Page 96 of Samhain

“Well, let’s find out, huh?” She nodded toward her house and gestured for us to follow. We went, and I tried to keep my shit on straight at the decadence of this place. The foyer opened into a large great room on one side and a parlor on the other. Up ahead, the hallway led into a dining room, where I could only see half of the long table before it disappeared behind the wall. The chandelier overhead screamed opulence, somehow more shimmering and shiny than the one at Miri’s Malibu dream house.

Vera shoved sugary sweet decadence in our direction and my amazement at their house disappeared in favor of watching Poppy’s face light up as she took one. She licked her lips and smiled, sucking the lemon bits off her fingers.

“That was delicious, thank you,” she said.

“There is more, my dear,” Vera said. “Come. Come.” Poppy followed her down the hallway and into the dining room, but Dmitri waved his fingers to beckon us down a long, dark corridor to our right. He pushed open a door on the left, a study judging by the enormous desk by the window and the two sofas facing each other in front of it. He walked to the dumbwaiter in the far corner so he could pour three shots of vodka before handing one to each of us and holding his up in the air.

“Zdrarovye!” he said. Lex and I echoed the sentiment and tipped them over our heads. I shivered as it burned down my throat, warming my belly, but it was the best vodka I’d ever had. Fresh from the source, or whatever.

“Tell me,” Dmitri said, lowering into a big recliner next to one of the couches. “Where did this child come from?”

“Her family abandoned her.” Lex sat on the couch next to his uncle as he spoke. “Carter’s all she has left.”

Dmitri nodded and reached for a cigar, clipping the end before offering it to Lex. He did the same to another and handed it to me. Cigars usually made me want to vomit, but I couldn’t politely refuse. I didn’t want to piss off Uncle Dmitri before we’d secured his help. When he lit it, I puffed on it and swallowed down my reflex, pretending not to be bothered.

“You are a fancy TV star, yeah?” Dmitri lit his cigar and leaned back in the seat. “Why isn’t she going home with you?”

“Her family was in big to some asshole calling himself King Alberich,” Lex explained before I could say anything.

Dmitri rolled his eyes, muttering something in Russian that sounded demeaning. “Every day, a new idiot comes up with something ridiculous to call himself. King Alberich.” He made a noise of disgust. “Figures.”

“We need to keep her safe,” Lex said, “and hidden until we can deal with him.”

Dmitri rolled the cigar between his index finger and his thumb. “Deal with him, how?”

“We’re still working on that,” I cut in.

Dmitri bit the end of his cigar and inhaled on it before saying something in Russian that made Lex’s attention snap up, something meant for me not to understand. Lex flashed his uncle a devilish, charming grin and winked, answering in the same language, purposely excluding me.

Dmitri gazed back and forth between us before he laughed and clapped his knee, leaning forward so he could choke and wheeze even harder. I narrowed my eyes and opened my mouth to question what was going on, but Lex shook his head to stop me.

“I’ll hide her as long as I can,” Dmitri said, wiping at his eyes, finally calming. “She will be safe with me. You have my word. No harm will come to her under my watch.”

“Thank you, Djadja,” Lex said. “Please let me know how I can repay you.”

“Bahhhhh,” Dmitri said, waving him away. “We’re family. Blood is more important than debt, yeah?” He tapped his cigar and looked back at us. “Now…tell me. Are you still dating that beautiful English princess?”

Lex laughed, and the conversation drifted to other things, my initial discomfort easing. Dmitri and Vera seemed like kind people, even if Lex assured me they were George and Evelyn Washington without the need to hide their evil deeds from a public that adored them. The public already knew (or suspected) the Romanovs were dirty.

When I found Poppy playing dolls with one of Lex’s cousins, I lost the rest of my opposition. I believed Dmitri when he gave me his word she’d be safe. And I believed Vera had that spark that meant she’d mother anything that needed it, whether they wanted her nurturing or not.

Poppy needed it in a big way.

“You doing okay?” I asked her when Lex wanted to take our stuff to our rooms.

She nodded and smiled, snacking on some cheese and crackers, returning to her game with her new friend. I followed my husband through the mansion, hoping to catch a shower before dinner.

We stayed there for a few days while Poppy settled in to make sure she was comfortable. Dmitri obtained an American passport for her with a new name, Penelope Smith, just in case she needed to run at a moment’s notice. He gave her a room next to Lex’s cousin, Ursula, and during those few days, Poppy came to life.

Sure, she had a long road ahead of her and every day, she’d have to live in fear Alberich might show up. But she knew what to do if that happened. We’d made a game plan.

“You have the picture of Ivy’s house in DC,” I told her, giving her the burner phone and showing her how to pull up the photos. “Go there immediately, okay?”

“Thank you for this, Carter,” she said with a nod, grabbing my hand with her miniature one. God, she was so small, so little. She shouldn’t have been able to understand as much as she did. She shouldn’t have seen all that she had. “Thank you for keeping me safe.”

“I promise I always will,” I told her, holding up my pinky finger. “Pinky swear.”

She laughed and squeezed it. “Pinky swear.”

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