Page 8 of My Wild Horse King

“Really?” I yell, as he draws close enough to hear me. He slows down and arrows toward me, and I can at least drop my voice. “I’m panicked about finding my brother and warning him before Leonid can, and you’re just. . .out for a run?”

He tosses his head, but even without words, I know.

“You’ll miss it.” I press one hand against the flat part of his head, between his eyes. “Russia. You love it here.”

I even get it. His run was a goodbye of sorts, at least for now.

When I’m away, I also yearn for Latvia. It’s home. I’m sure it feels the same to him, and moving our assets and shifting things out and away has been a relief for me, but not for Aleks. He’s finally back in his ancestral home, after being cursed and locked who knows where for a hundred plus years. Fleeing can’t be comfortable.

“We’ll come back,” I say. “I promise we will. The bad guys never win, not in the long run.”

He snorts, because he knows, after watching countless movies with me, that Hollywood isn’t the real world. Americans can’t seem to tolerate tragedy, which is fine for them, but the real world thrives on it. There aren’t ‘happy ending guarantees’ in life. Depressing, exhausting, and unlucky are far more common than shining, smiling, and joyful.

He drops his head against my shoulder and I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze. I let him lean against me—or rather, I lean against him—for one moment. Then another. But eventually, I have to tell him what’s going on.

“As you know, our flight leaves in three and a half hours, and we need to go to Saint Petersburg first.”

He huffs.

“And there’s something else.”

He lifts his head, his big, dark eye studying mine intently.

“You know how Katerina has basically been hiding since we rescued her?”

He bobs his head.

“She wants to come with us, and I lied and told her that the flight is full, because I’m not sure whether we can trust her. If she’s not really on our side, she could tell Leonid more than just Gustav’s American name. She’d know his address, too.” I sigh. “She could lead Leonid right to him.”

And that feels like the worst thing that could happen to me. Leonid already has the powers of fire, electricity, and water. All we have over on him is air and earth—and it’s not really an advantage since he has three powers we don’t. Water combined with really anything else would already be overpowering—but Gustav has no idea what’s going on or how to use any powers he may acquire. Without any powers, he’d be an easy target. The fact that he changed his name for Grandfather—well, I’m sure that it’s the only thing keeping him safe right now.

“We don’t know her very well, and this is her first time to even leave that room. She’s been having food delivered on trays like she thinks she’s an honest-to-goodness queen.” I rub Obsidian Devil’s nose. “So you guys will have to decide whether to bring her or not.”

Obsidian glances around, clearly checking to see whether we’re alone.

“It’s fine. The groom went home around lunch,” I say. “You can shift.” It helps that now, with his power fully restored, he doesn’t shift entirely naked. Only when he was reliant on my help did that happen. “Go ahead.”

I should be tired of seeing it, or at least, not in awe of the change anymore, but every single time Aleks shifts, I watch like a slack-jawed idiot. It’s just so. . .unbelievablethat a human can turn into a stallion and vice versa.

Only, this time, as my gorgeous husband shivers and straightens his shoulders, someone else is shouting loudly in Latvian. The words this person’s saying shouldnotbe said out loud, at least, not in polite company.

Aleks and I turn at the same time to stare at. . .my dad.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

My father’s eyes are wide, and now that he’s done shouting, it appears he has no idea what to say. It seems that all he can do is splutter.

“I can explain,” I say, with no real idea of where to even start.

You’d think, after explaining this to MirdzaandAdriana already, that I’d be better at this part. I should memorize a speech or something.

“You see, I was cursed,” Aleks says.

“It’s true,” my father says, his face pale. “All of it wastrue.”

“What’s true?” I ask.

Dad’s shaking his head now. “I can’t believe it. My uncle would be absolutelygiddyto meet you, if he were still alive.”

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