Page 195 of Cashmere Ruin

But Matvey doesn’t stay to answer. He just strides ahead.

“Petra,” I murmur, “there’s something you should know.”

After listening to my explanation, Petra spends five full minutes staring into space. “That’s why he did all this?” she asks finally. “Because he found out that Matvey wasn’t…?”

“His biological brother,” I fill in. “Yeah. I guess it must’ve been quite a shock.”

“But that doesn’t change anything,” she retorts. “They have history. They have a bond. Why would he think that didn’t matter?”

“Maybe he didn’t.” I wring my hands. “Maybe he just thought it wouldn’t matter to…”

I steal a glance at Matvey’s back. I have no doubt our voices carry far enough for him to hear, but he’s not saying anything. Just marching straight ahead, like a soldier on the battlefield. It probably helps—to focus on the here and now.

“Motherfucker,” Petra curses. “Why didn’t he just talk to me?”

“Because he’s a man?”

Petra just huffs. “Blyat’.Ever think we should just run away together?”

“Who, us?”

“Yup. Raise our kids like Amazon queens.”

I bite back a laugh. “What if you have a boy?”

“He can fetch our arrows.”

My eyes turn back to Matvey. “That’s tempting,” I say. “But I have too many reasons to stay.”

She follows my gaze. “Looks like one, from where I’m sitting.”

“Yeah, well, it’s an important one.” I let my chest fill with warmth. “Maybe the most important reason of all.”

“Christ, get a room.”

I laugh and catch up with Matvey. When I slip my hand into his, he doesn’t move away. Only throws me a sideways glance and mutters, “Amazons? Really?”

“Hey, it was your wife’s idea.”

“You gonna teach May how to ride a horse?”

My smile wavers. “If I can, I want to teach her everything.”

He squeezes my hand, firm and sure, as if trying to share his strength with me. To tell me, in his language of a man of few words:I am here. I’m not going anywhere.

I squeeze back, then step into the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Do you think we took a wrong turn?” Petra asks after five minutes of searching the empty room.

“We didn’t take any turns,” Matvey says. “It was a straight path.”

“Maybe you missed something.”

“Maybe you should shut the fuck up.”

“Guys?” I tremble. “Maybe you should both look here.”

I point with a shaking finger to a section of the wall across from us. It’s like a sci-fi movie: one second there was nothing there, and the next, the outline of a door appears.

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