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I look around at the lush field surrounding us. A grove of fruit trees in the distance is nestled at the foot of some gently rolling hills. I can only blink, astonished at how beautiful and pleasant it is here. I walk towards the trees and catch a sweet aroma in the air. I don’t know if it’s from the trees and their heavy, ripe fruits or the bursts of bright, blooming flowers nestled here and there in the grass.
I pause, listening, then turn to Kharon. He’s following behind me, a slightly uneasy look on his face. “Is that music?”
He nods.
“Who’s playing?”
“Some of the souls seem to enjoy spending their time with instruments.”
I blink, turning around again. I don’t see anyone, and the music is distant. It sounds like some sort of stringed instrument and a. . . flute? Then I think I catch some voices, too.
“How big is it?”
“The realm?” he asks, then reaches up to scratch his head, shrugging. In the other world, he’s always so imposing and in charge of every situation. Here, he looks awkward and unsure of himself. I don’t understand it. Doesn’t he spend a lot of time here? “Big. Unending as far as I’ve seen. But I haven’t tried to make a map of it, so I cannot be sure.”
I can only stare in his direction. If I had access to this place, all I would do is explore.
“And I don’t spend much time in the golden realm.” He looks around uneasily.
“Where do you go, then?”
“The shadowed place.”
I shiver and wrap my arms around myself. “Well, let’s not go there while I’m here. Okay?”
He nods. “Yes. I understand. We can return to the church if we want dark and cold.”
“Exactly. Good.” I nod decisively. Then I look around and feel so. . . happy. It’s a strange emotion for me. Unfamiliar. In my normal life, even before my uncle’s betrayal, I was just busy. . . I kept busy. No one thinks about being happy.
Usually I was too busy planning my next target. Checking in with Dad on how things are going with the larger operation and doing whatever I can to help. All he could focus on for forever was getting his empire back, but in the last few years, he’d started talking about me taking over.
Was that why Uncle Pavel did it? He’d essentially been running the operation in Russia, but if he heard Dad flapping his mouth about me taking over. . . Well how better to solve that problem than to invite us to a secluded location, ambush us, and both his problems would be gone all at once.
My head starts to hurt just thinking about it.
Kharon said I could be home as soon as tomorrow night. I frown, unhappy yet feeling guilty at the same time. I have to go home. Dad. I have to find out what happened to Dad. I have to find out if he’s—
“Ksenia?”
My back has been turned to Kharon during my long silence, and I look to the blue sky as if it can offer any answers, blowing out a long breath.
Is it so wrong, for just a day, to want to forget it all? To escape to this paradise with a man who can make me feel like Kharon does and in a place that’s literally outside of time? I’ve never taken a vacation in my whole life. Maybe the timing is really screwed up. And maybe I’m just avoiding reality and in denial about Dad.
But what I don’t know can’t hurt me.
So I breathe in the sweet-smelling air and finally turn to Kharon. Then I lift my hands to the sky and twirl around. Just for a while, I want to pretend my other life isn’t real. I want to embrace this brief lightness in my soul. It’s only now that I realize I left my knives behind, but I don’t even mind.
I look at Kharon with a laugh. “Race you to the river?”
He grins at me, his uneasiness finally dropping, maybe because he sees my obvious happiness at being here. “That will be an unfair race.”
My happiness spills out of me. “It’s just an expression. And you could always be a gentleman and go slower for my short little human legs.” I spin for the river and take off, calling over my shoulder. “Go!”
Kharon is quickly jogging by my side as I sprint full out. I laugh and push harder. He easily keeps up, obviously, but at least he’s only running on his legs and not all fours. We fly across the field, and it feels like the wind at our back helps us along. As if, in this land, all you have to do is have a desire, and the realm itself quickly wants to fulfill it.
I’ve worked up a sweat by the time we get to the river, and don’t hesitate. I race down the soft, damp sand of the bank and then make a shallow dive in.
