a sparkling haze appeared, and after a moment he was sitting in his place in black hiking trousers, a dark green shirt and black boots with cuffs. He wore long gloves on his hands, and a black cloak appeared on the back of the throne and a black wide-brimmed hat with a modest silver buckle. He sat with his legs on the armrest, and carefully examined his nails.

- What the heck? - I said through clenched teeth.

“You have already asked,” he threw a quick glance at me, “and, as before, I do not intend to answer you.” You know, it’s not in my rules to explain my decisions.

- What the hell do you allow yourself? - I let go of the Light and clenched my fists.

“Oh, so you think that I should have let you come to the reception yesterday in the state you were in?” - he turned to face us, put his feet on the floor and put his elbows on his knees, clasping his fingers in the lock and putting his chin on them. - Or do you think that I should have canceled the reception because of your bad mood? Or arrange it without a groom? How would I explain this? "Sorry, my grandson is hurt now. If he appears here, you will all die or fuck until you die." Do you think that would be right?

“Shane,” Sveta pulled my sleeve, “what is he saying?”

I waved her off and stepped to the throne. Outside, the wind rose. A crooked grin appeared on his lips, but his gaze remained cold and impassive.

“You had no right to do this to us,” I said dully. The wind outside the windows intensified and now howled like hundreds of wolves on a moonlit night. “It's you who brought me to such a state,” I sharply threw up my hands, palms up.

Suddenly, all the windows opened at once, and a whirlwind burst into the hall. Parquet tiles came around me with a shake. The grin on his face became caustic, his eyes narrowed, but neither the cloak behind his back, nor the hat, not a single fold on his clothes and not a single pigtail on his head moved.

“I don't care about your moods or states,” he said harshly. “You know that none of your powers, even tripled with emotion and supported by spells, can harm me.” But still you forgot something. Here is a man who is not able to confront you.

I froze and, without giving up, looked back. Light lay on the floor, face down, a couple of steps behind me. A whirlwind ruffled her hair and tore at her dress.

“Sveta,” tears came to my eyes. I lowered my hands and rushed to her. The whirlwind immediately subsided, and the tiles of the parquet ceased to tremble around me. “Sveta,” I grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. She was alive, but her breathing was intermittent, and her heart was beating like a hunted bird. - Svetochka, - I pressed it to my chest and buried my face in my hair.

“Everything ... is alright ...” she whispered softly.

I just pulled away and looked into her face.

“It was just a demonstration,” said the grandfather. - Shane has already told you, Svetlana, about how his father once, almost killed him. But he forgot to talk about the reason for such an act by Trent. More precisely, I did not forget, he did not know what happened then. The fact is that when Shane gets angry, he loses control of himself. This time you were lucky - I stopped him just in time. And then he lost control so much that he almost died himself and did not take with him his father and those four unfortunates who were not lucky to be at the bar then.

Sveta looked at me with a strange expression. For a second it seemed to me that now she would push me away and run away.

“Now you know much more about him than when you agreed to marry him,” continued the grandfather. - And I give you the opportunity to think again about your decision and make the final choice.If you now say that you want to return home and live your former life, tomorrow morning you will wake up in your apartment without any memory of Shane and what has happened in the last four days. Your withdrawal will turn into a regular hospital, and in two weeks you will be able to return to work. Your landlord will forget that you have already paid him an apartment, while your money will return to you. But that's not all. Shortly after leaving the hospital, you will meet a pleasant young man in all respects, marry him, give birth to three children, and after ten years you will die in a car accident with the whole family, - Sveta started in my arms.

“And if ... I decide ... to stay?” She asked, hardly breathing.

- I can guarantee you only one thing - you will not have a quiet life. I'll take care of it. Like all my relatives, you will become my soldier, will engage in fencing, horse riding, dancing, because you dance, sorry, like a cow on ice. You will unquestioningly carry out all my orders, no matter how monstrous they may seem to you. You will see your husband once a month, or even less often, because I will not be able to send you to the same tasks because of the difference in strength, besides, you are a lady, and it is not proper for the ladies to engage in sabotage and swing the sword advanced. In our family, women are engaged exclusively in analytics, political killings and intelligence. By the way, you did not think that you can stay clean? Even Shane did not succeed, although he is still the sissy ...

- And you yourself ... ever ... killed? - quietly asked Light.

I looked at my grandfather. He sighed and leaned back in his throne.

“Yes,” he said after a short pause, “but don't think that I enjoyed it.” Killing people is too easy for me. Sorry, Sveta, but that's why mortals are called like this - it's not hard to take their lives away ...

Suddenly, Light released from my embrace and stood up, straightening her shoulders.

“I have already made my choice,” she said softly, but firmly. My heart sank. - I do not care what will happen to me. I want to be with Shane. I want to protect him, protect and take care of him. Everything else is not important to me. I don't care how you feel about me. I don't care how you will use me. But I will do everything I can so that you will never be able to bring him to such a state when he loses control of himself.

“It pleases,” the grandfather smiled, quite. - I was not mistaken in you. In that case, let me invite you for a walk through the caves.

I rose from my knees, took Sveta by the hand and looked at him in bewilderment.

- Grandfather, are you sure? - I asked in a shaky voice.

“I must reveal to you one secret,” he cocked his head to the side and smiled. - Svetochka, you are not just Shane's bride. You are his second cousin grandmother.

- What?! - I exclaimed.

- Well, you noticed a similarity, - he smiled even wider, - just could not understand what she looked like. But Trent guessed almost immediately. He first looked at the Enilur Deck, but your brother has a rather specific style - he drew it in such a way that it is rather difficult to learn. But in your Deck her image is very recognizable. You painted it yourself, didn't you?

- The only Map in my Deck, which I drew myself, - I said quietly, - this is Nastya's Map ...

“The bull's eye,” he jumped off the throne and went up to Sveta, grabbing his cloak and hat. - It will be useful for you - the caves are pretty cool.

“Thank you,” she murmured, wrapped her cloak and put a hat on her head.

- How do you know? - I asked when we went into the dining room, at the end of which, behind a small inconspicuous door, the descent to the spiral staircase began.

“Thanks to your mother,” he shrugged funnyly. - Nick is simply an irreplaceable intelligence officer - imperceptible, able to move quickly and with minimal costs, and you can not be afraid that she will be caught.

- And why did you even think that Nastya could have more children than Enilur? - I asked.

- Well, with her profession it was logical.

- Shane, - suddenly pulled me by the sleeve of Light, - Enilur is after all your brother?

I looked at her in bewilderment.

- Sorry, forgot to warn ... Read more →