Oleg raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
Mika’s phone started to buzz. He glanced at it. “That is our current online security chief.”
“He’s too late,” Konstantyn said. “By the time he kicks me out, I could have already accessed your reports, your internal communications, your pending negotiations, your?—”
“Yes.” Oleg waved a hand, cutting him off. “We see that your services are needed.” He had to admire the young man’s courage. Even with a vampire security guard waiting in the hallway, he could have been dead in seconds if this had gone the wrong way. “Very impressive, Konstantyn.”
The young man blinked. “Does that mean you’re going to hire me?”
“As long as your price is reasonable,” Oleg said. “Yes. But do not try to take advantage?—”
“I want one thing from you,” the young man blurted. “And it’s not money. I have money.”
Was the boy about to ask to be made immortal? That would severely curtail his computer business, but it wasn’t completely out of the question.
Still, Oleg was not the person to ask.
“What is your price?”
“I have a friend,” Konstantyn said. “She went missing about five years ago, and now that I know about… all of you, I think she may have been taken by vampires.”
“It is unfortunately possible,” Oleg said. “There are many among our kind that take advantage of vulnerable young humans, and many humans who might seek vampires out.” He nodded at the man. “Like you.”
“She was already on the run from someone dangerous, and I was helping her, but then she just disappeared and I need to know?—”
“Give us her name, and we will try to locate her. I cannot promise her safety, but Mika is very good at finding people.”
“Tatyana Vorona,” Konstantyn said. “Her name is Tatyana Vorona.”
Chapter 14
Tatyana
Aweek and a half after their papers were signed, Tatyana was sitting next to Oleg at a reception in Moscow, celebrating with the Muscovite soldiers of the Kievan Rus during a holiday to commemorate their sire’s birthday.
The hall was draped in red, and Truvor’s symbol—a hawk on a red field—hung from banners on either end of the room.
She leaned toward Oleg. “Do all your people celebrate this… holiday?”
“No, only Ivan’s clan.”
“Ah.”
“Truvor was a bastard, but his direct bloodline is concentrated in this area among the Muscovite vampires.”
“But you—the vampire who killed Truvor—are here.”
“Technically I did not kill him,” Oleg said. “Isucceededhim.” He reached over and took her hand underneath the table. “I have my reasons.” There was a smile flirting around the corner of his lips.
“Do those reasons have to do with why Ivan seems so solemn tonight?”
“Is he?” Oleg played with her fingers where they sat on her lap. “That’s unlike my brother.”
That was a yes. Oleg had done something to kill Ivan’s mood for the gathering. She would have to ask him about it later because in public, she was still being the indifferent, political wife-to-be.
Tatyana, Rumi, Sándor and his people were staying in one wing of Oleg’s grand mansion in Moscow, which was in the Rublyovka neighborhood west of the city center. There were grain fields around the sprawling estate that were covered in snow and bare-limbed trees bordering the property that gave it a stately, old-fashioned air. Oleg had owned the property for over one hundred years, though the large, well-fortified house had been built in the 1990s.
She looked around the room, where Ivan’s sons and lieutenants were offering grand toasts to their sire and their boss, but none of the toasts were as obsequious as those to her husband.
