She exchanged one last look with Sándor before he nodded and continued toward Mika’s office.
Oleg’s expression was grim even before she closed the door. “I can feel your blood. What has happened?”
She waited until she was near him, keeping her voice low. “I have been betrayed by one of my own staff.” She raised a hand when he opened his mouth. “Unknowingly betrayed, but it has put your household at risk. Sándor is coordinating with Mika as we speak.”
Oleg glanced at the door, then jerked his head to the side and walked to the wall in the corner of the library.
He pushed on a hidden panel, and moments later a door swung open, revealing a hallway behind the wall and a narrowcorridor with thick walls that probably dampened sound, even from the Hazar near the door.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the passageway. It led between two rooms, and Oleg was about to take her up a hidden stairwell when she pulled on his hand. “If we go too far, the Hazar will not feel my presence and they will follow.”
He released her hand. “Is the betrayal so great that your guards doubt your safety with me?”
She twisted her fingers together, closing her eyes and trying to gather the courage to tell her husband the truth.
Tell him everything.
He kept his voice soft and even. “Milaya?”
“There can be no more secrets,” she whispered. “Sándor, Kezia, and I have been plotting without your knowledge. We have been planning to kill Ivan, and Ivan discovered our scheme.”
Chapter 27
Oleg
The flare of rage was instant and inflammatory. The fire rippled along his fingers, only to be quelled immediately by the cool mist of her element.
“I didn’t want you to have to do it.” The words tumbled from her mouth. “Not again. Luana. Zara. All of your brothers you killed after Truvor’s death?—”
“Tatyana,” he growled.
“It’s too much!” she shouted, then took a deep breath. “What could I do? Ivan needs to die, but how could I ask you for even more blood on your hands?”
He shook his head, furious at her deception even as he heard the echo of her mother’s voice in his mind.
“She will try to take care of you, you know… That is how she loves. Not with words—with actions. If you’re as smart as you think you are, you will let her.”
Oleg swallowed his rage and closed his eyes. “Why are you telling me now? What has happened?”
“Our plan was to have three Poshani infiltrate Ivan’s monthly card game, pretending to be outcasts because of theirrelationship with Vano.” Her voice was rote and lifeless. “We were going to work slowly, and once they had gained enough trust in Moscow, we were going to stage an attack on the card game and make it look like Ivan’s Bashkir allies turned on him.”
He could not fault the plan. It was not rash or reckless. It was strategically planned and would minimize violence to anyone outside Ivan’s inner circle.
Oleg crossed his arms over his chest, clenching his hands to smother the flames that itched beneath his skin. “That’s actually quite good. What happened?”
“Ivan…” She swallowed hard, and he saw her fangs extend. “Ivan pretended to be Pavel and… romanced my stylist, Diana. She met Pavel in Budapest and thought he was charming.”
Oleg frowned. “Pavel was involved in this?”
“No, Ivan waspretendingto be Pavel.”
She carefully explained each step of Ivan’s seduction of her stupid human stylist, the phone calls, the flowers, the planted microphones.
“She is gone.” Tatyana looked at the ground. “I have already sent her away. I ask you not to send anyone after her. I believe her that her betrayal was unintentional, and Sándor has interrogated her with amnis. I cannot punish her for being a fool any more than she is already punishing herself. She has kept nothing from us since she discovered the deception, but?—”
“She cannot continue to work for you. Her carelessness led to the death of three Poshani, a breach in your personal security, and the violation of my own household.”
“She’ll be on her way back to Bucharest as soon as Radu can arrange it,” Tatyana said softly. “But in the end, this is my fault, not hers. Three men are dead.” She swallowed hard. “I will have to answer to their families, and I must answer to you for going behind your back.”
