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5
She was still standing in the center of the room, trying to remember how to breathe, when a knock sounded at the closed door.
“Yes?”
The door opened and Alek Evanoff's blond head appeared. “I have the birds, and your other things.”
“Thank you,” she said. Why hadn’t she said thank you to Lyon? Why had she begrudged him that one kindness? What was it about the man that made her determined not to throw him a bone? “You can bring everything inside.”
Alek rolled in the large cage holding the birds. She pulled off the cover and looked for a place to set them, then settled on a spot by the window while Alek brought in three suitcases and a trunk. The rest of her things would be brought to the penthouse in the coming days, including the birds’ larger, permanent cage, which resembled a cabinet.
The two budgies inside the cage chirped happily, jumping from one of their branches to the other, when they saw her face.
“Hello, my darlings,” she cooed. “Are you alright?”
“Are they parakeets?” Alek asked.
“Yes, although some people call them budgies,” she said.
He approached the cage and peered inside. “What are their names?”
She pointed to the violet bird perched closest to the bars of the cage. “This here is Dimitri,” she said. “He’s very friendly.”
Alek leaned closer. “Hello, Dimitri.”
The bird chirped in response. “Privyet! Privyet!”
Astonishment washed over Alek’s features. “He speaks Russian!”
She laughed. “Only a little. He knows the Russian word for hello, and a few others. It’s my father’s doing, and Zoya’s.”
It felt good to laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done it. Certainly not since she and her father had negotiated the terms of her marriage to Lyonya.
“And this one?” Alek asked, turning to look at the small bird with teal chest feathers and a yellow head, sitting on its perch in the center of the cage.
“This is Odette,” Kira said. “She’s a bit shy.”
“Privyet, Odette,” Alek said softly.
“Privyet!” Odette chirped. “Privyet!”
Alek laughed. “Can they leave the cage?”
“They can and do. At home, anyway,” She sucked in a breath as the realization hit her all over again. This was her home now. No. This was where she lived. It would never be her home. “It will take awhile to train them to be comfortable here.”
“I see why you like them,” Alek said.
She smiled. “Thank you for bringing them, and for the rest of my things.”
“Of course,” Alek said. “Can I get you anything else before I leave?”
She shook her head. “Sleep is what I really need.”
“It’s been a long day,” Alek said. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” she said.
She watched him go and waited until the door closed behind him to drop onto the bed. He was nice. Nicer than Lyonya, who couldn’t be bothered to spare her a kind word.
