Chapter 19

Anya stood in the rain, too shocked to hear her name on his lips. The scent of autumn was coming from inside the house—spice, crisp leaves, and smoke.

It can"t be. It was the man she had been dreaming about since Tuoni had messed with her memories.

"Thank the gods you are here," Yvan said, pushing past her.

"Yvan! This is a night for surprises. Come in quickly." He waved them inside, and Anya dripped water and mud over the threshold. "I didn"t think you were ever going to hatch."

"You and me both," Yvan said, taking off his coat.

"I"m sorry, but who are you, and how do you know my name?" Anya asked. "And why have I been dreaming about you?"

"This is Trajan, who I told you about... Wait, what dreams?" Yvan replied in confusion. "Trajan, this is Anya. She"s Ilya"s?—"

"I know who she is. There"s a guest room upstairs, Anya, second on the left. Do help herself to the hot water," Trajan said, his eyes flashing a wine red before going back to brown. Anya opened her mouth to argue, but Yvan shook his head in a warning.

"Uh, thanks," Anya murmured and headed up the stairs.

"You have ten minutes to tell me what the hell you think you"re doing endangering Anya by bringing her into Skazki," Trajan hissed before their murmurings disappeared further into the house. Anya didn"t like being dismissed like a child. It reminded her too much of whenever Eikki got visitors, and she got sent away.

But Trajan did come to visit. Anya was sure of it. She had been dreaming of him nearly every night. Realizing he was a real person made her question her other nightmares, like the one with the army and sacrificing the goat.

Anya didn"t have the nerve to follow them, and she was so cold her toes were numb. Yvan would have to deal with Trajan on his own.

Anya found the spare room and bathroom and peeled off her wet clothes and boots. As promised, the water was hot when it came out of the taps, and Anya quickly washed and dressed in dry clothes. She was draping her coat over a chair near the fire when she realized she was no longer alone. Trajan was standing in the doorway, observing her.

"God, you scared me! Didn"t Yvan tell you that we"ve had Vasilli after us for days, and I"m a bit on edge?" Anya exclaimed.

"I"m sorry, I thought I"d better come up and show you how to turn on the lights," he said, reaching for the nearest lantern hanging on the wall. He twisted something, the frosted glass filled with light, and Anya got her first proper look at her dream guy. Trajan was dressed in Mir clothes, she noticed—black jeans, boots, and a button-down shirt, the same wine red that his eyes had turned.

Two things hit Anya hard when her eyes finally reached his face. The first was that, like Tuoni, there was an eerie perfection in Trajan"s features. The second was that in her dreams, she had known him when she was young, and he still looked the same, right down to the dark curling lock of hair that wanted to hang across his forehead.

He has to be another kind of supernatural being. No one looked that good for that long, and Anya"s insatiable curiosity wanted to know exactly what he was.

"Yvan has been filling me in briefly on your adventures. You have gone through quite the ordeal in the past week. I"m sorry about that," Trajan said. His voice still sounded smokey with an accent Anya didn"t recognize.

"It"s not your fault Tuoni decided to ruin my life, strip away a memory spell, and give me a firebird"s egg," Anya said, putting her hands over her mouth to cover up the hysterical laughter that had been threatening to bubble out for days.

"Would you like to come and tell me all about it?" he asked softly like he could sense just how tired and close to breaking she was.

"Can you answer me one question first? Just so I know I"m not losing my mind?"

Trajan put his hands in his pockets, a curiously human gesture that made Anya relax. "Sure, you can ask me anything you like."

"We"ve met before, haven"t we? Like in real life, not just in dreams."

"Yes. Quite a few times, in fact." Trajan"s small smile returned. "If you come downstairs and have something to eat, I can prove it."

"Are you trying to bribe me?" Anya asked, smiling back at him before she realized it.

"All depends. Is it working?"

Anya"s grin widened. "A little. Are you going to hurt Yvan for bringing me here?"

"Eavesdropping is rude."

Anya folded her arms, refusing to move. "So is threatening my only friend."

"I"m not going to hurt Yvan. He"s my friend too. I was shocked to see you both on my doorstep. If he knew you were here, Eikki would be turning over in his grave."

"Yeah, well, if he were alive right now, I"d probably kill him myself for not preparing me for any of this." Anya cringed at the bitterness in her voice. She had never, ever spoken badly against Eikki before.

In the last few days of wandering about Skazki, her anger had grown with her fear. It was a deep, simmering fire in her belly, and she wasn"t sure when it would explode.

Trajan frowned, his eyes reading something in her face that she hadn"t wanted to give away. "Come and eat, Anya. We can discuss Eikki and his reasons for things when you"re warm again."

Anya nodded and followed him to where Yvan was waiting in the kitchen. He had made some soup from what was left of their supplies and had set the table for the two of them.

"You"re not eating? Yvan"s cooking isn"t that bad, I swear," Anya said, shooting the firebird prince a wink. He had taken over cooking duties after Anya tried to make him something to eat on their first night.

"I already ate," Trajan replied, pouring himself a wine instead. "I want to hear more about your adventures, Anya."

So Anya and Yvan told him about their week of magic, re-hatching, Vasilli"s attack, Baba Yaga, and running.

Yvan rose and went to the sink to clean his bowl. "I came here hoping that you would be able to help. I didn"t know what else to do." With her. Yvan didn"t need to add it for Anya to feel it.

"I"ve already sent for Izrayl and Cerise. Once they arrive, we can get to the bottom of this and make a plan," Trajan said, twisting the stem of his glass between his long fingers. "As for what Tuoni did to you, Anya, we might have to try and find someone with more magical knowledge to confirm that he"s damaged Eikki"s memory magic."

Yvan crossed his arms. "The firebird couldn"t sense any harm in what he"s done, just broken what was already there."

"And you trust the firebird?"

Yvan nodded, already looking like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Yes, because Anya freed us, and it likes her more than me. I"m going to turn in. Sleeping rough with this one complaining has taken it out of me," he said, nodding at Anya.

"Because your surly company and incessant snoring have been a delight to put up with," Anya responded.

Yvan smiled and lifted his middle finger at her rudely, surprising a laugh out of Trajan.

"When did you learn that?" he asked.

Yvan grinned. "Anya taught it to me after she kept doing it at my back. She tried to tell me it meant thank you, but she smiled too much when she did it."

Trajan laughed even harder.

"Oh, Anya, I"ve missed you," he said.