Tatiana was feet away, but she could feel the metal. The girl dug in again and opened her palm. The metal sat in a small pile on the palm of her hand. “One breath,” she said.
Threatened.
The bogatyr lowered his sword and shook his head. The other feia, the ones ready to attack, gathered next to him and began to exit up the stairs. “We’ll fight again.”
“You stole my throne,” the girl said. “The next time we meet, I’ll kill you.”
What in the fuck was happening?
Her throne?
Tatiana stared in disbelief at the human, watching her watch the bogatyr and Kopala 2.0 retreat up the stairs.
She dropped the metal back into the pouch and flicked her gaze toward Tatiana. Then Taras. Then Fedir. And then back to her.
“Who are you?” Tatiana asked.
“This is my world, my home.” She tied the pouch to her belt and crossed her arms. “Korolevstvo belongs to me.”
“I don’t understand.”
Shubin touched her arm, cautioning her. Against what, she wasn’t sure.
The rusalka slunk back into the tunnels, back to the river and the human girl turned to follow them, ignoring Tatiana.
“Tatiana!” she called, shaking off Shubin’s hand. She chased behind her. “I don’t understand. You were safe in the human world!”
The girl scoffed. The rusalka slid into the river, disappearing beneath the surface, but Tatiana grabbed the girl’s arm before she could jump in.
“Wait.” She held onto her, studying her face. “Your family. They love you.”
The girl stared back, her blue eyes strangely empty. “I went inside,” she said. “Like you told me to. I climbed the stairs. First room on the right. I sat on the bed, and I stared at the photos. You and your brother. Your mother and father. I waited to feel something.” She placed her hand over her heart. “And I didn’t.” She drew her dark eyebrows together and tilted her head. “I don’t know why I didn’t feel anything.”
“You will,” Tatiana assured her. “Go back. I’ll take you back if you want. I promise. You’ll love them when you know them.”
She shook her head. “I went to your mother’s room. She was asleep, and I stared at her.” Smiling a little, she touched her nose and looked over Tatiana’s shoulder. “We had some of the same features. Your father slept on the sofa and your brother in his room. Commendations on his wall. Gold dipped men holding circular objects on his shelves. It was strange. I looked at him. Sat next to him while he slept, and I still didn’t feel anything. They weren’t my family. And it wasn’t my home.”
The smile disappeared from her face as she met Tatiana’s eyes. “So I burned it.”
Tatiana blinked, shook her head and searched the girl’s gaze, trying to understand. “What?”
“I burned it,” she said again. “I burned them. I let the poison fill the house until their breathing stopped, and then I lit a match and watched it burn.”
Stumbling back, Tatiana shook her head. No. She’d just left them, they’d been fine. She came here, kissed Taras and Grisha, and her family was fine. Alive.
“Tatiana.” Fedir touched her, and she whipped her head toward him. He could hear it, couldn’t he? The lie?
“There’s nothing tying me to that world.” The other girl was still talking. Why was she still talking? “And there’s nothing tying you there, either.”
“Tati.” Grisha blocked her view of the girl. His worried gaze raked over her before he took her shoulders. “Tati. Look at me.”
Everything was tinged in red. She wondered if it was the light, filtering through the red stone in the room above them.
Or maybe she was bleeding to death.
The human girl had ripped her heart out of her chest and held it over her head. She glanced down, expecting to see it, but she was fine.
Tatiana touched her chest, her face. Grisha’s lips moved; he was still speaking, but she couldn’t hear him over the roar in her ears.
Her fingertips grazed her hips, searching for the gaping wound, then along her back. She felt the sheath in her pocket and gripped it, sliding the knife out.
Grisha shook her. Her head lolled back and forth on her neck as her vision tunneled.
Her family was dead.
Burned.
Ashes.
She wasn’t strong, she knew that, but she was fast. In one motion, she slid past Grisha, stabbed the knife into the real Tatiana’s chest, and pushed her into the river.
For a brief moment, their eyes met and then she disappeared, covered in water and swept out of sight.
34
Kopala
Kopala knew what Tatiana was going to do. He saw the moment when the veil descended and there was only righteous anger.
He didn’t stop her.
He could have. It would have taken little effort on his part to pluck the knife from her shaking hand, but he didn’t.
She flowed like water, sliding past the roamer to drive her weapon into the human’s heart.
Kopala saw her surprise before she fell back into the water.
A white hand appeared, snatching the girl before she could float to the surface, and then they were gone.
For now.
35
Tatiana
“My family is dead.” She stared at her hands. They were dirty, covered in blood and dust, and shook. Clenching her fists, she turned to face the others.
Kopala. Fedir. Grisha. Taras. Shubin.
They wore matching expressions of sadness. Pity.
Tatiana clutched her hands against her chest, for the first time in her life not feeling alive.
“Tati.” Grisha’s voice broke, and she gasped, choking on the sadness that welled inside, ready to drown her. His arms wrapped around her. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
Her hands were between them, and she curled her fingers into his bare chest. “They’re dead, Grisha. I killed them.”
“You didn’t.” A webbed hand touched her shoulder, and she met Taras’ eyes. “You didn’t. You loved them. Anyone could see that. Even I could feel your love for them.”
But my love killed them. She was so stupid. Wasn’t that what everyone had told her when she came here? Stupid. She gave her name out without caring. Stupid. She insulted Korolevstvo. Stupid. She threw fits that made the world split at its seams. Stupid. Stupid.
She gave her family their daughter.
Each of the guys crowded around her, whispering, comforting. Even Kopala, who touched her shoulder, nodded his head, and then moved away, hovering at the edge of their group.
“What do I do?” she asked everyone. And herself. What do I do?
“You mourn.” Fedir met her eyes, and she straightened at the strength of his words. “You live your life because that’s what they wanted you to do. They loved you, Tatiana. You mourn them, and then you go on.”
Go on.
“How?” She didn’t know. She really, really didn’t know. There was a gaping hole in her chest. She couldn’t fill it. Her mother, father, brother, they were her heart. And they were gone.
“With me,” Fedir said. “Remember when I told you to mean it?” She did. She had. But that was before this. Before what made her her had gone up in ash and smoke.
“And me,” Shubin said. “I care about you, Tatiana. Let me help you.” His coal black eyes burned orange. He touched her face, skimming her skin with his rough fingertips. “Don’t throw me away.”
“Or me,” Taras said. “You’ve met my family today. Would you choose them?”
His family? “The rusalka?”
“Mothers, sisters, aunts.”
“None of us have family,” Grisha said. “This—” He gestured between them. “This is the closest I’ve ever had. Let us stay with you, Tati. Let me comfort you the way I know you would me.”
In the distance, Kopala turned, heading up the stairs. His posture, shoulders hunched, face toward the floor, felt familiar. Like he’d lost something, to
o.
“Stay,” she called out. “Kopala. Please stay.”
He glanced back, uncertain.
“I don’t know what will happen,” she said, to him and to the rest of them. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be who I was, but if you stay with me, and help me, I might be.”
Kopala turned. He reached over his head, gripping the arch and leaned forward. “Are you sure?”
Tatiana looked between the five of them. They’d all come to her when she needed them most. They’d saved her life, and now they were asking her to give them a chance. After everything they’d done for her, could she do that for them?
All she saw when she met their gazes was worry. Caring.
Hope.
Right now, Tatiana was weak and alone, but she didn’t have to be.
Fedir was right, her family would want her to live, and with their help, one day maybe she could.
“Okay,” she whispered, leaning her head against Grisha’s chest. He held her up, his strong arms and chest surrounding her.
They smiled at her, and even though their smiles were sad, they were also proud.
“We’ll be each other’s family,” Fedir said. “From now on, it’s us.” He glanced over his shoulder at Kopala, who nodded, once. Decisively. “It’s us.”
The Replacement
Tatiana’s story will be continued in Iron and Ashes…
Acknowledgments
Poetry Excerpts from:
Queen Mab by Ben Jonson
The Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats
The Fairy Nurse by Edward Walsh
About the Author
Author Bio:
Ripley Proserpina spends her days huddled near a fire in the frozen northern wilds of Vermont. She lives with her family, three magnificent cats, and a dog she doesn’t deserve.
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On the web: www.ripleyproserpina.com
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Books by Ripley:
Midnight’s Crown:
Briar
Shadow of Thorns
Diadem of Blood and Bones
The Searchers Series:
Finding Honor
Finding Nora
Finding Valor
Finding Truth
Finding Courage
Finding Strength: Coming Soon!
Demon Matched Series:
Matched with a Demon
Wishes and Curses Series:
Wrath and Ruin:
Revolution and Rising
Anthologies:
Petting Them
Valos of Sonhadra:
Whirlwind: http://amzn.to/2EBrRQj
Stand-alones:
The Ice Bride
Missing Linc
While Beauty Sleeps
Co-Written with Rebecca Royce:
Lightning Strikes:
Thunder Rolling: Releases February 28th!
The Deluge:Coming Soon!
Forge and Fire Page 19