Page 27 of The Beauty Who Loved Him

It didn’t leave a lot of time for planning.

Not that she cared.

Vera nodded. “Okay. I’ll just ...” She gestured toward him and the tub; his bath, really. “I’ll let you get some rest. My father finished the posts along the side of the lake that faces the house, by the way, if you’re feeling up to coming down to check it out later.”

“This morning?”

“Yeah.”

She didn’t miss the telltale curve of a possible smile on Vaslav’s face at the news, but as fast as it was there, it left. Like it hadn’t been there to begin with.

“Huh,” he eventually grunted.

Settling back into the tub with closed eyes, and a slightly more relaxed expression, Vaslav pulled in a deep breath and released it in a slow exhale. Vera gave him a few more seconds before she turned to leave. Mira had come down with Igor to bring lunch, and despite the argument the two put up when she learned of Vaslav’s escapade with vodka the night before, Vera ended up winning the battle.

Hence why she stood there.

“It helped me to sleep,” she heard him say.

Vera didn’t turn around. “Drinking like a fool?”

“Like a drunk.”

Good God.

She wished that disgusted her, if anything, it just hurt. It killed her to think that to ease his suffering in one way, he needed to find a different kind of hell.

“And Vera?”

She glanced back at him to find he had opened his eyes again, and watched her studiously. “Yeah, Vas?”

“December first is perfectly fine. Tell your father we’ll send an invitation.”

He couldn’t know it, she didn’t plan to share, but the news offered her a little relief. Given the way Vaslav behaved now with her father, she couldn’t imagine that he’d willingly invite Demyan back to the country. Even if it was for Vera’s wedding.

“And just how many of those will there be?” Vera arched her eyebrow, adding, “Invitations, I mean.”

“Less than you think.”

“Give me an idea.”

“Count them on two hands.”

Vera’s eyes widened. “Ten?”

“Minus me, you, Igor, and Mira,” he returned. “So, six.”

“Six!” His amused, dark chuckles had her spinning around on the spot. “You can’t be serious! That leaves three guests after my mother, father, and Hannah.”

“Don’t you have a brother?” Vaslav asked, sounding honestly curious. “Won’t he want to come?”

“I don’t even think he’s allowed to leave the country.”

Roman Avdonin’s legal issues had followed him since he was a young teen. Vera didn’t act like she understood the demons chasing her brother to seek out wild things.

“Two guests left, I suppose,” Vaslav said, pointing a finger her way. “You can’t forget Kiril. I bet you could convince him to be your flower boy.”

His attempt to humor her didn’t distract Vera from the main point at hand. “So basically, nobody.”