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And I still don’t know if Nikolai believes me, wants me, trusts me, or has already placed me neatly outside the part of his life that matters.

Galina appears at the end of the hall. Her face is composed, but her eyes move over me quickly. “Miss Elara,” she says. “Anya already went down. She is waiting for you by the garden.”

I blink. “The garden?”

“Yes,” Galina says. “She wanted to see you before leaving.”

Something about that tugs at me, but I’m too overwhelmed to hold on to it.

“Is Nikolai with her?”

“Mr. Nikolai is at the front with Sergei.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

Galina’s gaze lingers on my face. “Are you all right?”

I almost laugh. “No,” I say. “But I will be.”

She gives me a small nod. “The garden, then. She should not be left waiting.”

I turn toward the back of the house.

The noise fades as I move away from the hall. The corridor to the garden is quieter, cooler, the marble floors giving way to stone near the glass doors. I pass the sitting room, the closed music room, the framed photographs I have learned not to stare at too long because Sofia’s face is in too many of them.

Outside, the afternoon light is too bright.

I step onto the terrace and look toward the path.

“Anya?” I call.

No answer.

I walk down the steps.

The garden is still. The fountain is off today. The hedges throw long shadows over the path, and beyond them, I can hear the low murmur of men by the front drive, too far away to see me.

“Anya?” I call again, louder this time.

A small sound comes from the side path.

I turn. For a moment, I only see Anya’s pink jacket. Then I see the arm around her. Then I see Evan.

He stands at the bend in the path with Anya held against him, one hand clamped over her mouth and the other gripping her shoulder hard enough that her eyes are wet with pain.

The world goes quiet in my ears.

Evan smiles at me. “There you are,” he says. “I was starting to think you’d make me wait all day.”

31

NIKOLAI

I check Anya’s room first.

Her bed’s empty, the blanket still pulled back as if she has only just left. Her stuffed rabbit lies on the pillow, one ear folded beneath it. I search the bathroom, the sitting room, the schoolroom, and the corridor outside the kitchen. I call her name as I move through the house, but no one answers.

I find Irina and Viktor near the front staircase.