Chapter 42

Chapter Forty-Two

O ksana was a relentless taskmaster, but at least working in the ballroom with the water vampire worked a little bit to alleviate Tatyana’s tension.

It had been four nights since Zara had called Oleg, three nights since they had sex in the sunflower room, and Tatyana was avoiding him. She wanted to feel more in control. Of her body, her mind.

Her life.

“Good.” Oksana mirrored Tatyana’s hand motions in the ballroom, standing on the far side of the fountain as she lifted a sheet of water from the base of the fountain. “Now hold it.”

Tatyana had her hands out, and her amnis was alive. It was as if she could feel tiny tethers flowing from her fingertips to the water she held in the air. “Why?”

Oksana smiled. “I want you to feel it. Your arms won’t get tired, but your amnis will. Controlling it is a combination of training and instinct. The water wants to come to you. It wants to serve you. But your amnis is new.”

“Oleg told me that my strength is average for a newborn. Do you agree?”

“He’s far older than me with far more experience, but yes, I’d say that is correct.”

Tatyana held the sheet of water, feeling her amnis flag for a moment before she focused her attention on the energy. She’d decided that amnis was like a cat or a precocious child. The moment her attention wavered, her energy dropped. But the moment the amnis felt her attention focused back on it, it grew stronger, flowing happily between her hands and the water.

“You get strength from the water,” Oksana said. “Never forget that. It’s an endless well. Water is everywhere.”

“Not the desert.”

The other vampire smiled. “Even there, a little bit. But yes, I’m going to advise you stay away from deserts until you’re older. You’ll feel quite helpless there. You’d still have vampire strength, but a lot of that is augmented by your amnis.”

“I almost broke off my door handle the other day.”

“I’m not surprised. Fine control is going to be your biggest challenge.” Oksana moved to the left. “Walk with me.”

Tatyana listened to her trainer and mirrored her movements on the other side of the fountain.

“Do you knit?” Oksana asked.

“Do you need a sweater?”

“No, but it’s good for control. Anything that forces you to pay attention and move deliberately. Tai chi. Knitting. Embroidery. Find exercises or hobbies that force you to pay attention to your muscles. Learn an instrument. Piano trains your mind; violin trains your amnis.”

“I was never very musical,” Tatyana said. “I liked dancing to music, not making it.”

“Dancing is good. Instruments are better.” Oksana’s voice was blunt. “You have the time, and your brain is faster than when you were human. Your amnis will help you create neural connections more rapidly. You’ll learn languages faster. You’re a computer person, right?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have the same kind of access to that life anymore, so you’ll need to find something new.” Oksana met Tatyana’s eyes. “The good thing is? You have time. And money from what Mika said.”

“There are worse ways to start over?”

Oksana smirked. “You could have been turned by a vengeful Russian aristocrat with a grudge against the communists.”

Tatyana blinked. “There’s a story there.”

“One that needs vodka even though we can’t get drunk.”

“Fuck me ,” Tatyana muttered. “Not even a little bit?”

“Sadly, not even a little bit.” Oksana lowered her arms. “Let the water down. Slowly.”

Tatyana mirrored her movements and felt her amnis clinging to the water even as it settled back into the fountain.

“Remember,” Oksana said, “if you can thread a needle with water, you can make a wave.”

“A whisper, not a shout.”

“Exactly,” Oksana said. “You remember.”

“Apparently my brain is better now.” She flicked the last of the water from her hands and flexed her fingers, both tired and energized from the exercise. “Blood?”

Oksana snapped her fingers at one of Mika’s men who was lounging by the ballroom door. “Pavel, get Tatyana a carafe.”

“Yes, boss.”

Tatyana sat on the edge of the fountain and watched the man leave. “Do you like it?”

“Like what?” Oksana walked over and sat next to her.

“Ordering men around.”

The other woman barked out a laugh. “Yes. I do actually. But I like working for Oleg much better than my last boss, so even if I couldn’t order people around, I’d probably be with him.”

Tatyana glanced at her. “Who was your last boss?”

“Luana.”

Tatyana’s eyebrows went up. “Oleg’s mate?”

Oksana smiled a little bit. “My sire was killed in a very stupid fight with one of the Sokholovs—that’s Oleg’s extended family—so I was at loose ends for a long time. No money really. No protector. I could have sworn allegiance to the Sokholovs, but I hate Ivan.”

“He’s Oleg’s brother?”

“Older,” Oksana said, “but more stupid. Conniving. He’s a blunt instrument to Oleg’s dagger.”

“But how did you meet Luana?”

Oksana looked at Tatyana for a long moment.

“It’s none of my business if you don’t want to tell me,” Tatyana said. “I’m being needlessly curious because all this life seems strange to me. But you can tell me to shut up.”

Oksana finally smiled. “I like you, Tatyana Vorona. I appreciate that you say what you think.”

“What’s the point of talking if you don’t say what you think?” Tatyana said. “My grandmother told me that if you don’t want to share your true thoughts—or you think it wouldn’t be wise—it’s better to shut up rather than lie.”

“She sounds like a wise woman.”

“She was.” Tatyana stared at the dark garden through the windows. “She’s dead now. And I will not die. Not from cancer. Or a stroke.”

“But you can die,” Oksana said. “Never forget that. Luana thought she could never die, and look what happened to her. Killed by her own mate—not that she didn’t deserve it.”

Tatyana froze. “What?”

Oksana leaned to the side and looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Oleg killed Luana. It’s not a secret. No one told you?”

Tatyana didn’t know why the news was so shocking except…

Except.

“Did it hurt you physically when Luana died?”

“It was excruciating.”

She stood, a skittering anxiety shivering over her body. “Where is Oleg right now?”

“In his office, I think.” Oksana’s eyebrows went up. “I’m sorry if I shocked you, but like I said, it’s not a secret. It was a very public execution.”