Three nights remained before the wedding, and Tatyana was more than ready for all this to be over. She’d spent the nights since the chaugan match juggling a logistics problem in the Poshani electronics factory in Silesia while also approving the flowers that Oleg picked and being fitted for a new chaugan riding habit for the postwedding match.
“Are you playing in the reception match?” she asked Kezia.
“I’m considering it. It certainly looks like bloody fun. The problem is, Rudov is the one who chooses teams, and I’m not sure I trust him not to screw me over.”
Tatyana frowned. “Why? He seems fair-minded enough.”
Kezia raised her eyebrows. “Does he? I would watch that one. Pavel, I trust more. Lazlo couldn’t lie if his life depended on it, and he clearly is personally loyal to Oleg, so he would lay down his life for you. But Rudov?” She shook her head. “Watch him.”
Tatyana hadn’t ever considered Rudov to be a threat. “Why would he try to undermine Oleg?”
“Ambition? It’s his own daughter who runs the heart of Oleg’s empire in Kyiv. Maybe he thinks Juliya should be the knyaginya of the empire. Then Rudov could be the power behind the throne. Between father and daughter, they control a substantial part of the Kievan Rus, and their two provinces are probably the most profitable.”
Tatyana pursed her lips. Rudov and Juliyawereincredibly wealthy. And often, those with wealth assumed that they would be good rulers by default.
Which was not the case in her experience. Being massively wealthy usually meant you were lucky, born into it, or were very, very old like her husband.
“I think Oleg trusts him,” Tatyana said. “But it’s not as if we have spoken about it.”
“What do you speak about?” Kezia narrowed her eyes. “Or do you just spend your time with him having sex?” She glanced at Tatyana with a smirk. “Did you fuck him after that chaugan match? I would have.”
“I did not.” In truth, she had wanted nothing more than a night alone with her husband after his whispered confession as he took a lock of her hair.
They love you nearly as much as I do.
It wasn’t that she didn’t know Oleg loved her—his actions spoke of it—but it was the closest he had come to verbally admitting it, and her blood had already been running high from the chaugan match.
Given the chance, she would have spent all night making love to him.
Sadly, both of them had been surrounded by their respective clans. Oleg was quickly dragged off for a celebration dinner with his brothers, and Radu had planned another party for her since he was finally in town.
“You were at the party at Radu’s camp,” Tatyana said. “You think I was able to sneak away from that?”
Radu, as host for the bride’s family and clan, had pitched a grand Poshani camp on the far side of Rudov’s country estate, complete with a massive heated tent, Poshani cooking wagons, dancers and musicians. Tatyana’s entire household from Warsaw was in attendance, as were representatives from each of the Poshani clans.
It was basically a winter kamvasa in Saint Petersburg. The wedding banquet would be hosted by the Poshani with a celebratory chaugan game hosted by Oleg’s brothers after the ceremony at the church.
And therewouldbe a ceremony at a church. Oleg was insistent on that.
“Is your mother coming to the banquet?” Kezia asked. “No one would see her if she stayed with the Poshani from Warsaw.”
“I offered; she said no.” Tatyana shrugged. “She knows Oleg from when I was working for him, and she knows the circumstances. She’s fine with it; this is political theater.”
“That makes sense.” Kezia looked at the clock on the mantel. “Where is Sándor? I have a meeting with Juliya’s people in an hour.”
“A business meeting?”
“No reason not to take full advantage of your marriage,” Kezia said. “She’s looking to move cargo from her eastern factories to some Slovenian ports to avoid all the” —Kezia waved her hands— “human drama in the Black Sea.”
“Good.” Tatyana opened her computer, put on her gloves, and opened a profit-and-loss report from one of her divisions. “I’m glad the sacrifice of my independence is going to produce some tangible results so quickly.”
“I cannot tell if you’re being sarcastic or pragmatic.”
Tatyana smiled. “Pragmatic. That was the point of all this theater, wasn’t it? To solidify political and business ties?”
The actual point was her husband getting his way, but Kezia didn’t need to know that.
“Yes. As long as Oleg stays the head of the Kievan Rus, this marriage should pay dividends quite quickly.”
