Page 47 of Fate and Fury

Niko swore under his breath, stepping back even as he lifted a hand in greeting. “We were just discussing the battle,” he called to Elena. “You’re unhurt?”

Any of the other Shadows, Katerina thought, would have gone to their betrothed, murmuring words of reassurance, embracing them. But Niko didn’t move.

The Vila shifted her weight in clear invitation, one hand on her hip. “I’m fine. Only frightened, for you as much as for myself. They told me you lived, that you had not suffered so much as a nick. But I wanted to see with my own eyes.”

You saw,Katerina wanted to say.So now you can go.Instead she pasted a smile onto her own face in her best attempt at welcome. It must have looked as strained as it felt, because Elena’s look of puzzlement deepened.

“Are you two all right?” she asked.

“We’re fine. Just a little shaken,” Niko said, moving so that he blocked Katerina from view—protecting her, she realized with dull amusement, even from herself. “I’ll be right there.”

“Take all the time you need. I’m going home, to help see to the children.” Elena’s voice shook, betraying how frightened she’d been. She forced one last brilliant smile for their benefit—that was Elena, always trying to put the best face on a situation—then went off down the path as silently as she’d come.

“Saints and demons,” Niko muttered, watching her go.

Katerina was silent. She’d rather deal with a horde of Grigori than this.

“I don’t want to leave you. But I need a moment,” he said, the words coming hard. “I need to go check on her.”

“Of course,” she said, turning away.

“Katya, don’t.” She felt the movement of the air as he reached for her, then thought better of it and let his hand fall.

“I understand,” she said, her back still turned. “You wouldn’t be who you are—loyal and honorable—if you acted otherwise. Go.”

But still he didn’t move. “Look at me,” he said, as he had that first night in the forest.

Katerina spun on her heel, prepared to tell him again to leave—but at the desolate expression on his face, she bit back the words. A muscle twitched in his jaw, and his eyes shone. She had never seen him cry, not even when he was twelve and broke his leg jumping from a haybarn, on a dare.

He shoved his hair back with a rough, impatient gesture. “This is tearing me apart. Understand that, if nothing else.”

Even before they were bonded, she’d felt his pain as if it were her own. Now, it was a thousand times worse. “You should go to her,” she said, struggling to keep the emotion from her voice. “She needs you.”

His eyes searched her face. “That she does, Katerina. But I needyou.”

As I need you,she thought but did not say.

“I know what you think of her,” Niko said. “Of all the Vila. But if no Vila lived, then I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today. And you would have likely died when the Grigori attacked.”

“I’m the hero of my own story.” Her lip curled. “I save myself.”

Conviction drove his voice deep. “We save each other, Katya. We’re stronger—together. You’re the one who told me so. Remember?”

His fingers closed, warm, on hers a moment before he strode away, toward the cluster of cottages where the Vila lived, the weight of his destiny heavy on his shoulders.

27

GADREEL

If there was one thing Gadreel disliked more than Sammael, it was being forced to attend a meeting. Being forced to attend a meetingwith Sammaelwas truly the eleventh circle of Hell, where all the demons were inconsequential, the rain smelled of over-scorched sulfur, and the torture was unimaginative.

The meeting was about the Darkness, of course. Sammael had requested it, concerned about what he termed “Gadreel’s overzealousness.” He wanted to make sure that what happened in Drezna was not, as Sammael put it, “about to become a regular occurrence.” And Gadreel couldn’t put him off any longer. To do so would look suspicious.

Sammael had been so obnoxious about this meeting, too. It had to be today, even though Gadreel had just returned from his raid on Kalach hours before. It could only last for a specific amount of time, because Sammael had somewhere to be. Secretly, Gadreel suspected Sammael had nowhere to be at all. He just wanted to aggravate Gadreel as much as possible.

But the more he cooperated with his archenemy, the less suspicious Sammael was likely to become. If the other demonsknew the truth of what Gadreel had set loose on the world, even the ones who had allied with him for millennia would turn on him. He had to buy time until he could get his hands on Katerina Ivanova, and that meant playing relatively nice with Sammael.

He couldn’t very well meet with the other demon in his throne room, since it still bore the marks of Drezna’s collapse. So he’d chosen the next best thing—his library. They would meet via Gadreel’s mirror and Sammael’s scrying pool, which were handy for such things. But before then, Gadreel wanted the lay of the land, so to speak.

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