Page 63 of Ivory Oath

“He’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Of course you would say that.” She wipes her hands on her coat and stands up, eyes narrowed. “When did you tell our six-year-old that he could curse?”

Here we go.

I wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her close before she can get mad and shove me away. “I told him it was okay if we were hunting.”

“And fishing, apparently?”

I shrug. “He extrapolated. It was a moment of excitement. It was all in good fun.”

“Tell that to Mrs. Steinman when he drops an F-bomb after acing his spelling test,” she snaps.

“Better an F-bomb than an F.” She tries to look annoyed with me, but she can’t quite manage it. Her mouth twists at the corners and I bend down and press a kiss there.

“He’s a good kid. A few curse words won’t kill him.”

She wraps her arms around my waist, tightening until it’s almost painful. “No, but the moment he flings one of those curse words at me because I tell him to eat his vegetables or make his bed, I’ll kill you.”

I pretend to think it over. “Seems fair.”

She rolls her eyes and tries to turn away, but I hold onto her. How can I not? This is it. This afternoon is the last one we’ll have out here. The last peaceful day we’ll have in a long while, if Viv’s father and Christos Drakos have anything to say about it.

Viviana softens against me. “What’s wrong?”

I should tell her—warn her that we need to leave. But I don’t want to shatter the moment. As it turns out, I don’t need to.

The sound of cracking ice and Dante screaming shatters it for me.

28

MIKHAIL

Viviana and I break apart, both turning and running towards… nothing.

The lake is empty. Dante is nowhere in sight.

“Dante!” Fog clouds in front of my face, blocking my view.

How long has it been since I last saw him? Thirty seconds? A minute? How far could he have gone?

“Dante!” Viviana cries just as I see his boots.

He must have kicked them off to slide better on the ice. They’re laying a few yards from the bend in the trees that marks the mouth of the river. Which is why I break into a dead sprint.

My feet slip out from under me again and again, but I keep moving. The world flies past as each second stretches and morphs. It’s been five seconds since he screamed. Ten, at the most. That’s not a long time… unless he’s underwater. Unless the layers he’s bundled in are waterlogged and he’s slipping deeper and deeper into the dark.

I lower my head and run faster.

“Dante!” Viviana is calling his name again and again behind me. I can hear her falling back. I want to turn around and tell her to stay put, but I know it won’t do any good. That’s our son out there. There’s no way she’ll wait patiently on the bank.

I jump over his snow boots and follow the edge of the water around the bend.

For a single second, my chest eases.

Dante is standing on the ice. He’s above water. He’s alive.

He turns towards me and his eyes are two black circles in his pale face. He’s terrified.

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