Page 100 of My High Horse Czar

“Gav.” I step away from Alexei. I expect him to try and stop me, but he lets me go.

“Gavriil,” I say, louder this time.

My old friend swallows. “So all the stuff about never dating, that wasn’t true. You just didn’t want to date me.” He’s utterly still.

“It was true,” I say. “I never dated anyone.” I pause.

“So that guy is. . .” Gavriil’s staring at me, intently. I can tell we’re at the edge of something here. If I tell him Alexei is nothing, it’ll hurt Alexei, and Gav will double down. I can’t have that. So it’s time to rip the band-aid off.

“He is my boyfriend.” I shake my head. “It’s brand new, though. Like, it just started.”

I expect him to argue or try and convince me, but he doesn’t. Gavriil nods woodenly, turns around, and starts to walk away. He’s almost back to the corner of the building when he pauses and turns slowly. “I’m glad you’re alright.” His eyes shift past me. “Take good care of her. If you screw up, you won’t get a second chance.”

That’s the thing about the good guys. They don’t stick around when they know they aren’t wanted. It makes my heart hurt a little bit, though. If Martinš hadn’t broken me, I might have started dating him a long time ago.

Although, then I wouldn’t have met Alexei. . . Gavriil’s a good guy.

He’s just not the right guy.

“That was awkward,” Grigoriy says.

“I thought it was fun,” Aleksandr says. “I’ve been missing out on everything like this lately. I guess that’s my punishment for being the responsible one who woke up first.”

“We all appreciate it,” Alexei says.

“What has been so important?” I ask.

“We’re having some of Alexei’s property reinstated,” he says. “Yesterday, we got confirmation on the DNA—they’ve officially recognized that he’s the Romanov heir, after literally thousands of fake ones. It’ll hit the news outlets soon. Maybe tomorrow.”

That’s going to be fun.

“I’ve also been working with him to set up some ways to monetize the water magic.” Aleksandr’s good at that stuff. Mirdza says he helped Grigoriy turn his air power into money, too.

“It’ll be good for him to spend a little time as a horse,” Aleks says.

“I’m not so sure,” Alexei mutters.

I can’t help laughing.

Alexei’s eyes light up again. “If we just kill that pervert, we don’t need to race at all, right?”

“Think again, lover boy,” Mirdza says. “That race is our trap.”

He sighs. “Right.”

“Speaking of,” Kristiana says. “Time to go furry again.”

“Maybe don’t say that,” I say. “That’s actually a word they use for—”

All five of them are staring at me, brows furrowed.

“Never mind.” I can’t believe they’re all so naive. “Alright.” I point at the bag. “Time to shift back.”

“You two, turn around,” Aleksandr says.

“Why?” Mirdza asks. “You never seem to care who’s around.”

Grigoriy covers her eyes himself. “Naughty.”

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