Page 41 of Fate and Fury

Katerina didn’t know what to wish for. If Baba and the Elders were to send her and Niko now, then that would mean leaving her village and everyone she loved behind. It would mean breaking her vow to defend Kalach. But perhaps it would also mean delaying Niko’s marriage to Elena, for surely the Vila wouldn’t travel with them based on a mere betrothal. In that case, would it be worth it?

Around her, the villagers muttered amongst themselves, and across the square, Elena was trying desperately to catch Niko’s eye. Her Shadow wasn’t looking at his betrothed, though, nor at Katerina. His gaze was fixed on the men on horseback, his blade sheathed but his hand resting on the hilt, his body poised for violence. And his fellow Shadows flanked him, taking his lead.

A sudden swell of pride filled Katerina. He was a prince among Shadows, not just because he was hers, but because of his strength and talent and force of will. Where he led, his pack would follow. It was no small thing to be the alpha of a pack of Shadows. His absence would leave a gaping hole.

Once again, she cursed the Kniaz. How could he not understand that Iriska was only as strong as the villagesthat protected the portals to the Underworld? If the Darkness devoured the rest of the Seven Villages, Rivki would fall, too. And when it did, the demons would pillage and devour, consuming human souls until there was nothing left.

The Kniaz, Katerina concluded, was a fool as well as a tyrant.

Next to Katerina, Ana said, low-voiced, “What do you think they’ll do? If they don’t send you and Niko, do you think…” She stole a look at Alexei, standing straight-backed by Niko’s side, then fidgeted with a willow twig she’d scooped from the stones, shredding the leaves from the wood. “I never thought I would go to Rivki, Katerina. I always thought it would be you.”

You and everyone else,Katerina thought but didn’t say. “Even if you did go,” she told Ana, trying desperately to lighten the mood, “it would only be for a month. You could think of it as an adventure. Drink oceans of kvass, bed all the women you like before you have to choose a mate to sire your Dimichild…”

Ana snorted. Her proclivity for beautiful women was well-known in Kalach, though she was fond of handsome men, as well. Every time she and Alexei brought the Kniaz his tithe, Ana had returned full of tales of the gorgeous, daring women at court who were only too happy to take a firewitch to their bed.

“Any man I marry will have to be happy to share me.” Ana’s smile looked forced, but it was better than no smile at all. “And the pickings are indeed slim here in Kalach. Perhaps you’re right. I should pray to the Saints to send me to Rivki, before the Darkness eats us all and I haven’t yet had a chance to sleep with the most beautiful woman in Iriska.”

Katerina bit back her retort as Elena broke loose from Alyona’s side and traipsed across the square, her flowing purple garments adorned with white charms for fertility, love, and domesticity. Her blond hair streamed behind her, stirred by the fresh spring breeze, as she crossed to where Niko and Katerina stood. Andrei’s eyes lingered on her with an avidity thatwould’ve made Katerina want to carve them out of his head, but Elena just gave him a coy smile, accepting the tribute as her due.

“Katerina,” she said breathlessly as she crossed the invisible line between the Kniaz’s emissaries and the clump of Shadows and Dimis, “what do you think Baba will decide? Do you think we’ll have to leave so soon?” She lowered her voice. “That horrid man—he could have hurt Niko. I don’t blame you in the least for tossing him into the grove.”

“Yet you smiled at him,” Katerina said without heat. Her heart wasn’t in needling Elena, as she usually did.

Elena spared Andrei a glance from beneath her lashes. “You have to learn how to manage men, Katerina. You can’t always hurl them through the air, after all. And certainly you don’t plan on lighting the Kniaz on fire should he show you favor.”

Katerina rolled her eyes; it was as if the Vila had read her mind. “I would never,” she said, loud enough for Andrei to hear. “Perhaps I’d toss him in the moat as a snack for the Vodyanoy. Less waste, you know.”

Andrei glared at her. Elena gave a shocked gasp. And Ana, bless her kindred little heart, began to laugh.

“Worry not, Vila Lisova,” she said. “Your betrothed will keep Katerina from doing anything too rash.”

“Ha,” Katerina said before she could stop herself, remembering how Niko had launched himself at Andrei. “Only because he’d be too busy doing it himself.”

“Hewasglorious,” Elena said dreamily. “But impulsive. I want him to live long enough to seed our Shadowchild, after all.”

To the Saints with the Kniaz. Katerina wanted to light everyone in the square on fire, especially herself. “In the name of Sant Antoniya, what is taking so long?” she said to Lara, who had stepped up next to her.

Her fellow Dimi shrugged. “It’s no small choice. But look. Here they come now.”

Sure enough, Baba Petrova and the Elders were making their way down the path that led back to the village square. Katerina held her breath as they approached. The murmur of the villagers, of the Shadows and Dimis and Vila, faded into silence.

“Well?” Andrei said, his lip curling as Baba and the Elders took their places once more. “What say you, Baba of Kalach? Have you come to a decision?”

Niko’s eyes were fixed on Katerina’s face, boring into her, as Baba’s voice filled the square. “We will grant you the three pairings you requested. Lara and Ilya, Svetlana and Luka, Natalya and Ivan—you will ride out with the Kniaz’s party.”

Lara sucked in her breath, and Katerina squeezed her hand. “You will do well,” she whispered. “It’s just for a little while.”

Lara nodded, but her eyes shone with tears as Baba turned to the three men on horseback, her expression grim. “We grant you this, on the condition that they’ll be returned to us at the Blood Moon, when Dimi Ivanova and her Shadow deliver the tithe.”

“So shall it be,” Andrei replied. “You have the word of the Kniaz, before witnesses.”

Katerina schooled her expression to blankness. Relief blended with guilt, that her sisters would be forced to ride out from Kalach in her stead. And a burning sort of joy: she and Niko would doubtless go to Rivki on their own, giving her two months when she wouldn’t have to endure the sappy, anticipatory way Elena regarded her Shadow?—

“We are agreed,” Baba Petrova said, interrupting her thoughts. “But allowances must be made. Vila Lisova”—she gestured at Elena—“is meant to wed Niko Alekhin three months hence. This changes things. When the tithe is delivered at the Blood Moon, she will ride out with them, as Shadow Alekhin’s wife.”

The ground dropped from beneath Katerina, the world fracturing to bits as it had during the Trials: Elena’s delightedsmile, the clench of Niko’s jaw, the satisfied expression on Andrei’s face at the notion that Elena would be within his reach—for clearly he cared not a fig for the bond of marriage.

All eyes were on the three of them—Dimi, Shadow, and Vila. She couldn’t let her devastation show.

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