Page 123 of My Wild Horse King

“Sarcasm.” Leonid nods. “It’s the lowest form of humor, but bravo. If I were in your situation, I’m not sure I’d be cracking jokes at all.”

“What do you want from me?” I ask. “Did you drag us here and threaten our friends just?—”

“Ah, ah, ah.” Leonid gestures toward Steve. “Where’s dear old Amanda? Tell her to come out and say hello.” He turns back toward me. “Friends? I think not. To me, these people are more likefamily.”

And suddenly, I’m with Grigoriy. I want to kill him.

“Look. Here she is.”

Mikhail has his arm run through Amanda’s and he’s walk-shoving her toward us, even as she stumbles.

“I’m sure you’ll be alarmed to hear that her heart problem took a turn last week.” He throws both hands up, palms out. “No fault of mine, I assure you. But the doctors say she hasn’t got much longer to be with us.” He clucks. “It’s such a shame, but people cannot live forever, can they?”

She truly looks terrible. She’s leaning on Mikhail like she’d collapse without his body as support. Her skin’s pale, and her eyes aren’t focusing properly.

Katerina and Kris both step toward Amanda.

“What do you want?” I ask again. “Just tell me.”

“I could heal her,” Alexei says. “If you just grant me my water powers for a moment, I’ll heal her.”

“Oh, but your darling Gustav now has powers.” Leonid tilts his head. “I should so like to see him save his cousin.” He looks around, a forced smile on his face. “I think we all would.”

“But I can’t,” I start. “I mean, I don’t know how?—”

“It took me years to learn to heal things,” Alexei says. “And years beyond that to be capable of something like a delicate heart repair.”

“Not a fast student, I see,” Leonid says. “I was able to heal Grigoriy after mere minutes using water.” He sighs. “I suppose not everyone’s created equal, no matter what this misguided country likes to believe.”

Alexei looks ready to strangle Leonid with his bare hands. “Just let me?—”

“Let you?” Leonid laughs. “It’s afreecountry here, or haven’t you heard?”

“But you know I can’t use my magic.” A vein in Alexei’s temple is throbbing.

“I can try,” I say.

“You could kill her,” Alexei says. “Her heart is leaking.”

“You can feel that?” Leonid’s eyes widen. “Spectacular. So you still have the affinity, just not the energy to do anything with it.” He smiles. “That’s even better, truly.”

“What do you want?” Katerina’s voice when she asks is soft. Like she’s talking to an old friend who’s lost his way.

His face shifts when he hears her voice. It hardens.

“Why did you travel this far?” Kat asks. “Why did you summon us here?”

“Have you ever had a gun pressed to your head, love?” Leonid takes three steps to a mesh yard chair and sits down. “Have you ever been afraid you wereaboutto die?”

I glance at Katerina, looking for some kind of guidance, but she’s frozen in place, her entire being focused on him and his taunts.

Leonid turns toward me, and he raises his eyebrows. “Oh, my. You two are dating.” He starts to laugh, then, standing up and pacing. “You do not waste any time, do you, my dear?”

Katerina’s cheeks are bright red.

“He’s handsome. I’ll give you that—you have consistently good taste.” He sighs and taps his index finger against his lip. “What do I want? Everyone keeps asking, but I’m shocked that you don’t already know.” He folds his hands together, and then he throws them outward. “I want peace for all the world. Isn’t that what everyone wants? Even Captain America, or was it Iron Man, who says, ‘Peace in our time.’”

I blink.

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