Page 41 of My Wild Horse King

11

KATERINA

Gustav’s a different person today. He’s smiling, albeit occasionally, and he’s not yelling nearly as much. I can’t tell what made the difference, but no one wants his company to succeed as much as I do. If he does well here, if he stays in the United States and never touches his magic, Leonid will leave him alone, and I won’t have to feel guilty about trying to trade knowledge about him for Alexei’s powers.

Not that my trade worked.

I shouldn’t have blurted the offer out like that. As if someone as honorable as Alexei Romanov would call off his engagement just to get his powers back. He would never be so blatantly selfish. Sometimes I project my own actions and feelings on him, and it always leads me to make the wrong call.

Like how I’ve backed myself into a corner.

I framed Leonid’s demand too heavily, and I can’t modify it without confessing that Leonid doesn’t care about Alexei having his powers as long as Leonid himself can also use them, which negates my involvement and therefore the credit. It would also compel me to admit that I went there with an offer—betraying Gustav for my own gain.

I’m stuck either failing in my goal or being outed as a villain.

As if that’s not bad enough, I’m also forced to sit here and watch Alexei and Adriana flirt and coo and generally behave like teenagers in lust. I can’t really roll my eyes and huff, because then I look even more juvenile, so I’m stuck looking away and pretending not to see or care.

Only, there’s not anywhere decent to look in this lobby.

“Why do we need to sit out here?” I ask. “Kristiana might be helpful. She knows a lot about betting and horse racing, plus she’s his sister, but what are the rest of us supposed to do?”

“You could protect him if it comes to it.” Grigoriy’s scowling. Of the three men, he’s always despised me the most. “Unless that’s too much to ask from someone like you.”

“Leonid took my powers when I went to beg for Alexei’s,” I mutter. “So I won’t be much help there.”

“Wait, he did?” Adriana looks shocked. “I—I’m sorry.”

The only thing worse than watching them flirting is having her pity me. “It’s fine,” I say. “I barely use mine anyway, and I can still shift.”

“Clearly,” Mirdza says. “That’s how you freaked out everyone at customs.”

“Not customs,” Grigoriy says. “The Department of Homeland Security. Customs is for declaring plants.”

“Anyway,” I say. “My point is that the rest of us could be. . .I don’t know. Doing something else. What’s the reason for all of us just hovering out here while he has meetings?”

“I need to keep all of you safe,” Aleksandr says, “and we need to protect Gustav, at least until he fully understands what’s at stake and what his role in it may be.”

“Do we even know that?” I ask. “I already told you that as long as he doesn’t try to use his powers, Leonid will leave him alone.”

“As if we can believe anything that maniac says.” Aleksandr scowls.

“So what’s your plan, then?” I ask. “Are you hoping to force Gustav into doing something selfless, and then train him into some kind of weapon to aim at Leonid?”

Grigoriy shrugs.

Aleksandr looks at the floor.

Alexei swallows.

And I realize that’sexactlywhat they mean to do. “You three act like Leonid’s the devil,” I say. “Which is ironic, because you’re almost as bad as he is, manipulating someone’s life like that.”

Aleks scoffs. “How can you, of all people, say that?”

“How dare you accuse them of being bad?” Adriana asks. “None of them incinerate massive groups of people.”

“What?” I ask.

“That was my introduction to Leonid,” Adriana says. “He barbecued a dozen men in the open street.”

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