Page 45 of Crimson Oath (The Firebird and the Wolf #2)

A muscle near Oleg’s eye twitched.

“You know him?”

“I know of him. He’s very young and very powerful.”

“I could tell. I was thinking he felt like a baby holding a shotgun.”

Oleg chuckled. “You are not wrong. I do know his uncle.”

“The horrible assassin uncle?” She sighed. “Are you friends with an assassin? Why am I not surprised you are friends with an assassin?”

“Not friends. But not enemies either. And he’s a book dealer now.”

“Now that’s a change of career.”

“His life and my life were not so different. Our sires both wanted a weapon, so that is what we became.” Oleg finished the wooden pier and started on the shoreline, ignoring any sense of symmetry and letting the picture form organically.

“That is usually the fate of fire vampires, milaya. You become a weapon or you become a king.”

“You became a king.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I became a knyaz. It’s different. I’m a king who is a weapon.” He continued putting the puzzle together, enjoying her delicate weight on his side. “If the weapon loses his edge, my druzhina will choose a new leader. No one is invincible.”

“Do you ever think of leaving it? Like the book dealer?”

He paused and looked at her. “No. It is my responsibility to protect them.”

She nodded.

“You must understand this,” he said quietly. “I am not the book dealer. I will never leave my people.”

She stared at the puzzle, her fingers curling around one piece. “I understand.”

“Good.” If she was going to be his mate, she needed to understand his role. “Why were you asking about Benjamin Vecchio?”

“He was asking about you.”

Oleg’s mind went on alert. “Why?”

“He thinks I am on the run from you.”

“Why does he care? That is none of his business.”

“I thought the same thing.”

“Ignore him.” He kissed her forehead again. “Ignore every man except for me.”

She laughed a little bit. “Asshole.”

“Tell me a new one.” Oleg decided Tatyana’s laughter was his favorite sound in the entire world.

No, it was the breathy moan of pleasure she let out when she orgasmed. That was his favorite. But her laughter came second.

“I hope you have another puzzle.” The picture was over halfway complete. “I’m going to finish this one soon.”

Oleg was standing on the edge of the forest that overlooked the kamvasa after he and Tatyana had finished two more puzzles and dawn was threatening the horizon.

He was watching the twinkling lights of the Poshani fires when he saw a fall of white flower petals drifting from a pine tree, dancing in the air until they settled on his shoulder.

He looked up and met the eyes of an assassin he’d known for centuries.

The wind vampire was dangling from a tree branch, peering down at him with her fangs out and a slight smile on her lips. “Hail, Varangian.”

“Greetings, Khazar.” He leaned against the trunk of a pine tree and crossed his arms as he greeted one of the oldest vampires he knew. “What you doing in these woods, Tenzin?”

He shouldn’t have been surprised. If there was a Vecchio nearby, Tenzin was likely in the vicinity.

Like so many of his kind, she was an enigma. Tenzin of Penglai could have been an ancient or a teenage girl. Her black hair fell over her shoulders, and she wore black clothes. The only thing that made her stand out in the shadows was her pale skin and her fangs.

“Do I need an excuse to summer in Eastern Europe?” she asked. “The weather is perfect.”

“You need an excuse to be in my territory.”

She was likely over three thousand years old, and Oleg knew her well. Tenzin tended to frequent various hideouts in Central Asia, some of which overlapped his territory. They’d traded favors over the centuries, but mostly they kept out of each other’s way.

Seeing Tenzin perched in a tree near the kamvasa was an unexpected wrinkle in his plans.

“Why are you spying on the Poshani? ”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“ Spying is an inaccurate word when they are crossing my territory. Are you here to kill someone?”

“No.” Her answer was swift enough that he believed her. “At least not today. But there’s always tomorrow.”

Would Arosh have sent her? Saba? Tenzin would never work for Ivan because Oleg’s brother disgusted her.

Who would have enough money to draw Tenzin to eliminate a mark?

“So why are you here?” Oleg asked. “Don’t lie.”

“But I enjoy it so much.” She swung down from one branch to another. “I’m a guest of the Poshani.” She dangled upside down and let her hair fall over her head. “So technically you’re kind of in my territory right now.”

That was a surprise.

Why would Tenzin be hiding from anyone? Most people in the immortal world considered her an urban legend, and the few who knew she truly existed would be wary to cross her.

“You’re a guest? Of the Dawn Caravan?” He used the name that outsiders had given it.

“I was invited to the Vashana.” Her eyes were wide and deceptively innocent. “You too?”

In addition to being an excellent and discreet assassin, Tenzin was also a very good thief, which made her invitation to the kamvasa an interesting choice. “Who invited you?”

She smiled. “That’s a highly personal question that I am not going to answer.”

First René DuPont, whom Ludmila had said was definitely a thief.

Now Tenzin?

Two well-known thieves were attending the Poshani’s most important festival. It could not be a coincidence.

“What about you?” Tenzin asked. “Who invited you?”

“Me?” Oleg played innocent. “I am not here. ”

She stared at him. “That is an inaccurate statement. You are here.”

“What I mean is, unless you want to create problems?—”

“Which I do enjoy doing.” She swung out, flipped over, and floated to the ground.

Tenzin had a habit of infiltrating immortal courts and blowing them up from the inside. He would call it a hobby in the same way that pyromaniacs enjoyed a pleasant campfire.

“Unless you want to create problems, I am not here,” Oleg said. “At least not yet.” He shrugged. “But I was also invited to the Vashana.”

“Hmm.” She smoothed a hand over her black tunic, and Oleg saw a neat curved sword sewn into the seam. “My partner and I were both invited.”

“I hear that you’re working with Vecchio again.”

“Yes,” Tenzin said. “But not the one you’re thinking of. My partner is the nephew.”

Benjamin Vecchio.

The powerful newborn who had been talking to Tatyana.

The newborn who had been asking about him.

Oleg pursed his lips. “Is he the one your sire turned for you?”

“That’s…” Tenzin scowled. “How do rumors like this spread?”

“Because we’re old and many of us are very bored.

” He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. “So it’s the nephew for you, is it?

I thought you preferred women.” He was fairly certain Ludmila harbored a long-standing fascination with Tenzin even though they had never met. “My best sniper will be crushed.”

“I prefer to be alone,” Tenzin said. “But Benjamin is my partner.”

“I see.”

“I very much doubt that.” She floated toward him and inhaled deeply. “You smell of crushed roses and blood-wine.”

He could feel her amnis surrounding him, probing his space. It was… intrusive. “Are you propositioning me?” That was a frightening thought .

Tenzin lifted her lips to bare the corner of her fangs. “My attention is elsewhere these days, Varangian.”

“On your partner?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Oleg of Gardariki is known to be discreet, yet you lurk in the forest as if waiting for a lover.”

She had used his old name on purpose to remind him he was younger than her. “What a fertile imagination you have.”

“Is it Kezia?”

“Is this your business?”

She lifted her chin, and her smile grew wider. “You pique my curiosity.”

“Go about your business, Tenzin. And stay out of mine.”

“I do enjoy sparring with you.” She spotted the small fang burns on his neck. “Nice fang marks.”

He snapped his fingers and gathered fire in his hands, then let it crawl up his shoulders and circle his neck. “Please feel free to take a closer look.”

Tenzin laughed and backed away. “You should be careful. There is conflict among the Poshani.”

She was finally cutting through the bullshit. Good.

“Your partner, is he a mediator? Is that why he was invited?”

Tenzin partnering with a peacemaker was ironic to the extreme, but it would explain why she hadn’t fomented any vampire coups in a few years.

“He’s a thief.”

Of course he was.

“Yes, that makes much more sense.”

Which made three thieves in the kamvasa by Oleg’s count.

Oleg sighed. “What are you there to steal, Tenzin?”

The first thing that jumped into Oleg’s mind were the dishana, the greatest treasures of the Poshani people.

Carved from three massive jewels by an ancient king, the dishana were symbols of the terrin’s power, and there was a mystical element to them as well. She who held the dishana held the power of the clan .

And since the Vashana Zata was happening this year, Radu, Kezia, and Vano would all have their goblets with them for the ceremony.

“Why would I steal anything?” Tenzin’s eyes went wide. “You’re so suspicious.”

“Of you? Always.”

She floated into the air. “They are expecting me, so I should go. Should I tell them you are watching?”

“Not necessary.”

“And what will you give me to keep your secrets?”

He took a deep breath and pursed his lips. “A favor of my own choosing. At least a year from now.”

She smiled, baring her fangs. “You amuse me, so I agree. I’ll keep your secrets for now.”

“Enjoy your night, Khazar.”

Without another word, the lethal wind vampire disappeared into the night, and Oleg watched the black spot in the sky where she had been.

Three goblets, three thieves.

When a terrin resigned, their goblet would pass from the old to the new. But if one or even all those goblets was stolen, the ancient tradition would be broken.

This was the wrongness that Tatyana had sensed.

If the dishana were taken, the Poshani were ripe for a takeover.