Page 46 of My Wild Horse King

But it’s quickly apparent that Leonid has a natural knack for this. His hand-eye coordination’s stellar, and he picks up the basics quickly. “Ah, you didn’t hit it hard enough, so it bounced twice, and that means we get the point,” he says.

Alexei’s face flushes bright red. “Yes, that’s right.”

“Thanks for demonstrating,” I say.

“But I think I get it now,” Leonid says. “No need to slow down quite so much for me.”

Halfway through the set, I bow out and let them play one another. And when, at the end, it’s neck and neck, an experienced player against a novice, I can tell that Alexei’s hackles are up.

“The sun’s close to setting,” I call.

“Huh?” Leonid turns.

Alexei could serve then, when he’s distracted, but he’s too good of a sport to do that. Instead he lowers his head. “And?”

“Everyone’s coming tomorrow,” I say. “I thought tonight might be a good time to go to Vyborgsky.”

Alexei drops the ball, which bounces a few times and rolls into the base of the net. “Why?”

“Why do we ever go there?” I shrug, and then I stare. “To see.” Because if Leonid reallyisone of us, we may as well find out. And if he is. . .Alexei might really become nervous.

Nervous enough to be jealous.

Even when he finds out Leonid’s just a servant.

Alexei’s frowning when he tosses his racket to one of his attendants and starts walking toward the back of the palace. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

Leonid’s following, but at a suitable distance. Like he’s a servant. I hiss and wave for him to catch up.

“What could happen to us?” I roll my eyes. “Between the two of us, we can stop anything bad, and it’s a great place to find a selfless act, don’t you think?”

“It’s not selfless if he’s doing it for the wrong reasons.”

Don’t I know it. “We’ll find out,” I say. “If he can find something to do, then we’ll know that he either doesn’t have the capacity, or his heart’s in the wrong place.”

“I guess.” Alexei’s moody through all of dinner, but when we’re done, once his parents dismiss us, he calls for a car.

“No need for that,” Leonid says. “I can drive—I hate having to wait for other people to take me places.”

“It’s why we brought the car,” I say, softening the implied criticism.

“Fine,” Alexei says.

Within five minutes, we’reen routeto the roughest part of town. As Petrograd has industrialized over the past fifteen years, it has swelled to more than twice its former size. The housing quarters have not been able to keep up, so there are always little groups of vagrants who converge in the areas with the most factories.

When you put that many people together, there are always some who don’t behave properly. But we must’ve chosen an off night to come. Everyone we see ducks their head and walks away. Even when we leave the key unattended in the car and meander the other direction, no one seems inclined to do anything nefarious.

Finally, close to midnight, we catch a break.

I hope.

Someone’s screaming a block or so away. “It’s fine,” I say. “I’ll watch the car, and you guys go check that out.”

"Are you sure?” Alexei asks.

I hold out my hands and a bolt arcs from my right to my left. “I’m fine.”

They’re gone for a while. Quite a while, in fact. They’re gone long enough that I get bored. I shoot lightning bolts from one hand to the next for a while, but then even that gets old. Bored might be bad, but what’s worse is sleepy. I must not even realize it when I drift off.

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