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What comes next? That the Oprichina is a place where females are virgins until marriage, and faithful ever after?
But he saw the hurt in her eyes and was sorry for his sarcasm.
"A man is, of course, permitted to do what he pleases with women, so long as they are not oprichniki. For women, it is different. If it becomes known that an unmarried woman has taken a lover, that will bar her from a career of her own. She cannot handle her emotions and therefore cannot be trusted.
"Should it come out that the wife of an officer has been unfaithful--"
"She will be shot at dawn?"
"You said you would listen, Charley."
"Sorry."
That's the first time she's called me that.
And I like the way it sounds.
"If it becomes known that an officer's wife has been unfaithful to him, it is the end of his career. If he can't control his own wife, how can he be expected to control other men?"
Christ, I'm starting to believe this!
"He can, one time, and one time only, prove his dependability by killing her."
"And he gets away with that?"
"One time only," she said matter-of-factly. "If he marries again, and the second wife is unfaithful, that's proof that he cannot judge character."
Castillo suddenly realized he had turned on his side.
And then his hand, as if with a mind of its own, reached out and his fingertips brushed her cheek.
"I have never been with another man, Charley. Only Evgeny. Is true."
"Well, what did you think?"
"I didn't know it could be like that," she said, smiling warmly.
"Either did I."
Castillo leaned to her and kissed her gently on the lips.
The gentleness didn't last long.
VIII
[ ONE ]
Nuestra Pequena Casa
Mayerling Country Club
Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
0705 30 December 2005
Max was having trouble waking Castillo, who was sleeping soundly and who had not responded to either a gentle nudge with Max's muzzle or a paw laid gently on his chest. Finally, Max delicately took the pillow edge in his mouth and, without apparent effort, jerked it out from under Castillo's head.
That did it.
