by Amy Sumida
I looked over at my husband and smiled softly as I took his hand. What wouldn't I do for this man? I'd tear myself apart, like this castle, and rebuild if that's what he needed.
“Vhy are you looking at me like zat?” Kirill asked softly.
“Why wouldn't I?” I countered.
“Mommy! Daddy! I can see across the water from here!” Lesya shouted.
Around us, people gasped and murmured. I looked up and gaped at my daughter. She had climbed to the top of one of the ruined walls—these were not smooth, modern walls, but stacked boulders—and was pointing out toward the lake. That would have been bad enough but she looked like a runaway heiress; dressed in her fur coat, the miniature of mine, with her curls hanging about her in glorious disarray, and her bare feet clinging to the rock through her leggings. She must have kicked off her patent leather Mary Janes for ease of climbing.
“Lesya!” Kirill shouted and ran for her. “Don't move!”
I ran after my husband and people gathered nearby, ready to help. I cursed under my breath; if Lesya got injured and then started to heal in front of these humans, we'd have no choice about leaving. But Kirill went calm as he reached the base of the wall, settling into lion mode.
“Jump,” Kirill ordered as he held out his hands.
The people around us muttered in concern, several of the men coming to stand beside Kirill in case Lesya missed her father's arms. Lesya didn't hesitate; her father had said jump, and she trusted him implicitly. She jumped; arms outstretched as she giggled. My heart stopped and my breath caught in my throat; it was like watching Rian and Brevyn, tumbling out of Castle Aithinne all over again.
Men tensed, a few women made sounds of distress, and Lesya landed in her father's arms with a delighted squeal. The crowd let out a collective breath—mine included—then closed in to offer us commiserating looks and murmurs of relief while admonishing Lesya gently. My daughter stared at all of the people as if she couldn't understand what had been such a big deal. When the humans had finally wandered away, I took her out of her father's arms, set her on the ground, and got in her face while Kirill collected her shoes.
“Lesya, do you understand how important it is that we don't attract attention from humans?” I asked in a low voice.
“But, I just climbed a wall,” she whined.
“A crumbling, ruined wall that you could have easily fallen off of,” I said. “You could have hurt yourself badly. And then what?”
“I'd just...” she trailed off.
“Shift?” I asked angrily. “You'd just shift in front of everyone and heal yourself? Is that what you were going to say?”
“I'm sorry, Mommy.”
“Do not climb walls or trees or boulders or anything here in town, Lesya,” I growled, a little of my lioness coming through. “Do not shout or draw attention to yourself. Do not endanger yourself in any way. If you do, I will endanger your backside. Do you understand me?”
“Vervain, zat's enough. She knows.” Kirill set a hand on my shoulder.
I shot him a furious look. No one likes their parenting undermined. Especially not by the other parent, which then makes you the bad parent.
Kirill let out a low growl, just enough to let me know that I wasn't intimidating him. I growled back but straightened and ended my lecture with a firm stare at our daughter.
“I'm sorry,” Lesya said again as she took her shoes from her father. “Can I still have a princess bed?”
Kirill let out a choked sound of strangled amusement. “Perhaps not best time to ask, Kotyonok.”
“You can still have the bed,” I relented. “If you follow the rules.”
“Okay!” Lesya brightened and slipped her shoes on, immediately past the episode.
Her resilience is both a testament to our parenting and a strike against it. Lesya has had to endure things that a child never should and it has made her stronger. She takes a hit and jumps back on her feet, grinning. She's even teamed up with her brothers to help them save me. I'm proud of her, but also disappointed in myself.
Kirill glanced at me then took our daughter's hand. “Let's take walk along shore.”
I followed them, lost to my thoughts, and didn't realize that Kirill had led us to a secluded spot until Lesya made a sound of surprise; one with a little growl in it. Kirill's growl was clearer in its intent; a warning to whatever had startled his cub.
I came instantly alert and followed their stares to the water. There, a pair of round, amphibian eyes stared solemnly at us. A bald head just barely breached the water, sunlight gleaming off its rubbery skin. Nothing more of the creature could be seen but that was enough. Despite its amphibian skin and eyes, it was far too large to be a frog.
It blinked, golden eyes settling on me, then lifted its head out of the water. It was humanoid but just barely. Its rounded face had thick lips beneath a flattened nose and, between those, feelers drooped down like a Fu Manchu mustache. When he opened his mouth, I half expected a ribbit to emerge.
“Godhunter, you are not velcome—”
His words were cut off by an aggressive splashing. All of us jerked back as a man came rushing into the shallows, hands extended. He leapt for the frog-man and went under with his prey. Kirill scooped up Lesya, and we backed up the shore together, keeping our eyes on the roiling water. After a few minutes, the man came sputtering out of the lake, his expression furious and his chest rising with his rapid breaths. He shook out his short, oak-brown hair like a dog then cursed in Russian as he stomped out of the water. Pale green eyes flashed as they shifted our way. He said something in Russian.
“Who got away?” Kirill asked warily.
“Vodyanoy.” The man waved at the water as if it were obvious. He continued in English with a Russian accent thicker than Kirill's, “I've been vaiting here for one to surface. I never expected him to surface for you.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You are truly Godhunter?”
“You first,” Kirill growled as he handed me Lesya then stepped in front of us. “Who are you?”
“I am Jarilo, God of—”
“Vegetation, Fertility, and Spring,” Kirill finished.
Instead of being annoyed at the interruption, Jarilo bowed as if he'd just been introduced at court. “And you are Kirill, Intare Ganza and husband of Godhunter?”
“Da,” Kirill bit out, his shoulders tensing.
I looked back and forth between the men. “Kirill?”
“Zis is Marzana's twin brother,” Kirill said in a low, dangerous voice.
I went still. “Marzana, the goddess who—” I cut myself off with a glance at Lesya.
“Da,” Kirill snarled.
“Marena, you mean?” Jarilo asked with a frown. “She's my twin but ve vere raised separately. Marena by our father, and I by Volos. Ve are not close.”
“Zat myth is true?” Kirill lost a little of his growl.
Jarilo nodded. “Vhy are you angry vith Marena?”
“Marena?” I asked Kirill.
“Another of her names,” Kirill said absently to me before answering Jarilo. “Long story.”
Jarilo frowned. “Ve may not be close, but I know my sister. She can be... insensitive to needs of others.”
“That's putting it mildly,” I muttered.
“Regardless, I have no quarrel vith either of you.” Jarilo held up his hands, palms out. Water dripped from his sleeves.
“Why were you chasing after that frog-guy?” I asked him.
“My mother is missing.” Jarilo shifter his stare to the water and shivered; he had to be freezing. “She vas investigating drownings.”
“The couples they found in the lake?” I asked in surprise.
“Da,” he said curtly. “She thought it suspicious. She vent to see Tsar Vodyanik since Vodyanoy have been known to drown people. She never returned.”
“Tsar who?” I looked from Jarilo to Kirill.
“Vodyanoy are shapeshifters,” Kirill explained. “Water spirits. Vodyanik is King.”
; “King Frogger. Got it.”
Jarilo frowned at me. “You are not as expected.”
“Shorter and stranger?” I asked with a flippant grin.
“Da,” he said simply.
“Yeah. I get that a lot.”
“Don't call my mommy short and strange!” Lesya growled at him.
“Easy now, little one.” Jarilo held up a hand. “I meant no disrespect.”
Lesya growled again, this time wordlessly, but settled back in my arms.
I bit back my laughter before I told her, “Sweetheart, there's nothing wrong with being short or strange. You are rather short and strange yourself.”
“Mommy!” Lesya giggled.
Jarilo watched us and as he did, his expression shifted into eagerness. “You are famous tracker!”
“Who; me or Kirill?”
“You.” Jarilo chewed at his lip. “Vould you consider helping me find my mother?”
“Ve are on family vacation,” Kirill said sternly. “My vife rarely gets time for herself.”
“Of course,” Jarilo said gruffly. “I von't take up any more of your time.”
“Daddy,” Lesya whispered, “he can't find his mommy.”
Kirill made an irritated rumble and looked at me.
“If this is god-related, it's kind of my responsibility to look into it,” I reasoned.
Kirill gave in and nodded.
Jarilo looked at me hopefully.
“Where did you last see your mother?”
“I left her zere.” Jarilo pointed at the shoreline across the bay from us; the forested peninsula.
“Zen vhy are you here?” Kirill asked.
“Vodyanoys frequent zis area. I hoped to catch one and force him to take me to Vodyanik.”
I nodded and stared across the water at the trees. “Okay, meet us over there tomorrow morning and bring something that your mother has recently worn; 10:00 AM.”
“I'll be zere,” he vowed then shook my hand with his cold, wet one. “Zank you, Godhunter.” He eyed Kirill and settled for a nod.
“My mommy will find yours,” Lesya said confidently. “She's good at finding people.”
“You are good girl,” he said. Then Jarilo, twin brother of Marzana—the goddess who had given Kirill to the sadistic Niyarvirezi like a party favor—traced away; hopefully to get himself some dry clothes.
Chapter Sixteen
Later that night, Kirill and I discussed frog-men, Jarilo, and Jarilo's mother. Lesya was asleep, and Kirill and I were in the sauna; a little, wood-paneled room with dry heat. Dragons love heat, especially the kind we don't have to produce ourselves, and Lions are pretty fond of it as well. Kirill had his feet propped up on the bench across from ours, legs bent at the knee. The rest of him leaned back against the wall, with his braided hair coiled like a snake on the bench beside his hip and his eyes closed. I wasn't about to close mine; not with Kirill being naked and, well, Kirill.
“We should trace home in the morning and drop off Lesya before we meet Jarilo,” I suggested.
“And get backup,” Kirill agreed with a nod.
“Are you going to be okay with helping her brother?” I didn't have to say her name, neither of them, he knew who I was talking about.
“Myths say zat Jarilo vas taken by Volos ven he vas born,” Kirill murmured. “After learning of Gods, I didn't believe stories, but it sounds like zere is truth to zis one. Jarilo didn't even seem to know Marena is dead. How close can zey be if he doesn't know zat?”
“Who is Volos?”
“God of Underworld. Consort of Mokosh.”
“Mokosh is Jarilo's mother?”
“Da. And she is also consort of Perun, Supreme God.”
“A woman after my own heart.” I chuckled.
“Da. Except Mokosh isn't forced by magic to take lovers nor are her lovers faithful to her. Perun has vife.”
Forced. It sounded so harsh but there was nothing horrible about my love life. The Intare magic may have pushed me into taking multiple lovers, and I still had moments when I wondered what my life would have been like if I could be with only one man, but I had come to terms with the magic. I was even grateful for it. Without the Intare magic, I wouldn't have all the men I love. No; there was no force to it anymore. I was with them because I wanted to be and even if the magic disappeared, I'd still choose to be with all of them. Mokosh simply lived as she wanted to and there was something admirable in that. Except for one thing...
“So, one of her lovers abducted her son?” I asked Kirill.
“Zat's story.” Kirill shrugged. “Volos is known to be trickster. Stories say he likes to steal from Perun; cattle, vife, son.”
“And he thinks that stealing people is a joke?” I asked in shock.
“You know myths, Vervain.” Kirill cracked open his eyes to look at me. “Even true ones are exaggerated. If Volos raised Jarilo, zere's likely reason for it beyond malice.”
“I'll ask him about it tomorrow.”
Kirill made a grim noise. “Not our business. Leave it be.”
“It is our business if I'm helping him find his mother,” I protested. “All we know about this guy are his myths and what he briefly told us today.”
“And yet you offered to help him,” he chided.
“As if I could say no after Lesya played the mommy card,” I grumbled. “And as I said earlier; if this ties gods to those drownings, I need to know about it.”
Kirill grunted then said, “Ve should tell him about his sister.”
“Is it our business?” I teased him.
Kirill shot me a grimace. Then his expression smoothed. “Mokosh vas investigating drownings.”
“Yeah.”
“Vhy vas goddess investigating human deaths?” He cocked his head at me. “You vould, but her? Vhy?”
“Maybe she likes these people? Some gods still look after humans; gods outside the Squad.”
Kirill scowled.
“I'm sorry about this.”
“About vhat?” He blinked at me in surprise.
“We were supposed to be relaxing. Visiting your mother's homeland with our daughter.”
“Ve are still doing zat,” he protested. “I feel closer to my mother zan I have in years.”
“Really?”
Kirill nodded. “Alūksne has changed since she lived here, but land is same. I see zings I remember seeing first vith her. I hear her voice again in my mind. Zat is vorth a lot to me.”
“How much do you remember?”
“More now. Time took a lot of her from me but zis place brings her back. She vas strong voman. Dark hair. Gentle eyes. Beautiful. She had vay of speaking zat made people calm. Made zem listen.”
“You have that too,” I said softly.
Kirill blinked. “I do?”
“You do.”
“I...” His frown returned.
“What?”
“I've tried to not be like my father, but I've always suspected zat I am,” Kirill whispered. “A step away from madness.”
“Why would you think that?” I was horrified.
He lifted his deep-sea stare to my face, and I saw the fear in his eyes.
“Oh, honey, no.” I took his hand. “You went wild because you were tortured. You were forced to do terrible things that your heart couldn't accept. Niyarvirezi drove you insane. She put the madness inside you; it wasn't there before her.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I'm connected to your heart,” I said tenderly. “I have loved you long enough to know that there's no madness inside you. Well, nothing beyond the insanity of loving me.”
Kirill's lips hitched up in a grin. “You brought me back from insanity.”
“Yes, but that was before you fell in love with me,” I teased.
“Vas it?” He asked softly. “Or did I love you even in midst of madness?”
“See?” I lifted a brow at him. “How can a madman be so romantic?”
