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“If you can just get me papers that will get me through to Latvia, I can take care of that myself.” I have no idea how, but the last thing I’m about to do is sit here and tell them all my horrible problems so we can rehash my idiocy. It’s especially not going to happen with all these shiny, rich people staring at me.
“Adriana,” Kris says. “You took my place. You endured misery that was meant for me. The least we can do is repay whatever debt made you feel compelled to do such a rash thing.”
“I chose to take your place,” I say. “As far as I’m concerned, now that you’ve saved me, we’re even.”
Kris frowns. “But—”
“Before we get into all that,” Mirdza says, “just tell us who was after you. We need to know who we might encounter on our way back to Latvia.”
That’s reasonable. “Well, you know the Leonid man, apparently, and he’s got connections with the police. So there’s that guy and Boris, his little henchman.”
“And?” Aleksandr wipes his mouth, which is too bad. I liked him with a magenta mustache. Borscht can be messy. “Just give us a name, Adriana.”
“The owner of that stable I was staying at was Sasha Sorokin,” I say.
“I’m not too worried about them. They won’t have papers or any evidence of theft,” Aleks says.
“And you won’t have the horse,” Alexei says. “They won’t have a case to present even if they do find you.”
“Still,” Aleks says. “Maybe we reach out and let them know she isn’t friendless. Sending them some money might resolve any ongoing risk they could pose. She’s part of the racing world, and it’s a small one.”
“I suppose.” Alexei doesn’t look pleased with the idea of paying for his own release.
“That’s enough distraction.” Mirdza pins me with a glare. “That Lithuanian followed you into Latvia. Tell us who he is so we can deal with it.”
“He didn’t follow me into Latvia. That’s where I met him in the first place. He won’t follow me here, either.”
“How can you be sure?” My sister may be kind and soft-spoken, but sometimes she’s a little like a bulldog. She won’t ever let go, even when she should. “You don’t understand how men like that work. He’s probably making plans right now. He could already be here, actually.”
“Trust me. I’ve known Nojus for a long time. Leonid incinerated his twelve best men. That’ll leave him reeling for a while. Plus, he’d have no way of knowing where I even went.”
“Nojus?” Aleksandr’s smile is infuriating.
I can’t believe Mirdza needled me into saying his first name. Still, there are probably lots of Lithuanians with that name in Latvia. I doubt he’s put any property into his name. Maybe they won’t be able to find him. “Please, just leave it alone.”
“Someone who would send a dozen men to threaten a woman doesn’t let things go,” Alexei says. “When those men were killed, he probably doubled down. You won’t be safe while he’s alive.”
“Alright,” Mirdza says. “I know that you guys always want to kill everyone.”
“Not everyone,” Grigoriy says. “Just evil men.”
“Can we talk about the stranger, more threatening thing now?” I ask.
“What?” Grigoriy asks.
“Who’s Leonid, and why’s he magical?”
Grigoriy and Aleks both turn toward Alexei.
“Is Alexei your boss or something? Why do you both keep looking at him? Didn’t he just wake up? He didn’t even know what year it was.”
“Old habits,” Grigoriy says.
Alexei sets his fork down and finishes chewing his shashlik. “When I knew him, he wasn’t magical at all. But to explain Leonid, I’ll need to explain a little Russian history.” He looks around. “Everyone okay with that?”
I shrug.
“Russia was actually founded by the Vikings,” he says. “The Varangians were Norse raiders, and the one who matters the most for our story was a chieftain named Riurik. He had two younger brothers who helped him, all great kings of the Rus, but they both died without having children.”
