Page 29 of My Wild Horse King

I have no idea whether she’s serious.

I’m afraid she might be.

But perhaps more concerning than the possibility that she might be telling the truth, is the people who’ve begun to gather around and watch us. One of them’s fiddling with his phone. He could easily be recording us. It’s almost two-thirty in the morning, but this is New York City. Someone’s always awake, and with the internet, someone’s always watching.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Kris says again. “Please?”

“I have two guest rooms,” I say. “And one office. I’m not sure where everyone will sleep.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Kris says. “And in the morning, we can explain the rest of what’s going on.”

Or I’ll leave before they do and make sure no one at the office allows them inside. I doubt Kris would really have her husband or his friends do anything truly crazy. If so, I would already have seen some kind of reports of magical horse humans on the news, right?

“Fine.” I let them follow me up. How bad can it be to let them stay for a day or two?

We barely all fit on the elevator at the same time, and it makes for an uncomfortable ride.

“Sorry.” The Katerina person hasn’t met my eye since she walked into my apartment earlier. In fact, the only person she’s even looked at is. . . I follow her gaze to Alexei.

Alexei’s engaged to Adriana, I think. Before I had any inkling it might be the Adriana I’d almost forgotten about, I heard people talking about how the future czar of Russia proposed to some trashy woman on television. I know Mom loved her dearly, but that entire family was always a mess.

I refuse to get involved, but if I were Adriana’s actual brother, it would annoy me that Katerina can’t seem to stop staring at her boyfriend.

“What?” Katerina asks, her light green eyes looking up at mine.

“Nothing.” I shrug.

“Just ask,” she presses. “You’re thinking something, and I’m sure we all want to know what it is.”

“I’m just tired.” I yawn.

Adriana, Kristiana, Aleks, the blocky man named Grigoriy, and Alexei all yawn too.

Katerina does not. She scowls. “But that’s not what you’re thinking. You’re thinking something about me.”

“I was,” I admit. “I want to know why you came on a flight after the others. How did you get caught by the Department of Homeland Security and cause this mess?”

Everyone’s entirely silent when the elevator dings and the doors roll open. I’m stuck at the back, so I can’t do much about it. But when the doors start to close again, I’ve had it.

I shove outward, my arms bumping Kris and Katerina and shoving them into the people beside them. No one exits, but it does trigger the motion sensors and the doors open again.

“Are we planning to get off?” I ask. “Or are we all going back down?”

There’s a flurry of murmurs and shifting as they finally climb off. Once I’m free of the elevator, I press. “What’s really going on with you? Why are you here, and who are you?”

“You’re not asking who they are.” Katerina narrows her eyes at me.

“Because Kris is my sister. Aleks is her husband. Mirdza is her best friend, who’s marrying Aleksandr’s friend Grigoriy. Adriana’s Mirdza’s twin sister, and while none of us liked her as much as Mirdza, she’s still extended family. That makes Alexei, her fiancé, sort of family as well. But you’re just the woman who stares at him too much. So I want to know why you’re here and what made you later than them.” I cross my arms. “Kris said you’d explain things, and that’s what I want to know, because they all had diplomatic visas, whereas you landed with nothing at all other than my name.”

“You’re absolutely right. I am late.” Katerina lifts her chin. “Instead of flying here with them, I took a detour.” Her eyes flash. “I went to see Leonid, the new ruler of Russia, to beg him to grant Alexei his powers again.” She winces, like saying all that was not intended.

“You did what?” Alexei asks.

She shakes her head. “I won’t apologize. He even told me he’d give them to you. On one condition.”

Adriana’s jaw dangles open.

It’s been a long time since I saw her, but I don’t recall anyone shocking her when she was younger. I’m guessing that hasn’t changed much in the past decade.

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