Page 100 of One For my Enemy

Ivan gave a small shrug.

“Still,” he said, a silent protest, and Marya sighed, peeling back the fabric of reality and taking them back to her house.

It was quieter now without Stas; colder. Stas had been the house’s warmth. He had been her warmth, Marya thought, so that she could remain cold. She hadn’t forgotten that.

She hadn’t forgotten him, but still.

Her heart beat elsewhere, and it was easily pushed aside.

“Will you need anything else?” Ivan asked, catching the look on her face, and Marya shook her head.

“No, Ivan.” She paused, thinking, and reached out, touching his cheek. “You know I value you, don’t you?”

He nodded, leaning into her hand. “And you know I would follow you anywhere.”

She nodded. “I do.”

That was enough for one evening. She had things to do; remnants of Dimitri Fedorov to be rid of before they scarred. She imagined the water she’d need to accomplish it and fought to keep from flinching; it would be scalding. She would burn, and then she would freeze. She would slather herself in rosewater and remorse, and then she would fall asleep to his words in her ear:Come back to me, Masha. When you’ve finished making heaven and earth your domain, come back.

She swallowed hard and turned away, heading to her bedroom as Ivan slipped out into the corridor. She paused, though, noticing the flickering of light coming from inside the room, and considered calling him back before pausing, thinking better of it.

She was Marya Antonova; she only needed a bodyguard to watch her back. Her front she was more than capable of protecting.

She slid the door open and stopped, blinking vacantly at the scene.

“Don’t panic,” her sister Katya warned.

A ridiculous statement. Marya never panicked.

“What is this?” Marya asked slowly, eyeing her sisters and cataloguing them, one by one.

Katya, who could see the dead.

Irina, who could hear them.

Galina, who could power a generator.

And behind them—

“Marya Antonova,” said a corpse, and Marya sighed.

On the one hand, she could be angry. Her sisters had obviously done something thoroughly stupid. On the other, at least they had gone directly to her. This, like all things, Marya could handle, and if it couldn’t be handled, then it could certainly be put down.

She let out a breath, opting for patience, or something like it.

“You could have at least done something about the smell,” she eventually told Katya, who shrugged.

“That’s your arena,” Katya reminded her. “Once upon a time, Masha, you were less an almighty drug lord than a girl with a fair hand at mending things.”

“Diminish me, why don’t you,” Marya grumbled, and turned to the corpse. “What do you think to gain from me?”

“I have to save Sasha,” it said. “I have to save her.”

Marya looked up at the others. Galina gave a tiny, pretty shrug.

“Sasha is dead,” Marya told the corpse. “It’s too late to save her.”

Irina and Katya exchanged a look.

---