Page 26 of Fate and Fury

It had been the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for Katerina. But she’d seen the way her Shadow’s gaze couldn’t hold hers, the way he fiddled with his blades rather than meet her eyes, and knew he’d felt self-conscious. So she’d let it go…but every night, when she slid into bed, she knew he was watching over her.

“Home at last,” he said, coming in behind her now. “And not a moment too soon.”

It was the first thing he’d said since Baba had done her best to heal Katerina’s leg, using a combination of herbs and charms, and they’d departed her cottage. The whole way down the winding streets that led through the village square and past the pastures where the horses grazed, he’d walked in silence, only grunting in response to Katerina’s attempts to make conversation. His head swiveled, like he expected demons to come creeping out of the trees or between the small cottagesthe Vila shared, near the red-roofed, wood-sided building where they cared for small Dimi, Vila, and Shadowchildren. His eyes had lingered on the runes inscribed on the window trim and the shutters, as if to see if they’d been tampered with.

The silence was unlike him. Katerina was usually the one to brood, and he the one to jolly her out of it. But there was no jollying Niko out of anything. Whatever strange mood had settled upon him in the clearing last night had returned full-force. He’d glared at Elena’s cottage as they passed it, the shadows beginning to slip from the trees to lick their way up the path that led to the Vila’s door. He’d glared at the birds who had the audacity to cross their path. And he was glaring at their cottage now, stalking the length of the front room and then into Katerina’s bedroom, where he peered under the bed as if checking for evil spirits or monsters.

She came up behind him, and he whirled, only relaxing a hair when he saw it was her. “Kikimora usually live in the cellar or behind the stove, you know,” she told him, endeavoring to lighten the mood. “And we haven’t got a cellar. If there’s a house spirit behind the stove, perhaps I can persuade it to make us a cup of tea.”

“Everything is a joke to you, Katya,” he said, stomping past her as if he actually intended to inspect the stove for demonic invasion. But no; he grabbed the fireplace poker and thrust it into the chimney, looking satisfied when he skewered nothing but air. He made sure the door was locked, then pulled his spare blades from the rune-carved cabinet, undid the velvet cloth that held them, and began grimly sharpening them one by one.

When Katerina was upset, she usually set something on fire. Niko, on the other hand…well, he didn’t get upset, not like this. He faced whatever was bothering him head-on and then got over it; she supposed it was the only way he was able to deal with her volatility, to strike the balance that made them theperfect warrior pairing. She had no idea how to handle this new version of her Shadow, who glowered at his blades as if he would like to put them through the eye of the next creature that was unfortunate enough to cross his path.

Well, the only creature here was Katerina, and she had no intention of getting eye-skewered. She stayed out of his way, tidying their cottage—sweeping the floor, setting a pot full of sweet-smelling herbs on the wood-burning stove, boiling water for chamomile tea and then crumbling bits of lavender, valerian, and lemon balm into it. She set a cup next to Niko, hoping the soothing aroma would help, but he didn’t so much as acknowledge it. Instead, he finished sharpening his blades, lay two of them on the table as if he expected a demon to come calling, and then stalked to the cabinet and put the rest carefully away.

Katerina thought that now, surely, he would speak. But no: he paced to the windows, peered out, then grabbed his pallet and unrolled it in front of the hearth. His aura was a stormcloud, so dark that for a terrible instant, she wondered if holding off the Grigori on the road had infected him somehow.

She couldn’t take it anymore. “What is it? What’s troubling you?”

“Nothing.”

This was so obviously untrue, she didn’t dignify entertaining it. “Is it because I insisted we stay on the road? Or do you miss Elena?” The Vila’s name tore at Katerina’s throat, and she forced a smile. “Maybe you wish to seek solace with her, after what we’ve been through. That’s understandable; I wouldn’t resent it if you wanted to abandon my hearth for hers.”

Lie,a voice whispered inside her head.Lie, lie, lie.

“I don’t want to go see Elena.” His voice was gruff as he unfolded his quilt, set it to the side of the fireplace, checked the windows for intruders. Checked them again.

Relief flooded Katerina, and she fought to squelch it. “No? Then for the love of all the Saints, can you stop fidgeting and look at me?”

At that, Niko turned. The look on his face was like nothing she’d ever seen before: a cold black fury, turning his gray eyes to chips of mica and setting his face in lines of granite. She took an involuntary step backward as he stalked toward her.

“Are you that oblivious, Katerina? Do you really not see?”

“See what?” It was an effort to keep her voice level as he advanced on her. She stepped backward, once, then again, until he caged her against the wall by her bed. “What are you talking about?”

“Elena isfine.”He spat the words, an inch from her face. Rage rolled off him, staining his aura with a near-tangible red tint. “You, on the other hand… How do you think it made me feel to hear Baba say you are the cause of what happened on the road to Drezna?”

This close to him, it was hard for Katerina to breathe, let alone think. She stared up into those storm-dark eyes and gave it her best effort. “Angry with me?”

He growled, the sound rumbling up from his chest and shaking them both. His hands were braced on either side of her head, his body tense as if for battle. “You are impossible!”

Katerina had never seen him like this. Teeth bared and blade bloody in defense of her and of Kalach, sure. Filled with unspoken fury and grief at what had befallen the citizens of Drezna, without question. Irritated with the risks she took, definitely. But never had the slow-burning, controlled rage that simmered within him been directed at her. “I’m sorry,” she managed. “I should have listened to you. We never should have left the island?—”

“You think that’s what I’m upset about?” His voice was low, dangerous. “We’ve been over this. If we hadn’t been there, onthat road, who knows where that horde would’ve gone next? We couldn’t save Drezna, but we saved others, Dimi mine. You were right to face the danger, rather than to run from it.”

Puzzlement creased Katerina’s brow. “But then what?—”

He slammed a fist into the plaster beside her head. Dust rose, sifting through the air. She flinched, and he swore, shaking his head so that his dark hair, loose from its tie, spilled into his eyes. “Saints, Katerina, don’t you see? This evil…the attacks across Iriska…it’s coming from too many places at once. None of those demons survived, true, but they were minions. Whoever sent them will have long since discovered what befell his soldiers, and will be on the hunt for the cause. You heard Baba: Gadreel himself will want you. To take you, to destroy you, to use you. How am I supposed to protect you now?”

Pain lanced through Katerina, so sharp it made her gasp for breath. She looked up into her Shadow’s furious eyes and realized, to her horror, that the pain wasn’t her own. It was his.

She could bear anything but that.

“Niko.” She brushed her fingertips across his face, rough with stubble. “Don’t do this to yourself. This burden isn’t yours to bear.”

He stared down at her, his eyes darkening further still. And then his hand came up, wrapping around hers, their fingers intertwining. His eyes held hers, and Katerina’s magic rose. It knew him. It wanted him.

Slowly, so slowly, his head lowered, his lips a breath from hers. He froze there, her claiming his breath for her own, him taking it back again. Katerina’s heart pounded, her skin tingling. Her magic spiked, wanting out, and air hissed between Niko’s teeth.

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