“Do you have an address?”
She’d already written it down, so she handed it to Sándor. “Rumi says the map shows it’s not far from here.”
“Nevertheless, you’re right to be cautious.” Sándor stood. “Can you be ready in twenty minutes?”
She nodded. “I can.”
He started toward the door but turned before he opened it. “Does Diana know?”
“Absolutely not.” Tatyana liked her stylist, but she had no idea how big a gossip she was. She had not earned Tatyana’s trust yet. “You, my mother, and Rumi are my only confidantes in this matter. Radu and Kezia know that we have been lovers in the past, but they don’t know anything for certain at present.”
“Very well.” He gave a short nod. “I acknowledge and honor your trust, Tatyana le Tala. Get ready, and I will prepare a car for you and Rumi.”
The old housewhere she met Oleg was hidden behind a large castle and surrounded by forest, grazing land, and a small contingent of Mika’s men. She slipped through the shrubbery with Sándor behind her; then Mika stepped out of the shadows and gave her Hazar a nod.
Sándor turned to her. “I will wait in the car with Rumi, but I will be tracking your location via your mobile phone. If you leave the property, I will follow you.”
“Understood, Sándor.”
She walked across the grass, meeting Mika halfway.
“Mika.”
“My lady.”
She cocked her head as they walked toward the house. “You realize you can call me Tatyana.”
“If he found out I addressed you that informally without his permission, he would castrate me and I’d have to wait a hundred years for my balls to grow back,” Mika said. “So no, thank you.”
She paused at the terrace doors. “He hasn’t actually done that to anyone, has he?”
Mika shrugged one shoulder. “Not for at least a century.”
Such restraint.
Tatyana waited as Mika opened the terrace doors, then walked inside, and Mika closed them behind her.
It looked like an old gamekeeper’s cottage, though it had been neatly restored. There were copper pots and pans hanging on the wall of the kitchen, dark wood, and more than a few antlers decorating the walls.
Oleg was sitting in front of a fire, his feet propped up on a stuffed footrest, still wearing the dark embroidered shirt, woolen pants, and tall boots that he’d worn at the reception. The kaftan was hanging over the back of a chair.
Tatyana pressed her lips together to hide her smile. “You’re still wearing your traditional clothes.”
“They’re surprisingly comfortable, and I know you like them.” He turned his eyes toward her and pouted. “The dress is gone.”
“You can’t have expected me to sneak out of the castle in that.” She walked over to him and straddled his lap, placing her arms on his shoulders. “Hello.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “Now this is the kind of surprise I enjoy.”
“The one that you can orchestrate so that Mika has a security perimeter around the house?”
“Exactly.”
Now she had to smile. “I have learned a new thing about my husband. He does not enjoy situations where he does not have complete control.”
He took her wrists in his hands, circling them with warm fingers. “You knew that already.”
“Oh, I see you trying to change the subject.” She shook her head. “What am I supposed to do? Always let you be the one who is spontaneous? You would get bored.”
