Chapter 9

Yvan drank from the vodka bottle before setting it down between them.

"My father was Tsar Vyslav of a country in Skazki, and he was immensely proud of his apple orchard. So much so that when he found out that the firebird, a legendary creature who hadn"t been seen in our lands for centuries, was stealing them, he decided he would capture it and hold it prisoner for its crimes. He told my brothers that whoever caught it for him would get half the kingdom straight away and be made the other half"s official heir on his death. Vasilli and Dimitri didn"t really believe that it was the firebird, so instead of capturing it, they ended up getting drunk for the night."

"Vyslav was so angry at them, he offered me the same deal. As the youngest of his sons, I was about as far away from the throne as you can imagine, so of course, I jumped at the opportunity."

"I think I remember Eikki telling me a version of this story," Anya said when he paused.

"No doubt the incorrect version that made the rounds afterward," Yvan replied. "I hid in the orchard, and I saw the firebird when it came on its next visit. I startled it and got a feather, but it was spooked enough that it took off out of the kingdom. Vyslav wasn"t about to let it go, so he sent my brothers and me after it. Dimitri and Vasilli always liked to work together on their schemes, so I snuck around them when they camped at crossroads. And that was how I met Koschey the Deathless. You know who he is, right?"

Anya searched her memory. "He was like a trickster, sorcerer god who couldn"t die?"

"That pretty much sums him up. He was a shapeshifter and, for the most part, a total prick. But every now and again, he was okay," Yvan said and grinned again. "The first time we met, he was in his wolf form, and he ate my fucking horse just because he was hungry. I busted him, and to make amends for the offense, he offered to carry me on his back to the kingdom next to ours. Koschey could hear the gossip on the wind and knew that the firebird had taken a liking to a golden cage in the neighboring tsardom. He was up for some mischief, so he convinced me I should steal it."

"What could go wrong with that plan?" Anya said, taking back her vodka from him.

"A lot. The golden cage that the firebird like to roost in was enchanted, so when I locked the door on it and tried to steal it, alarms went off throughout the kingdom. We were caught and dragged before the tsar," Yvan continued, stretching out on his side and propping his head up with his hand.

"Koschey convinced the tsar that we would make up for our crime by getting him his heart"s desire. That turned out to be a horse with a golden mane and enchanted bridle that one of his neighboring tsars had refused to sell him for years. Koschey warned me when I crept into the stables to steal the horse not to touch its golden bridle. I thought he was trying to play a trick on me, and the horse wouldn"t suffer another bit in her mouth. As soon as I touched the bridle, the enchantment activated, and I was frozen to the spot. Koschey bailed as my lookout, and I was dragged before the tsar. I had watched Koschey bargain his way out of the last scrape, so I offered to get the tsar his heart"s desire, which was a princess from the next tsardom over. Koschey found me afterward and was keen to come with me because he loved beautiful women."

"Helena?" Anya guessed, trying to remember the princess"s name. She was never a pro-princess child, preferring the other tales Eikki liked to tell her of magicians and forest gods.

"Yes, Helena," Yvan said and then hesitated, his face momentarily lost in memory. "She was stunning. Sweet and compliant."

Anya snorted. "Sounds boring to me."

"I suppose she was a little, but she was raised as the perfect princess."

"I bet. Let"s skip the mushy bits. I think I remember what happened next, anyway. You carried her off, but you fell in love with her, and when the time came to hand her over, you couldn"t do it. So, Koschey shape-shifted into her form, and you exchanged him instead. That must"ve made an interesting wedding night," Anya said, imagining a lovely princess turning into a laughing trickster god.

"Koschey escaped the angry tsar that night and traveled with us to the previous tsardom," Yvan continued. "He"d had such a laugh tricking the last tsar he, offered to do it again. So that"s what we did. We worked our way back through the tsardoms, exchanging Koschey for the horse and the firebird while we made off with all the prizes back to my own lands. When we got back to where Koschey had eaten my horse, he declared he had repaid his debt to me. Helena and I camped in the same spot that night, making plans for when we presented our prizes the next day. That night was the first time I died."

Yvan had another drink of vodka, his face clouding over. "I don"t know how they knew where I was, although I assume it was Vasilli doing tracking spells. They came into the camp that night and killed me in my sleep. I still don"t think Dimitri wanted to do it, but he was always scared of Vasilli and followed wherever he led. We all knew Vasilli was different. He had a dark soul and a cruel nature, but I never thought he had it in him to kill his own brother. I was wrong."

Anya hugged her arms around herself, suddenly cold. "Eikki said they chopped you up and threw you into the river. They threatened Helena into making her say that they, not you, had retrieved the horse, firebird, and her. Your father bought the tale, believing that you had died on the adventures as they said, and Vasilli got half the kingdom…"

Yvan sat up, shaking his head. "No. Here"s where the other stories got everything wrong. Dimitri was about to get half the kingdom. Vasilli wanted Helena and the firebird. Koschey found my body and caught the crows that were about to eat my dead flesh. The mother crow pleaded for her children, and he agreed to let them live if she went and stole from the gods the Water of Death, which made my body whole again, and the Water of Life which made me live again. I don"t remember any of this. Koschey told me after, and honestly, I don"t know if he was lying," Yvan"s voice trailed off, his expression sad.

"After I woke, Koschey took me where Vasilli was about to wed Helena. My brothers were to be punished by my father for their betrayal, but they escaped through Vasilli"s tricks. He had always had talents with dark magic, and my father never tried to stop Vasilli from using them."

"And then you married Helena and lived happily ever after, right?" Anya asked.

"Hardly," Yvan muttered. "Yes, I married Helena, and for a time, I thought we were happy. One night, about two winters later, I couldn"t sleep. I got up and walked about to clear my head. I found Vasilli and two of his minion shapeshifters, Vischtan and Vischto, sneaking into the palace. Vasilli released the firebird from its cage and started to perform a spell that would enable him to steal the bird"s magic. While I was fighting Vischtan, Vasilli killed Helena because a human sacrifice was required to make his spell permanent. I tried to stop him, but as I grabbed the firebird, it exploded, and we were both reduced to ashes."

Yvan pushed his hands through his hair. "Now we are stuck together, and I think it has to do with that moment of resurrection. When a firebird dies, its ashes are carried on the winds to a sacred temple. The priests make a new egg, and when the time is right, the bird hatches once more. My guess is that my ashes were carried on the winds as well."

"And you and the firebird were made into a new egg," Anya finished in awe. "That"s why you keep changing."

Yvan nodded. "Yes, and the bird is argumentative as ever."

"Wait, this is a fairytale," Anya realized suddenly. She looked Yvan over. "How old are you?"

"I don"t know," Yvan admitted.

"If you knew Ilya, then that"s at least a hundred years," Anya guessed. "After all this time, Vasilli still wants the firebird"s magic. No wonder he"s so impatient. It would be a long time to wait to get revenge on the one person who had foiled your plans."

Anya looked at Yvan"s pain-filled face and felt guilty for making him relive it all. To have died and come back to life twice would be rough on any person. The light trickled through the trees outside, and she yawned.

"Thanks for telling me. It"s nice to know that I"m not the only one confused about the last few days," she said.

"It was your magic that sparked the egg to hatch, Anya. We can"t dismiss that as mere coincidence," he replied.

"Tuoni said the egg was my destiny. But you know what? Destiny can wait, and we can figure it out tomorrow. Go to sleep, Yvan. I"ll take the couch," Anya said gently.

"You should sleep too." Yvan got up and stumbled over to the small camp bed. "We"ll have another long night ahead of us tomorrow."

"I can"t wait," Anya said grimly.

Anya stoked the fire high again before curling up underneath her warm coat. She traced the small Sami figures of animals and trees that had been stitched into the outside like she had when she was little. Eikki rarely wore the coat, but it was her favorite.

"Anya?" Yvan murmured sleepily. "Do you trust me now?"

"Maybe a little. Not enough to go to sleep before you."

Yvan let out a sound that may have been a laugh. "Smarter than you look."

Anya tucked her hand under the coat and rubbed at her palm, where Tuoni had shocked her. She could still feel the burn under her skin, the itch of it getting stronger. The vodka had numbed it, but now she was sobering up, and it was coming back with a vengeance.

Anya glanced across at Yvan on the bed. It had taken him minutes to fall asleep, and he was now shaking violently as nightmares claimed him. What horrors are you dreaming about, prince?

Hesitantly, Anya got up, picked up the faded blanket off the end of the camp bed, and folded it over him. Her fingertips brushed against him, and images flooded her mind—Helena covered in blood, a palace burning to the ground, and Vasilli"s dark eyes following her everywhere. Anya stumbled backward, shaking so forcefully she thought she would collapse. Yvan had stopped shivering and settled into sleep.

"What trouble are you going to get me into next, Yvan Tsarevich?" Anya whispered.