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“For more than thirty years, they’ve had elections and let the people choose their leaders to some degree,” Grigoriy says.

“That might make things easier,” Alexei says. “My father was moving toward a government that listened to the people and allowed them to make many of the critical decisions.”

This conversation is very, very strange.

“But I still don’t understand what Leonid wanted with Kristiana,” I say. I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t figure it out, even with all this new information. “After he realized I wasn’t her, he became obsessed with figuring out how to get her. He’d given me one day to come up with a way to get her away from you, or he was going to kill me. My time was up when I ran.”

“We aren’t sure why he wants me,” Kris says, “but their powers don’t work when they’re used against me. We think maybe it’s because of that.”

“So if he had kidnapped you,” I say, “he couldn’t have burned you or zapped you?” Maybe I shouldn’t have taken her place after all.

“Which would have made her more vulnerable than you,” Aleks says. “We think he wants her dead. Somehow, she poses a threat to him.”

“Why would the magic not work on you? Are you, like, Baba Yaga’s granddaughter or something?” I joke.

Alexei and Aleksandr frown.

“Could she be?” Grigoriy asks.

“I was kidding,” I say.

Alexei shoves his plate away, finally done. “Leonid claims to be descended from Oleg,” Alexei says. “But the records that discuss a second heir mention one that was hidden in the histories.”

“Why did they hide one?” I ask.

“Because that child was born out of wedlock,” Alexei says. “Riurik never recognized her, but she would have had the same magic, maybe. If Kristiana’s somehow connected to this other line. . .” He shakes his head. “If Kristiana’s like him, a true Riurikid, her very existence weakens his claim. Leonid won’t give up in his pursuit. Maybe not ever.”

“Looks like you guys need to do a little genealogy,” I say.

11

Once, my mom came to school for a career day.

I was happy she was coming. Mom didn’t come to many school things, and I thought it would be nice to have her there. She and Martinš had just gotten married, and she was wearing a ring.

The mother of one of my classmates, who had known us for a while, commented on it. She asked when my mom had remarried, and how she had the bravery to try again after losing our dad.

Mom launched into a story then, a story I’d never heard.

“It was all fate,” Mom said with a twinkle in her eye. “My husband hadn’t been close with his older brother. His brother had inherited all their father’s fortune, and had left my first husband with nothing. His older brother was better looking, smarter, and had lots of women chasing him.” Mom had blushed.

“I don’t understand,” the woman said.

“Well, my first husband’s older brother had to come through town for business,” she says. “We’d never met before, because of the bad blood. But when he came through, he decided to stop in and pay his respects. The second our eyes met. . .” Mom sighed. She shivered, like she was sharing some kind of fairy tale.

“Wait,” the woman said. “Did you marry your brother-in-law?”

Mom nodded, oblivious to the fact that the woman was horrified. “He really is handsome, and so attentive. He never leaves me alone for a second. From the very moment we met, he’s been by my side. And now all the work that broke my back, all the troubles that wore on me, they’re all gone.” Mom beamed. “It was destiny.”

I watched Prince Charming beat her that night for burning the bread.

That’s when I decided that destiny could rot for all I cared. I was never going to let some good-looking man convince me to surrender my independence. I would never hand over my life to fate or chance.

And that’s why, the better looking the man is, the less I trust him.

“How long will it take to get my identification?” I ask.

“Two days, maybe?” Aleks shrugs. “I asked them to expedite it.”