“Dear God,” she muttered when one of the older men compared Oleg to Peter the Great, the first emperor of Russia. “Really?”
“Notably, Peter ruled jointly with his brother Ivan,” Oleg murmured. “Even though Peter was obviously the dominant ruler.” Oleg smiled. “Giant of a man. Nearly seven feet tall.” He glanced at Tatyana. “Married his second wife in secret.”
Tatyana blinked. “You knew him.”
Oleg shrugged. “Socially.”
There were times when Tatyana forgot just how old her husband was. This was not one of those times.
As the night dragged on, there was a little dancing and a lot of drinking. She noticed that Ivan’s men frequently left the room with serving women wearing red collars. Blood donors, Tatyana guessed.
“Do they pay them?”
“Yes, but not much.” Oleg glanced at her. “If you were not here, they would feed from the women in public.”
Tatyana fought a spike of anger, but she felt the water in the air draw to what little skin she had exposed.
“Calm.” Oleg reached for her hand again, stroking the back of it. “All powers rise and fall, wife.” Oleg smiled and waved when he heard his name mentioned in another speech.
“Do you promise?”
“Don’t wish for my end so publicly.” Oleg had a smirk plastered to his face. “Or you’ll remind them of another ruler.”
“Who?”
“Catherinethe Great.”
Now it was Tatyana’s time to smirk. Catherine the Great, who had notably disposed of her husband to take the throne of Russia, had to be one of Tatyana’s favorite historical figures.
“Fortunately for you, my husband is not an idiot,” Tatyana quipped.
“Fortunate indeed.” Oleg’s gaze drifted to Ivan, who sat across the room from them on his own raised dais, only slightly lower than Oleg’s, while the men sat between them. “Such a sour face my brother has today.”
He was itching to tell her what he’d done. To gloat. Tatyana had to force herself not to roll her eyes.
“Sándor said there was some unexpected activity around Ivan’s mansion just after dusk tonight.”
“Sándor is well-informed.”
Tatyana saw Rumi moving in the background, passing a note to Sándor, who quietly handed it to Tatyana.
She opened the note and read:Someone hacked my phone.
Tatyana turned to Sándor. “Faraday bags. Now.”
Sándor nodded and retreated.
“What is going on?” Oleg asked.
“Do you have a mobile phone with you? Does Mika?”
“I have no need for one when you are with me. Mika has his, I’m sure.”
“Do you have signal-blocking bags? Like the cage on your plane, but for your devices?” she asked in a low, urgent voice. “If you don’t, Sándor keeps extra.”
“Yes, of course we have them, but why?—”
“Someone hacked Rumi’s phone.” She leaned forward and looked to Mika on Oleg’s left side. “Mika, your phone.”
