leading her to the large stone chessboard in front of the fireplace. She follows and her smile falters.
“Oh,” she says. “You literally wanted to play a game.”
I pull out the chair to offer her a seat. She sits and I take the chair on the other side. “Have you ever played?”
She shakes her head. “I’d say I was more of a checkers girl, but I’ve never really played that either. Being an only child, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to play board games at my house.”
“Hmm. Your father should have at least taught you. It’s a valuable game to know how to play.”
“Is it?”
“It’s all about strategy and patience. This was the first game I learned to play that didn’t involve gambling.”
She smiles softly at me. “Was it your father who taught you?”
“Maksim. Once he decided to train me to be his successor, this was the first thing he ever taught me. This game was my first lesson in how to run a brigade and how to run my Bratva. I first learned how to plan steps ahead of my opponent.”
Her eyes are shining with interest. “You make it sound like more than just a game.”
“To me, that’s exactly what it is.”
I start to show her how to play. I name the pieces and show her how they move. She watches everything with rapt interest, keeping her eyes on my hands. As we start to play, I note how quickly she catches on. Pretty soon, she manages to get a move away from putting me in check. I smile as I look at the positions of the pieces in front of me.
“Why do I feel like I’ve been hustled?” I ask her. She just shrugs. “Hmm. You know how much I hate it when you tease me,Devushka.”
She wiggles a little in her seat. “I like to keep things interesting. What can I say?”
“That you have done well,” I say. I move my queen across the board, locking her king in place. “Checkmate.”
She looks at the board, her eyes darting over the pieces. “I didn’t even see that.”
“Always watch your back in battle. All your focus was on my king. You forgot my queen was still in play.”
She gives me a sideways smile and says, “I want a rematch.”
