Page 121 of Kingmakers, Year Four

That’s later than we usually meet. I frown at him.

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” he says, not quite meeting my eye. “Why would something be wrong?”

“I don’t know. You just seem . . .”

I don’t know how he seems. I can’t decipher his expression. It’s not quite nervousness. Not quite excitement.

“I’ll be waiting outside the Solar,” he says.

“What are we going to do?”

“It’s a surprise.”

He smiles now, but it’s tense and strained.

Something’s wrong.

I hope he’ll tell me what’s going on if I meet him tonight.

If he doesn’t . . . I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

29

Rafe Petrov

Idon’t want to bring Nix with me tonight.

I’m considering just leaving her here.

I’m the one who has to take the boat and meet my mom and Freya in Dubrovnik—if I show up without Nix, there’s nothing they can do about it. We can attack the mine and take our chances.

But then, if something happens to my father . . . it will be my fault. Because I didn’t bring our insurance.

On the other hand, if something happens to Nix . . . that will be my fault, too.

I’m pulled in two directions, tearing down the center line.

I don’t know what the fuck to do.

It doesn’t help when my mother calls me in the middle of my International Investment class. I feel the phone vibrating in my pocket, and I make a quick excuse to run to the bathroom and sequester myself in the furthest stall, picking up on the last ring.

“What is it?”

“Dom’s not coming tonight,” my mother says.

“What do you mean?”

“Danyl Kuznetsov, Foma Kushnir, and six of their men just showed up in St. Petersburg. They haven’t come to the monastery yet, but they’re clearly snooping around. Zima says they’re in the Diamond District right now.”

“So . . . are we waiting, then?” I ask.

“No,” my mother says, grimly. “We can’t wait any longer. Danyl is clearly determined to pull the lid off this thing. Whatever happens today, he’s going to run back to Moscow to run his mouth. Kuzmo’s at the mine, Miles is waiting at the Four Seasons. The wheels are already in motion. We’re seeing it through.”

“Will Adrik still be there?”

“Yes. But we’re short Dom and four of his men.”

---