Page 15 of Devotion

Ciro raises his eyebrows suspiciously. “Youdoget my jokes!”

“Pyotr will not. He is old blood.”

“Club soda works wonders to get that out.”

I stare at him for a second, trying to decide if I should hit him. Instead, I lead on, heading toward the house. Ciro follows closely, silent for a brief moment.

Odd.

“Did you have to go through…what I did?” he asks quietly as we approach my home for as long as I can remember.

“In my own way. My mother and grandmother trained me, until they died. Then, I was sent to boarding school. The matron there, she tried to break me. I broke her knee and her hip. Then I was sent to juvenile detention center.”

“That’s…rough. My childhood was unusual too. How did you get out? Get back?”

“I killed four women who tried to rape me. Pyotr found out and got me out before they could send me to prison.”

He is finally silent, truly this time. Strangely, I find I like it less when he is not speaking.

At the door, I pause, leveling him with a stare.

“Dyadyawill see you alone. He will assign you duties based on your skill, or he may decide to punish you.”

“For what?”

“For whatever he sees fit.”

“Neat. Seems fair.”

“Either way, it will be a welcome to the brotherhood. How you respond is important.”

“So he’s a little touchy? Been there, done that. I was a choir boy.”

“He is veteran of Cold War. Ex-KGB. Pyotr is bold, cunning. He is also suspicious.”

“Got it. Why are you warning me? You’ve left me on my own thus far.”

“Because I do not want him to shoot you in face.”

“I do have a nice face. Don’t much care for getting shot in the mouth. Is that why you left the bathroom before I finished? Family preference?”

It takes me a moment to recognize the joke, he speaks too fast. Not that I am a stranger to American humor. I spent three semesters at college there. He does not need to know that.

“With me, you joke all you want. Same with Matvey. Just be careful around elders. They will not like you on principle, Shakal.”

“Why not? I’m so cute.”

“You are jackass. You mock. You taunt.”

“That’s not it though, is it? I’mpostoronniy.”

“Yes. Even after the Gulag. You are outsider. Many of them know your family a bit too well.”

“I thought those rivalries were dead.”

“They were. Until Dom Vipera burned us once more.”

A confused look passes over his face as I lead him through the hall of the main house. The main conference room takes up the bulk of the first floor. Through the dining area, I wave to Bolko and Yeff, heading toward the office in the back corner.

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