Page 57 of My Trojan Horse Majesty

“I should’ve just gotten the truck,” I mutter. “Diplomatic immunity won’t keep me alive.”

“I’ll keep you alive.” He grunts. “But I almost died back in the nineteen hundreds, and that’s what helped me unlock my powers. A sacrifice for someone else, with no gain in it for me.”

“What?”

“It’s how we gain access to our powers, doing something selfless, and I did it for stupid Alexei Romanov, the man whom Katerina was obsessed with.”

“Peachy.”

He frowns. “Peachy?”

“Never mind.”

“Sadly, the powers I got were worse than useless to me at the time. All I gained after making that sacrifice was the ability to sense whether people were light or dark, and at first, I didn’t even understand what it meant. It took years of being around people, of watching them do horrible things and seeing their souls darken, for me to really understand what my new power even was.”

“Tell me what you see when you look at me,” I say.

He swings the cobra into a parking lot, and I glance up. That’s when I realize that we’re already at my apartment complex. “How fast were you driving?”

He shrugs and puts the car in park. “Fast enough.” Then he leans closer, drops his hand over mine, and stares into my eyes.

“Hey.” I try to pull my hand away.

“My powers only work when I’m touching you,” he says softly. “Or did you forget?”

“Right.” For some reason my voice comes out all breathy and weird.

He must notice, because he’s smirking. “Your face. . .” He’s still staring. “It’s just the darkest I’ve ever seen.” He drops my hand. “So dark. What exactly have you been up to? Torturing puppies? Kicking old women on their bad hips?”

I roll my eyes.

“Of course it’s sparkly and fresh. We wouldn’t be here talking if it wasn’t.” He opens the door. “Let’s go get your stuff, Ned Flanders.”

“What?” I scramble to follow.

“You don’t watchTheSimpsons?”

“You do?” I swear, this guy keeps surprising me.

“When I woke up, the world had transformed. It took me a long time to catch up, but once I felt like I understood most things, I realized I didn’t understand a lot of the references people made. Ever since, I’ve been trying to watch at least a little of each of the most iconic television shows and movies from the last few decades. No show has run for longer thanThe Simpsons. Did you know it’s still being produced today?”

“Yes, thank you,Rainman,” I say.

“Rainman?” He narrows his eyes as he heads for the stairs.

“Not this time.” I grab his wrist. “I almost passed out last time. Let’s just take the elevator.”

“There’s an elevator?” He’s scowling as we step inside. “You made me walk just to be mean?”

“I was annoyed with you,” I say.

“I’d just bought youtwocars,” he says. “What could you have been annoyed about?”

I actually don’t even remember, so I shrug and fold my arms. “You’re an irritating person. I’m annoyed with you most of the time.”

“That’s probably why Katerina didn’t fancy me,” he says. “But lucky for me, she at least helped me research my powers and the history of Rurik’s line in the Romanov libraries. I discovered that my power preceded theirs, and that if they would agree to surrender theirs to me, I could gain all five.”

“Surrender?”

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