Page 61 of One For my Enemy

“Good,” she said, and lit a spark with the snap of her fingers, putting the kettle on for tea.

III. 12

(Underground.)

Lev found his father in his usual spot underground, staring blankly into nothing. A popular activity for the Fedorov men that day, Lev thought, though at the moment it was hard to find much humor in that.

“You needed something, Papa?” he asked, and Koschei turned to look at him.

“Come,” Koschei beckoned, and Lev nodded, taking a seat beside his father. It was rare they were alone together; Koschei had always been relatively distant, preferring to call for Dimitri if he had any need for company, or Roman if he wanted something done. Still, it wasn’t as if Lev didn’t admire his father as much as the other two. “Are you well, Levka?”

“I’m—” Lev hesitated. “A bit conflicted, I suppose.”

On the walls, the shadows flickered slightly. Strange, Lev thought, considering there was only one source of light in the room, and it had not made any motion.

“Life can be very full of difficult choices,” Koschei remarked. “Many things in life are a sacrifice, I’m afraid. Very rarely is it easy or straightforward.”

Lev nodded. “I think I understand that.”

“Good, good.” Koschei cleared his throat. “You know, all my sons are very different from each other,” he mused, and Lev waited, still unsure what his father had called him in to say. “Dima is something very rare, something very bold, something that catches in the light. Romik is like me, a man of duty. A watchful man. But you are very honorable.” He turned, glancing at Lev. “You are the most loyal of them all, I suspect.”

Lev blinked, surprised. “Me, Papa?”

“You have the purest heart. A lion’s heart.” Koschei smiled thinly. “Your convictions spur you, like Dima, but not one bone in you is selfish, Lev. You are my son in a way the others are not, because unlike them, you are their brother first. You seek their approval before mine.” He paused. “Isn’t that true?”

“I—” Lev stumbled, uncertain. “Papa, no, that’s—No, of course I’m your son—”

“Don’t be ashamed of it, Lev,” Koschei assured him. “Your brothers raised you more than I did. Dima cared for you, he taught you, and Roma—oh, Roma loves you, perhaps more than anyone on earth. And they are right in their affection for you, just as you are right to revere them first.” He paused, glancing briefly at the shadows on the wall. “You are probably aware, then, that they are both rather troubled at the moment. Weakened.”

“Yes,” Lev said after a moment.

“Dima’s heart is… not what it usually is,” Koschei said. “Romik, too, is compromised.”

Lev nodded, remembering Dimitri’s vacant gaze, Roman’s twitching unease. “Dima mentioned it to me.”

“What they need is their brother,” Koschei said. “Do you understand me, Lev?”

Again, the answer was no; it seemed his father was speaking in riddles. “Papa, I don’t—”

“I will not ask you for anything, Lev,” Koschei said. “I cannot ask you to choose one way or another. I can only hope,” he exhaled, “that you will not abandon your brothers now, when they need you most.”

Though he remained unsure of his father’s intent, Lev slowly nodded.

“I won’t, Papa. I won’t fail them, or you.”

To that, Koschei smiled slowly. “I know you won’t, Lev,” he said, with a little flickering of sadness. “Of all my sons, I know you won’t.”

A strange thing to say, Lev thought, but hardly an unwelcome one.

It was only when Lev had left the building that he regained his cell phone service, a quick series of vibrations going off in his pocket. Two of them were messages from Roman, listing a time and a place for them to meet; the others, though, were something else.

SASHA:I need to see you

SASHA:please

SASHA:it’s important

Lev hesitated, trying to form words for refusal and finding himself empty-handed.

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