Page 48 of Crimson Oath (The Firebird and the Wolf #2)

Oleg

H e could lie. It would be so easy to lie to her.

But she was leaving him again. Running away like a frightened rabbit, and in his anger, Oleg didn’t think. “You think you are the only reason I am here?”

Her chin lifted, and she stepped away from him. The amnis that had been roused and hungry for him stilled. It watched. It waited. He could feel her blood in his body chill.

“Of course not.” Her voice was mechanical. “Because this year the Vashana Zata is happening. Power is changing hands, isn’t it?” She pushed a finger into his chest. “And nothing that important happens in your territory without your having a say in it.”

She grasped the connection immediately.

Of course she did. His future mate had a brilliant mind, but Oleg would not be dissuaded.

“Milaya—”

“Don’t call me that.” She shook her head.

“Don’t use sweet words when this is just another…

maneuver. I’m such a fool!” She reached down and swept the tiny pieces of the puzzle off the table, scattering th em to the ground in a sudden and unexpected burst of anger.

“We never stopped playing chess, did we?”

Oleg stared at the scattered pieces of the game. He had sent Mika to the nearest town to find the elaborate wooden picture, and his boyar had come back with five choices. Oleg had picked the lavender field because he was hoping it would remind her of home.

Now the broken picture mocked him.

Foolish . The voice in his mind had the insidious whisper of his sire. Foolish vampire .

Perhaps he was foolish.

But was Oleg foolish to want her or foolish to have hidden the truth?

“You didn’t come here to find me, did you?” Tatyana asked. “You came here because you know that something is happening with Vano, Radu, and Kezia. You know that something strange is happening with those new vampires who showed up.”

“Thieves.” He kept his voice soft and his eyes on the purple and green pieces on the floor. “Radu invited three thieves to the kamvasa. And I don’t know why.”

“The Frenchman. He’s the other thief.”

“Very good, volchitsa.” Oleg walked to the desk, pulled out a chair, and dragged it across from the sofa. He snapped at it. “Sit.”

“Fuck you,” she spat out. “I am not your dog.”

“No, you are my headache ,” he hissed. Oleg pointed to the chair with gritted teeth and fangs that wanted to punch through his jaw. “You want to know why I am here? Then sit.”

She kept her eyes narrowed, and her energy was as cold as the Baltic Sea, but she sat.

Oleg sat on the sofa and leaned forward, his eyes level with Tatyana’s. “Every Poshani terrin has their own responsibilities. Radu runs their hospitality and also takes the lead on running the kamvasa. Kezia is the diplomat. She travels and negotiates with other vampires as needed. And Vano?— ”

“Is the businessman.” Her eyes didn’t leave his. “I know this part.”

“He’s the one who pays for… well, most of this. He runs the books, and he runs most of the human businesses for the clan.”

“Which is why he was questioning Rumi and the other cooks about the food budget.”

Oleg waved a hand. “That’s nonsense. They have plenty of money.”

“Unless he’s stealing,” Tatyana said. “Like Zara was.”

Oleg nodded. “That is a possibility. More damning, he is also going behind Radu’s and Kezia’s back and causing trouble in Russia with Ivan.”

She frowned. It was the first break in her cold wall. “Ivan your brother?”

“Ivan is my brother, and he’s also my governor for much of Russia. He’s the most like our sire, and he’s not a person I want anywhere near you.”

“But if I come to work for you, I would have to deal with him.”

“ If you come to work for me?” Oleg’s eyebrows went up. “So now it’s a possibility?”

She blinked, opened her mouth, then closed it.

Aha. He smiled. “It is a possibility.”

“N-no,” she stammered. “It’s a hypothetical that’s not going to happen.”

He brushed his hand at her imaginary problem. “Because of your… minion thing.”

She reached over and snapped in his face. “Because of this bullshit.”

Oleg smirked.

Tatyana narrowed her eyes. “Don’t laugh about the snapping thing. Everyone hates it.”

“I know. That’s why I do it.”

She rolled her eyes. “You are such an asshole.”

“Too bad you like it so much when I fuck you,” he muttered .

“Don’t be crude.”

Oleg barely kept from laughing. She might protest his crudeness, but her body reacted to it. She liked his roughness as much as his sweet words. He could smell her arousal in the trailer. It bloomed in the air like the scent of the roses.

He looked at the meeting of her thighs and licked his lips.

“Stop it.” She shifted in her seat.

“Do you want me to?” His eyes ran over her body. “Truly?”

“Yes.” Her hand was trembling. “Truly.”

“Very well.” Oleg had mercy on her. He pulled back his energy, but he couldn’t fail to notice when her eyes dropped to the prominent erection in his pants.

Nevertheless, she kept her words focused. “So Vano and Ivan are making trouble?”

“Yes, which goes against everything the Poshani stand for. I am their host. To steal from me, ambush my people—even kill and wound them?—”

“Vano killed some of your people?” Tatyana blinked. “Oleg, he?—”

“Ivan hired Vano to hijack our trucks. Paid him to hijack our trucks, and some of Ivan’s own people were killed in the process.”

Her eyes went wide. “Your brother would kill even his own people?”

Oleg leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “Our sire did it all the time, milaya. Ivan learned from Truvor, but this is not a practice that I have continued. If my people are loyal to me, I take care of them. The Poshani are the same, which is why we have historically been allies.”

She pressed her lips together. Hard. “Radu and Kezia would be horrified by Vano doing things like that with Ivan.”

Oleg nodded. “Exactly. When I officially arrive for the Vashana tomorrow night, I plan to expose Vano’s and Ivan’s scheming when I meet with Radu. If I am guessing correctly, Radu will decide to stay in power, and he and Kezia will force Vano out. ”

“And then what?”

“I will kill Vano” —Oleg shrugged— “if Radu and Kezia don’t do it first. But not until he tells me everything he knows about Ivan’s plans.”

She kept her voice soft. “And what will you do with Ivan?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Ivan has many who are loyal to him.”

She cocked her head. “They may not be as loyal when they discover that he was paying Vano to kill some of their brothers.”

“See?” He leaned forward and pinched her chin. “This is why I need you working for me. You see things quickly. You think politically, but you are not afraid of me.”

She was like Mika.

No, she was better than Mika. Tatyana had a fatalistic streak that Mika didn’t have. She didn’t fear death, which made her utterly fearless when he needed to hear the truth.

You’re going to fall in love with her. You’re half in love already.

Oleg hated when Lazlo was right, but he couldn’t deny it any longer.

“You think I came to this camp with ulterior motives?” Oleg said. “I cannot deny it. But you have things backward. I was looking for an excuse to hunt for you, Tatyana. Vano and Ivan only gave me the reason I needed.”

Oleg left Tatyana’s trailer an hour before dawn. He’d kissed her for so long he could still taste her, but he would not see her again until he was officially a guest of the kamvasa. It was better to be cautious at this point with so many of the Hazar gathered for the Vashana.

The puzzle pieces were still on the floor when he left.

“What is that face?” Mika asked Oleg when he reached their camp.

Ludmila was smoking her pipe by the fire. “He is in love with her, and she kicked him out. Can’t you tell?”

Oksana’s eyes went wide. “You’re in love with Tatyana?” The water vampire nodded. “You know, I approve. She’s a bit young but?—”

“I do not need any of your opinions or your approval.” He glared at Ludmila as he sat across from her. “Tenzin of Penglai is mated now. To a man .”

Oksana burst into laughter, and Ludmila took her pipe out of her mouth. “Fuck you both.”

He couldn’t stop his smile, not even when Lazlo heard the commotion and came out of their cave. “Who is Tenzin?”

“That mean little thief who killed your friend Alfonso in Naples,” Mika said.

“Hmm.” Lazlo grunted. “He probably deserved it.”

“Why are there three thieves in the kamvasa?” Oleg asked. “René, Tenzin, and the Vecchio boy. As far as I can tell, Radu invited three thieves to the kamvasa. Why would he do that?”

Ludmila shrugged. “Do we care?”

“Maybe we need to.”

“Is there reason to think that their arrival may interfere with exposing Vano?” Mika asked.

“I do not know.” Oleg crossed his arms over his chest and surveyed the four vampires surrounding him. “But I want all of you in my personal retinue when I arrive for the Vashana.”

Lazlo winced. “Oleg?—”

“Okay, fine.” Lazlo would grumble so much about doing anything social Oleg might end up killing him, and then he’d have to replace a governor and not just a CFO.

“Lazlo can guard the camp, and Ludmila, I want you in the trees, watching the Hazar.” He pointed to Oksana and Mika. “The two of you are with me. ”

Oksana nodded. “Yes, Knyaz.”

Mika was staring at the fire. “How are we going to prove to Radu and Kezia that Vano is betraying them?”

Ludmila took her pipe out again. “And are we sure they do not know about it?”

“I don’t think so, but we can’t be until we tell them,” Oleg said. “We watch, we wait, and we see their reactions.”

Ludmila nodded, but Mika still looked skeptical. “How are we going to prove it?”

“Polina sent the transaction details?” Oleg asked. “And a statement from her informant?”

Mika nodded.

“We have that, but mostly we need Juliya to get our hostage to turn on Vano.” Oleg stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles. “And to convince him… Well, just leave that to me.”