Because he was hers.
Chapter 17
Oleg
Oleg met with Mika and Ludmila in his office at the palace the following night.
He folded his hands and placed them on the desk. “This cannot continue.”
Mika and Ludmila exchanged a look.
“That is… vague.” Mika frowned. “Does this have something to do with the Kazakh vampires? You came out of that encounter much stronger. The chatter around Moscow is quite good for you.”
“You lit a bunch of shit on fire,” Ludmila muttered. “And scared the shit out of Ivan’s own men. That’s not a bad night.”
“I’m not talking about the Kazakhs.”
The night following Ivan’s attack on the warehouse, Oleg had been in contact with his counterpart in Almaty, the vampire capital of Kazakhstan. Their leader was a newly chosen wind vampire, chief among the clans that ruled the Central Asian nation and its scattered population of immortals.
Since the vampires killed had been from a clan who hadnotsupported the chief’s rise to power, the young vampire had little objection to Oleg’s destruction of their facility which—asIvan had correctly guessed—was severely underpaying on their promised tribute.
“You’ve actually done them a favor,” Mika said. “Is it the drugs?”
Oleg grunted. Illegal narcotics were an unfortunate reality of human life, and though he avoided involving himself in their trade, he knew that many of Ivan’s lieutenants had side businesses. For the most part, Oleg ignored them.
“I don’t like the drugs,” Oleg said. “They make the humans unproductive. But it’s not the drugs.”
In reality, it had been the disturbing incident of his dream where he had lost control of his fire. Seeing Tatyana’s reaction to it had bothered him, and since putting her in any kind of danger was unacceptable, he had been forced over the past week to involve himself in something he detested.
Introspection.
He’d been dreaming of the time just after Truvor’s death, when blood had spilled for weeks during his rise to power. Blood sibling after blood sibling had challenged him, and he had killed them all, destroying many of the strongest vampires in their clan, which had solidified his position as knyaz but also weakened Truvor’s empire, leading to nearly a century of instability and conflict during which many good vampires were killed.
“I have been debating whether keeping Ivan in his position will be more harmful to our people than taking him out and elevating another who will govern more effectively.”
“Harmful?” Mika crossed his arms over his chest. “There will be harm either way.”
“You take him out?” Ludmila said. “His sons will push back. People will die. Humans. Vampires. It’s going to happen. You leave him in?” She shrugged. “People will also die. Humans whowork for him. Humans caught in the middle. Collateral damage. More drugs. More humans trafficked?—”
Oleg snapped at her and pointed. “No. We don’t do slaves. That’s dirty, dirty business. Is Ivan trafficking humans?”
“Ehhh, boss.” Ludmila gave him an even larger shrug. “He’s careful. I don’t see anything direct about it, but it’s a feeling, you know? I feel like that dirty little cult of Truvor is following in his path, you know? Trading in humans, but Ivan’s covering their tracks.”
Mika pursed his lips. “I haven’t heard anything specific, but it would not surprise me. Like Ludmila said, Ivan has cultivated this weird cult around your sire, and we all know what Truvor thought of humans. So human trafficking would hardly be a stretch.”
“So that’s it then.” Oleg nodded. “This must happen sooner than we planned. I don’t have the luxury of a decade to make him irrelevant before I push him to the side and make him disappear.”
There would be violence. There would be bloodshed.
Again.
“Okay, cooool.” Ludmila drew out the word, clapping her hands together in anticipation. “I’ll go ahead and put a bullet through his spine. Do you want it done before or after the wedding? I vote before so?—”
“Don’t run away with this.” Mika raised a hand. “We must have a plan first. Moscow needs a successor before we kill Ivan, or there will be chaos.” He narrowed his eyes at Oleg. “Youaregoing to kill him, aren’t you?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Oleg muttered.
“Fuck!” Ludmila let her head fall back. “Please let me kill him. I wasthisclose.” She pinched her fingers together. “I pierced his ear instead of his eye. Say the word?—”
