Page 144 of One For my Enemy

“What will you do, Romik,” Marya asked softly, “if it isn’t you your father chooses?”

The second hand on the clock neared midnight.

Three, two, one.

Then there was a rip in time, and Koschei the Deathless appeared.

V. 22

(A Reckoning.)

Dima.

Koschei’s heart raced.

Dima, my son—

Only it wasn’t Dimitri who sat waiting for him in the office of The Bridge.

“You,” Koschei said to Marya Antonova.

She sat motionless, more dead than alive, but he didn’t find that surprising. She’d been a quiet girl, introspective, but like her mother, there was more than met the eye.

Since Marya Antonova had been small, others had always feared her. She’d had a bodyguard, that hulking Ivan, but nobody had truly feared him. If anything, Ivan was like the cloak of the grim reaper. Just a decoration to indicate that Death Herself was on her way.

“Yes, me,” Marya confirmed, leaning back against the desk chair. “You’re already familiar with The Bridge, I presume?”

Koschei let his narrow gaze travel to Bryn, who sat neutrally to the side. His hands gripped the arms of his chair, his eyes fixed elsewhere in the room.

“And, of course, you know your son,” Marya commented lazily, and Koschei turned slowly, finding Roman’s dark eyes fixed on his back.

“Roma,” Koschei said, frowning. “I thought you were—”

“I know what you thought,” Roman said flatly.

Koschei noticed his son gripped a thin sword in his hand. Koschei, a collector of objects, knew more about the spatha in Roman’s hand than about any of the tension floating in the room. It had a history longer than anyone else’s. It was made of stronger materials. It would outlast them all.

“What is this?” Koschei asked Marya, turning to her. “Yaga and I have a deal.”

“Yes,” Marya said. “And I don’t care for it.”

“Are you here to renegotiate?” Koschei said.

“No,” Marya said. “I already have everything I need from you, Koschei.”

Her gaze fell weightily from him to Roman.

“Do you know why your father gave his kidney to The Bridge?” she asked, and Koschei shot a glance at Bryn, who said nothing.

“To save me,” Roman said, warily.

“Mm, yes,” Marya permitted. “But how did he know you needed it?”

“I—” Roman hesitated. “He’s my father.”

“He has you followed,” Marya corrected, and Koschei blinked.

“How did you—”

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