Page 93 of My Dark Horse Prince

“I keep telling her that,” Grigoriy says.

“But this apartment’s nicer,” I say. “Much nicer.”

“I’ll happily pay to have that one fixed up,” Aleks says. “But that takes time and a lot of people will have to come and go.”

“I’ll think about it,” I say.

“I’d be more than happy to move all your things over there,” Grigoriy says. “You wouldn’t have to do all the work yourself.”

I can see it now. Giant heaving wind gusts, transporting all my boxes and bags across the courtyard like we’re on some kind of Disney cartoon. No one would notice that, I’m sure. “It’s fine,” I say. “If I go, I can do what I’ve always done and handle it myself.”

“Kris says she wants to start tomorrow at seven, sharp. She has some vet visits she needs to make before lunch.”

“It’s a wonder she has any clients left, with how often she’s been gone for races and your extended trip to Russia,” I say, sort of hoping to keep him here, chatting, for another few minutes.

“She’ll sell her practice soon, actually,” Aleks says. “She said once we figure out where we’ll be, she can restart it, but she thinks the inconsistency isn’t fair to her patients.”

Kris loves taking care of horses, but she’ll always put their safety first, so I’m not surprised. Hopefully she can work out where they’ll live soon, and hopefully it’ll be here, not an entire day’s drive away in Novgorod.

Once Aleks is gone, Grigoriy sits down on my sofa and looks around. He’s altogether too comfortable in my apartment, and it makes me uneasy.

“If you don’t want to move to the old barn, I could come here. I like your apartment, and I could easily move my clothing here. You have stalls just outside your door over there. You just moved that horse Brigita brought to one of them. You could relocate me there too, and I could always hear if something bad happened.”

Oh, goodie. I could have more Charlemagne in my life. Just what I want. “But looking out my window at Buckwheat makes me happy,” I say. “He’s close enough for me to see the one horse that’s mine whenever I want.”

“Maybe that moron will bring more over so she can spy again.” He shakes his head. “I still think you should just go take them, no matter what her piece of paper says.”

Which, frankly, makes me nervous about his willingness to go through with the bet. “In the modern-day world, if the paper says she owns you, she does.” I can’t help frowning. “If we lose this bet, she’ll own you. And we can’t just say no and walk away.”

“I’ve talked to Aleks. If I behave poorly enough, she’ll sell me for sure.”

I shake my head. “She could put you down,” I say. “People do that to horses. She could do it, and no one would stop her. You couldn’t even stop her, not without your powers.” I’m starting to feel extremely uneasy about the whole thing, now that it’s getting closer.

He stands and crosses the room, extending one finger toward me.

My entire body tenses, and I’m flooded with adrenaline. It’s not as bad as it was, but being near him still panics me.

His index finger presses against the spot where the skin is furrowed between my eyebrows. “Stop worrying.” He smiles. “We’re going to be fine. I know it.”

I back up, still scowling. “You don’t understand how the world works now,” I say. “And I still don’t get why you need to spend your thirty minutes as a human with me. I’d give you more time, like the two hours you asked for, if you’d just stay away. I’ll promise to stay on the property, even.”

“No.” The corner of his mouth turns upward into a half-smile.

“Wouldn’t you rather, I don’t know, catch up with your friend instead? Or search the internet like Aleks is always doing to learn new things?”

“No, I wouldn’t.” He steps toward me.

I stumble backward, bumping into the wall next to the front door. I’m so very grateful for this apartment, but it’s not very large, and Grigoriy is. “Stop,” I say.

He does, but he narrows his eyes. “Why?”

“I feel weird when you’re too close.”

His mouth curls all the way up into a smile.

“Not good-weird,” I clarify. “I feel like I might puke.”

The smile disappears. “I know you’re upset about what I did in the hospital, but it was to protect you.”

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