I’ve been living with secrets so long that I feel like lying has become part of my character, and it disgusts me.
“I probably just need to drink more blood.” Tatyana lifted the cat, who hung like a fuzzy, oversized scarf in her hands. “I tried feeding from Pushkin, but I don’t like all the hair in my mouth.”
Pushkin gave a slight “Eerp” but said nothing else.
Anna’s eyes went wide for a second; then she scowled. “Stop being ridiculous and open a bottle of that wine then. Or some of that bagged blood you keep in my freezer.”
Tatyana rose and set Pushkin on the spot that she’d left, even though it was not warm. The cat stood up, arched his back in astretch, and shook his furry head before he hopped off the sofa, dissatisfied with the lack of active petting.
“I’ll open some blood-wine.” Tatyana walked to the cabinet on the far side of the room. “The frozen blood is just for emergencies.”
She wasn’t hungry at all, but though Tatyana was a vampire now, Anna was still a Russian mother who was fairly certain that any mood could be solved with the correct application of food.
Saying she needed to feed was always the answer.
“Why is Sándor lurking around outside?” Anna asked.
Tatyana twisted off the sealed cap of the blood-wine. “I finally told him about Oleg, so there’s no need for him to keep his distance.”
Because leaving Budapest without taking leave of her husband was definitely going to precipitate a visit. She was only surprised it hadn’t been on the same night she arrived.
She’d also turned her phone off, partly to avoid Oleg but also to avoid Kezia, who had been drilling Tatyana about her dance with Ivan, the brooch she’d been wearing, and also why she and Oleg were still at each other’s throats because didn’t Tatyana know that Oleg was a valuable trade and territorial partner and despite her personal dislike of the man, she needed to get over it?
Tatyana was avoiding everyone.
“What a beautiful brooch you have, Terrin Tatyana. An unusual jewel.”
Ivan’s words kept mocking her. He must have known the firebird was a gift from Oleg, but there was no way he could have known it was for Tatyana specifically. She had told him it was a gift to the Poshani. It could have come from anyone’s safe.
“So if Sándor is closer and you’re not worried about him seeing Oleg, does that mean he’s coming to visit?” Anna perked up. “Good. Then maybe you will stop?—”
“Oleg might come to visit.” Tatyana slammed the bottle down on the sideboard. “Or he might not. I don’t know, Mama. Kezia might descend on me instead. I left Budapest quickly.”
“Why?”
“Because I was tired of being social!” She spun on her mother. “And I came here to rest and have some quiet, and now you are badgering me.”
Anna humphed and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re sulking. You’ve had the same expression when you’re in a mood since you were four months old. Just tell me what is bothering you so I don’t have to keep poking at you.”
She sighed. “It is stressful to keep secrets. That is all. And to have to live separately from Oleg. It causes me to doubt…”
Anna frowned. “Doubt what?”
Tatyana couldn’t say it. She shrugged one shoulder.
Her mother’s eyebrows went up. “Doubt Oleg? You doubt his… What? His faithfulness?” Anna began to chuckle. “I forget with your important job now that you don’t really know a lot about men, do you?”
Tatyana scoffed. “And you do?”
Her mother was still an attractive woman, but she never dated. At least not that Tatyana ever saw.
“I know more than you, Tanya.”
“Oleg is a vampire, Mama. Not an ordinary man.” And vampire emperors had other considerations than just their own feelings.
“Bah! He’s aman,” Anna said. “And he’s just like other men in most ways that count.”
Tatyana couldn’t disagree with her mother about that. At least not much. She shrugged one shoulder and sipped her wine.
