Page 145 of My Dark Horse Prince

“She must have pretended to be me,” Kristiana says. “She knows me well enough, and people have always thought we looked a lot alike.”

“They’ll figure it out quick,” I say, “when she has no idea they’re magical or that Aleksandr can shift into a horse.”

“It’s not going to go well,” Aleksandr says. “Anyone who those two listen to. . . We need to hurry. Let’s get Mirdza home, and then we can—”

“But I want to help,” I say. “It’s my sister.”

“She’s in danger because of me.” Kristiana opens the car door and waits for Grigoriy to set me inside. “Aleks and I have a lot of resources. We plan to use them all.”

“You need to rest and recover right now,” Grigoriy says. “And I can either help them, or I can stay by you if I have to, to make sure you do it.”

That shuts me up. The entire way home, I can’t help but run through ideas, possibilities, and possible situations she may be stuck in.

“Do we have any ideas of who this boss might be?” I ask. “Was there someone they listened to before? Someone they were accountable to?”

“The Romanov family ruled all of Russia,” Aleksandr says, “though the Kurakins and the Yuravskis never really liked it.”

“Was there another person who challenged them?” I ask.

Aleks shakes his head. He’s driving a little too fast, and I worry that he may not be paying much attention to the road at all. “Not that I recall. Grigoriy?”

He’s thinking, at first, but after a moment, he shakes his head, too. “I wish we had our old family records. Did you find anything back at your place?”

“They burned most everything during the Soviet regime,” Aleksandr says. “They weren’t much for freedom of expression.”

We know that first hand. Latvia was dragged down by them as well.

By the time we reach Liepašeta, we still have no real leads or even good ideas. “Get her inside,” Aleks says, “and meet us in the barn office.” Aleks has taken over the main barn office and apartment for himself, since Kris’s father vehemently objected to him staying in the house, and the old barn was taken by Grigoriy.

I want to argue, but I’m also exhausted. And I trust that Grigoriy and Aleksandr and Kristiana will be able to do more than I could, even on my best day. It’s nice to have people you trust in your corner, especially when they’re wealthy, powerful people.

“I could call Danils,” I say. “He’s pretty connected around here.”

Grigoriy stops so fast that I nearly topple out of his arms and onto the ground.

“I really think I can walk,” I say. “And if you’re going to overreact to every little thing, I might be better off on my own feet.”

“The docs said it will take a lot of rehab to—”

“But my muscle hasn’t atrophied thanks to months of lying around,” I say. “I’ll be fine.”

He ignores me, of course, plowing ahead.

“Hey,” I object. “Why aren’t we headed for the apartment?”

“You and I will both be staying in the big house,” Grigoriy says. “We decided during your operation. Even if her dad objects with every cell of his body, Aleks is going to start sleeping inside as well. It’s time to close ranks.”

“They waited until we were in Riga,” I say, “and until you weren’t anywhere near. They didn’t want to make a scene. They’re hardly going to steal onto the property and sneak into my apartment. What am I supposed to tell my mother if I move?”

It hits me then.

“What if Adriana’s in our apartment? I know she didn’t answer her phone, but maybe she’s home and we just don’t know it.”

Grigoriy reroutes then, heading for my place. He doesn’t look too optimistic, but crazier things have happened. Clearly his two ‘friends’ don’t want news of their existence out there, or they wouldn’t have been so careful. Which means if they discovered they’d been tricked, they might not have wanted a murder on their hands, no matter how tough they seemed.

Hope surges inside of me.

But when we reach the apartment, only my mother’s there. She shoots to her feet. “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow.” She beams. “Congratulations, sweetheart.”

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