Page 54 of The Crown's Fate
“Oh?” Nikolai cocked his head. “Where has Galina disappeared to this time?”
“No one knows. She went for a walk two days ago and never returned.”
“She’s probably in London or Paris again. It must be nice to be wealthy enough to do that. Simply go and buy what you need when you arrive.”
Renata twisted the folds of her skirt. “Yes, but she didn’t tell anyone.”
“Who would she tell? Cook? The footman?” Nikolai asked wryly. The countess wouldn’t think her servants important enough to inform of her whereabouts. The only people she’d bothered to tell in the past when she’d gone on a trip on a whim were her husband and Nikolai, the latter only because she’d task him with some impossible challenge to master while she was away. But Count Zakrevsky was long dead, and Nikolai no longer resided there.
“I’m sure Galina is fine,” he said. “She’s likely scowling at street urchins in London as we speak. And then one day she’ll return, and we’ll wish she’d stayed abroad to torture the British orphans instead.”
Renata bit back a smile. She’d worked for the countess for so long, the obedience literally beaten into her, that it was hard for her to accept that she was actually allowed to laugh at Galina’s expense now. It was like when Renata had been afraid to eat an apple tart during the Game eventhough Galina was exiled, because servants were never permitted such treats.
“Do it,” Nikolai said.
Renata looked up from her skirt. “Do what?”
“Laugh. It’s allowed. Besides, if you don’t, I’ll be offended. I thought what I said was rather funny.”
The laughter Renata had restrained came spilling forth.
“It’s nice to see your smile again,” Nikolai said.
“If only I could see yours, too.”
For once, Nikolai did not bristle at being reminded he was a shadow. “Smile or not, right now I feel like I could rule the empire.”
Renata’s smile faltered. “The empire?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I have time.”
So Nikolai nodded and told her. But as he relayed the details, Renata never once pulled on her braids as she normally did when she was anxious. Only when he finished telling her he’d tried to kill Pasha did it dawn on Nikolai—Renata already knew.
The taste of sugar and lemon and black tea hit him again. She’d known, and she’d come anyway. Not only that, but she’d helped him.
Nikolai should have been happy, and yet his heart felt as if it had been wrapped in chains. It was too bad he didn’t love Renata.
But he couldn’t. For there was only one who could unravel him, and she wasn’t here.
CHAPTER FORTY
Vika nearly collapsed as she stumbled into Cinderella Bakery. She had just returned from safely depositing the hunted girl at her aunt’s dacha near Lake Ladoga, and now the entire night—Nikolai’s fete, the attempt on Pasha’s life, the pyre intended for Vika—had begun to catch up to her.
It was only half past four in the morning, but Ludmila’s was where Vika needed to be. Her cottage was too empty without Sergei, and the bakery was the closest place to comfort she knew. The door to Cinderella was ajar, and as Vika stepped inside, the scent of yeast and sugar wrapped around her like a favorite blanket, warm and smelling of home.
The entire surface of the counter was already covered with the morning’s loaves. There was a glass bowl filled with apple jelly, and another with sour cherry jam. Thepech—an enormous stone oven that took up the center of the bakery—was full with trays ofpiroshkiand an iron pot of kasha simmered in its hearth.
“Vee-kahhh!” Ludmila sang as she bounced around thekitchen, waving a wooden spoon. “How wonderful to see you. I’m just about to have a snack.”
“Actually, I—”
“Oh, my sunshine!” Ludmila stopped with her spoon in midair. “You look like you’ve flown through a hurricane of hail. Sit down and I’ll ... I’ll get you something to eat. Cookies. You need cookies.” She pulled out a chair from the small table in the corner and practically shoved Vika onto the seat. Before Vika could say a thing, she’d already pushed a plate ofsushki—ring-shaped cookies—in front of her.
“Please, eat,” Ludmila said. “No, first tell me you’re all right, and then eat.”
“I’m not going to lie and say I’m all right when I’m not.” Vika poked at one of thesushki. “But I’m alive, which I suppose is something.”
