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“Why did you fall out?” Alina asked Vasili, who raised his shoulders in a noncommittal shrug. Alina turned her eyes to Eva, who was looking at her mate with a deeply disapproving furrow between her brows. “Tell me,” Alina encouraged. “Or does no one really remember?”
Eva smiled, as though she knew why Alina had drawn the conclusion that whatever the foundation for the feud was, so much had been built on top of it that no one even knew what it was anymore.
“I remember,” Eva said. “There was a plot of land. No bigger than a small parking lot. Nothing special. They both wanted it. At first, they were buying it together. Then they couldn’t agree on what to build on it: apartments or offices. Then they started quarreling in earnest until neither of them got the plot of land.”
“Neither of them?”
“Someone else bought it before they got the chance to.”
“And that’s the reason they haven’t seen eye to eye for centuries?” Alina asked, flabbergasted at the immaturity of it.
“It would have made my fortune!” Vasili huffed from his corner of the sofa.
“You’d already made your fortune,” Eva reprimanded. “This wasn’t about money, Vasili. It was about trust. And yours had been broken.”
Vasili mere grumbled.
“Along with your heart,” she added. “Have you ever had a close friend since? Well, have you?”
“I have a family. I don’t need friends,” Vasili muttered, eyes stubbornly glued to the muted television.
Eva rolled her eyes at him, making Alina smile tentatively. Eva returned it, something warm there that began to thaw the last of Alina’s apprehension. She had wondered if the sins of her father would be held against her, but it seemed, at least to Eva, they wouldn’t be.
“How are you holding up?” Eva asked.
“I’m holding,” Alina replied. “I’m sorry.”
“Whatever for?”
“If I hadn’t gotten involved with Gregor, I wonder if he would have been emboldened to do this.”
“Whatever are you talking about, dear?” Eva asked. “This isn’t your fault.”
“I think it is, though,” Alina disagreed. “He knew bringing me here would stump Dmitri. He knew it would mean putting him in an impossible situation. I think he even hoped Dmitri might do something impulsive, looking at the history between our families… That my presence would somehow make Dmitri become unhinged enough to risk war with my family. It would secure him the support he wanted from the two ruling heads already working together.”
“Even if that’s true,” Eva said, “you didn’t make it happen and you shouldn’t have to feel like you need to shoulder any of the blame for it.”
Alina felt like something heavy in her chest finally began to lift and she reached out, taking the other woman’s hand in a soft hold.
“Thank you,” she said.
The door opened, Misha and Dmitri coming through it with a handful of men in tow.
“Alright,” Dmitri said. “We’ve secured a way out. One at a time,” he added when all three sisters rose to their feet. “Father, you first,” he added.
Vasili turned his head to him with a stubborn gleam in his eye. Dmitri seemed to know it well, a tired expression crossing his face.
“No, the girls first,” Vasili said.
“Father,” Dmitri tried. “You’re the ruling head. They’re after you. Let us get you out first, please.”
“No,” Vasili repeated.
Dmitri exchanged a look with his mother, but both relented. Dmitri signaled to one of the sisters to go first. She obeyed without question, heading up to Misha and the other men, who surrounded her without saying another word. They all disappeared back out through the door. It closed behind them.
The room lay in silence.
“Stubborn old man,” Dmitri grumbled.
