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“But at least you know what happened now,” Kharon says gently.
I turn into his chest, and my sob finally breaks free. “Take me home,” I finally manage to hiccup out.
He nods into my hair, and all three pairs of arms wrap around me. I squeeze my eyes shut as the world drops from underneath my feet as we plane-jump back to our world.
Chapter Twenty-Five
KHARON
When we get back to the church, it’s night-time. I stoke the fire, then leap to gather more snow to boil for water. I note that the raging storm has finally ended. The skies are so calm, I can see all the stars.
Ksenia is huddled near the fire, her knees pulled to her chest.
I wonder if taking her to her father was the right thing to do. But surely knowing is better than not, even if it is painful.
“The storm has stopped,” I say quietly, sitting on the floor several feet away from her. All I want is to gather her into my arms, but it does not seem right to crowd her in her grief.
When she looks my way, the firelight gleams off tear tracks on her cheeks.
“Good,” she says, her voice hard. “As soon as it’s light out, you can take me to where my uncle lives so I can get my revenge.”
I nod slowly. “If you allow it, I would like to assist you.”
She blinks in surprise. “You would do that?”
How can she ask that? But then, I suppose, in reality, we are still nothing to one another. Even though she has transformed what it means to be alive for me. I have known true happiness, and it is not just the fucking. That has been—Yes, that has been quite wonderful.
More than that, this creature has shared herself fully with me and wanted me in return without judgment or condemnation. She has found joy in my presence and my body, and for that, I will be hers forever. Still, though, I know I am the moon to her sun in a sky they will not share except for this brief, rare eclipse.
“Of course,” I say simply.
Then her eyebrows furrow. “Do you think I’m not deadly enough on my own? It’s only because he took me by surprise that I—”
I chuckle. “I’ve seen you in action with your knives. I know you are plenty deadly. But from what you described, your uncle will not be unguarded. I have fought alongside many armies. You will be the commander, and I will follow your lead.”
“Oh,” she says, nodding. “Okay. Usually, I work alone. . . But it would be nice to have some help.”
“I am happy to be of help.”
She nods. “I’ll tell you about my uncle’s villa compound outside St. Petersburg then. Because you’re right. He’s a paranoid son of a bitch, and we’ll have to be careful if we want to get in unnoticed.”
I grin. “I can walk in shadow. I’m very good at going unnoticed.”
Her eyes narrow. “I remember. You followed me in the woods.”
I nod.
“And you’re a good fighter? I mean, I saw you with the wolves, but what about men?”
“My father often set my brothers and I against each other. I am a good fighter.”
Her eyes widen. “Well, if you grew up fighting them, I guess I can trust you to handle yourself. Plus the whole—” She waves a hand. “Reaper thing you’ve got going on. You can just, what? Send people to that shadowy place by touching them?”
It’s a bit of an oversimplification, but I nod.
She breathes out long and low. “Okay then.”
She moves to the fire and snatches up one of the thinner kindling sticks, then roots around in the ashes near the edge of the fire. “So this is what my uncle’s compound looks like.” Moving far enough away from the fire to be free of the sleeping bag, she begins to sketch on the stone floor with the ash.
“He’ll have his commandos stationed here, here, and here. . .”
For the next half hour, she discusses her plan. It’s well thought-out. Detailed. She has contingencies.
“We’ll strike at night, so he should be in his bedroom, here.” With fresh ash, she circles a portion of the schematics she’s sketched out. “But sometimes he stays up watching movies, so he might be in his home theater down here.” Another circle. “We must keep quiet at all costs so he doesn’t have time to get to his safe room.”
“What happens if he gets to his safe room?”
She huffs out a breath, making a lock of hair that’s fallen in her face flutter. “Then I have to use the explosives, which gets messy. The walls are a foot thick. Concrete with reinforced steel. It will take time we don’t have.”
I nod. “So we need to be fast and quiet.”
“Exactly.”
“It is a good plan.”
“It has to be a perfect plan.”
