Page 63 of My Wild Horse King

“Oh, man, G, why do you always do that?” Kristiana’s bending over, using a handful of napkins to try and salvage my rug.

“I can’t do a thing,” I say. “Should I be able to feel something?”

“The second I told Leonid I’d be happy for him to have the same power as me, if only that was possible, he zapped me.” Katerina shrugs. “It was an accident, but?—”

“Yeah, right,” Aleksandr says. “That guy’s villainous.”

“It was an accident,” Katerina insists. “At the time, he was very apologetic.”

“So why can’t I use wind?” I frown. “I thought you said all you had to do was?—”

“If it didn’t work, maybe that means you won’t get sick.” Katerina’s forced smile is cute.

“I, Aleksandr Volkonsky, hereby give all my powers, strength, and abilities to Gustav Liepa, or Daniel Belmont, or whoever you are. You will have and control them irrevocably.”

“Geez,” Kristiana says. “He just said he doesn’t want to be wiped out for?—”

“We can’t wait two weeks,” Aleks says. “We need to start training him now.”

“But, still,” Kris says. “He has some rights.”

“And?” Katerina’s staring at my face. “Can you feel anything?”

“What should I feel?”

“You should be able to sense that there’s dust underneath your sofa,” Aleks says. “In that potted plant, there’s real soil.” Aleks points. “And there’s an accumulation of junk under your dishwasher, and in the bottom of that pipe.” Aleks steps closer. “I can feel it, all of it, and the earth down below this building almost quivers. It would be hard, but I could force it upward if I tried, shearing through the layers of the building, or I could bring it up and around and through the windows.” He’s still watching me like a researcher in a lab, looking through a microscope. “Do you feelanyof that?”

I shake my head.

“What about her ring?” Aleks points at Kristiana without turning his head. “Or the other women’s jewels? Can you sense them?”

“Sensethem?”

Aleks gestures with two fingers and the ring flies off Kristiana’s finger and into his hand. “You can call the elements, the earth, and any of its parts, and you can bend them to your bidding.”

I snort. “Nope. Nada.”

“Why isn’t it working?” Grigoriy’s roar’s a little unsettling, and then he starts pacing, seemingly not noticing that he’s walking right through the center of the big red stain on my carpet. His boots are smearing it and tracking the sauce across the entire rug.

“Maybe it’s different since he’s not Rurikid?” Katerina asks.

Aleksandr’s head tilts. “Or is he? Maybe heisRurikid like Leonid, and because Leonid’s older, he gets it all.”

“I thought so at first,” Katerina says. “But now I’m not sure.” Her brow furrows. “I mean, Leonid just has to be given a power, and bam. He can use it.” She shrugs. “That obviously doesn’t work with him.”

“But he has the same powers that Leonid had at first, right?” Kristiana asks. “You said he saw the good and bad in people.”

“Speaking of that,” Adriana asks. “What do you see when you look at me?”

“You don’t want to know,” Katerina mutters. “Trust me.”

“What?” Adriana scowls. “But I do want to know.”

“I asked Leonid once,” Katerina says, “and trust me. Just don’t.”

“Your face is surrounded with susurrating light,” I say. “Like little soft fireflies, darting and spinning.”

“Oh,” Adriana says. “That’s nice.”

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