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Dmitri stiffened even more. “I can find some, I’m sure.”
Olympus smiled, like he was trying to joke with his new friend. No one was fooled, though, probably not even Dmitri, in spite of the fact that Olympus clapped a hand on Dmitri’s shoulder like a friend. “You don’t know the ways of Good Port,” he said. “You’ll be my guest, for the first few days, at least, eat my food, enjoy my baths, and sleep in one of my guest suites. Accept that hospitality for a few days, then decide whether you can make your own way in this city.”
Dmitri narrowed his eyes as he assessed Olympus’s offer. He then broke into his toothy, faux-friendly smile. “How could I pass up an offer for a bath?”
“You’ll like the baths at the Hakobyan estate,” Lefric said. It took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me and excluding Dmitri entirely. “They remind me a lot of how Peter described the hot springs pool at Sascha’s house.”
“Then I will definitely be your guest, Olympus Hakobyan,” Dmitri said, smiling even more.
Lefric must have forgotten that Dmitri was once a member of Sascha’s pack and that he knew the pool Peter used to tell us about. He cringed a little, then sent me an apologetic look.
A flash of tension filled the air as no one continued the conversation. Dmitri stood stiff and straight, trying to seem intimidating when I, at least, knew he didn’t have the first clue what he was doing. Magnus seemed unwilling to say anything, he just glared at Dmitri. He was probably plotting ways to pry information out of the man that didn’t involve torturing him to the point where he’d die. Or maybe he was figuring out how to kill him after extracting the information he needed.
It was Olympus who finally said, “We’re almost at the Hakobyan dock. I like your plan, Magnus. I’ll send the dock hands for my father, Patrius, if he’s at home, and Eneko as soon as we’re moored.”
“Good,” Magnus said. “I suppose all that’s left now is to enjoy ourselves until it is time to act.” He sent a sharp look of warning to Dmitri before turning and striding over to where Peter and Neil were very deliberately not paying attention to the conversation. Katrina and Ox went with him.
That left me and Dmitri, Lefric and Olympus, and sort of Sebald and Avenel, and Sebald’s friend, Premila, and her baby, at the edge of the railing, though Sebald had inched the others away from the rest of us as the conversation had progressed.
“I mean it when I say I will offer hospitality,” Olympus told Dmitri. “I want this next set of meetings to go well for everyone. That includes you as representative of the eastern wolves. That can only happen if we’re all on equal footing and if we all respect each other.”
Dmitri might have been tempted to think Olympus meant he would try to get Magnus to respect him, but I was fairly certain he actually meant it as a warning for Dmitri to behave.
“I will be happy with whatever bones you throw my way,” Dmitri replied, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me close to him. “As long as I have plenty of time and space to properly claim my pup.”
He was doing it on purpose, I knew. Dmitri was trying to embarrass me or frighten me, or perhaps he was simply trying to impress Olympus with his dominance over me.
Once again, I didn’t give him the reaction he was expecting. I went as limp as I could, not resisting his possessive grasp, not trying to shrink and hide, not doing anything. I couldn’t change the fate I’d been bound to.
“Olympus, we’re coming up alongside the dock,” Captain Andreas called from his position near the boat’s wheel.
Lefric walked away with Olympus, sending me a careful look as he did, like he wanted to help me, but knew he couldn’t.
As soon as they were gone, Dmitri dropped his bravado and let go of me. He didn’t say anything, he just moved back to lean against the railing so he could watch the process of bringing the boat in to dock. I turned to watch with him, unable to think of anything to say either.
Which was complete rubbish on my part. I should have been strategizing, like Magnus probably was. I should have been racking my brain to come up with ways to work the southern pass through the mountains into conversation, or to make some sort of observation about the number of people in Good Port and to subtly ask whether Dmitri thought General Rufus had enough men to overtake them. I could even have quietly asked whether Dmitri thought the people of Good Port should be worried about soldiers reaching all the way across the frontier to them.
Instead, I just stood by Dmitri’s side, my body pulsing from more than two days of being denied an orgasm, as the breeze off the harbor wafted his slightly too pungent scent toward me. Would he let me come once he had me alone in an actual bedroom? He would probably have me bathe him once we were given a real bath. I wondered what he would do to punish me if I came without permission. Surely, his punishments couldn’t be all that bad. Maybe Dmitri’s bark was worse than his bite.
“You see that there, pup?” he asked, pointing to the dock as men with blue and purple sashes rushed to catch lengths of thick rope that Captain Andreas’s men threw from our deck, using it to secure the boat to the dock with intricate knots. “We’ll have to find ourselves some rope like that. I’ll have you tied up and groaning with the pain of every awkward position I can think of in no time. How far do your joints bend, pup?” he asked with a sneer.
I swallowed hard. God only knew what Dmitri would do to me when he had me tied up and helpless.
I tried to take my mind off the possibilities by watching the activity between the dock and our boat. Olympus called down to the men working to secure the boat even before we were fully in place, ordering them to fetch Vikhrov Hakobyan, his son, and the steward, Eneko. They clearly knew who he was and respected him enough to immediately send a man running up the steeply inclined path that must have gone to the estate at the top of the hill.
Even though a gangplank was brought out as soon as the boat was solidly moored, everyone waited until the runner returned half an hour later before doing anything. The three men that the runner brought with him were dressed finer than almost anyone I’d ever seen. The oldest of the men had to have been Lord Vikhrov, Olympus’s father, and the ruler of Good Port. He had longish hair, like his son, though his was white, and was adorned in rich, colorful linen with a heavier overcoat. Good Port was much warmer than the cities inland, but it was still chilly for the time of year. That meant Lord Vikhrov could display his wealth with his coat, and with the gold and jewels he wore.
One of the other men resembled both Lord Vikhrov and Olympus closely, but was much younger, probably close to the age of the Sons. He must have been Olympus’s brother. The third man was still dressed well, and he wore a blue and purple sash that must have cost more than some of the wolves I’d encountered in the eastern forest saw in their lifetimes. And yet, he was clearly the steward, Eneko.
Everyone remained silent, giving away nothing, as the three men were welcomed aboard. I noted with interest that the gangplank was quietly removed once they were aboard so that Eneko couldn’t make a run for it.
“Father, it’s good to see you again,” Olympus said, striding forward to embrace Lord Vikhrov. “Come here. Lefric and I have something to tell you. You too, Zangar. Was Patrius not able to come?”
“Eneko, sir, if I might have a word with you,” Magnus said, drawing the steward away from his master.
“That was as smooth as silk,” Dmitri said, a sneer in his voice, as we watched Olympus and Lefric bring Lord Vikhrov and Zangar toward the front of the boat with us while Magnus calmly led Eneko to the very back of the boat.
“Is something amiss?” Lord Vikhrov asked once Olympus and Lefric brought him and Zangar almost all the way to us.
