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Yougo,tovaritch. I will collect wreaths, Dmitri offered, which I suppose
was nice of him but not what I wanted to hear. Unfortunately for me, however,
Darkheart accepted with alacrity and within minutes I was alone with Russia s
answer to Paul Bunyan, watching him de-festoon my apartment of wild garlic
while I tried not to breathe in the, to me, nauseating scent of the small
white flowers.
You lie to sisters and grandfather, Dmitri said without preamble as he
deftly wound Darkheart s garland lasso around one pumped forearm. His
Siberian-blue gaze flicked to me before he turned his attention back to his
task. You have met Jasmine s lieutenant,da?
Now, along with the speaking-before-I-think thing I ve developed growing up
with Megan and Kat, I also credit them for my ability to lie at the drop of a
hat. It s a necessarytalent, believe me, when you re saddled with a sister who
feels it s her moral duty to force you to confess when you ve had some
unfortunate accident like breaking Grammie s favorite Lladro figurine, and
another sister who doesn t see why she should take the heat for said Lladro
breakage when she didn t do it. So if Dmitri had thought he could startle me
into the truth with his unexpected accusation, he was sadly mistaken.
Of course I haven t met him! I said, putting a hefty amount of outraged
virtue into my tone. I don tbelieve your nerve! What gives you the right to
accuse me of lying to my family?
This isAmerica ,nyet? I have right to say truth when is in front of my
eyes, Dmitri replied, seemingly unperturbed by my impressive outburst. He
finished winding up the garland and set it on the back of the sofa. Besides,
he added calmly, I cannot stand by and see futureGospozha Malkovichtake
dangerous risks.
It took a moment for his words to sink in and when they did I thought I must
have misheard him. Gospozha? Isn t that Russian for the missus? I said
dubiously.
His back toward me, he nodded as he untacked the last wreath from the window
frame. Da,is correct. From first time I saw you I had strong feeling inside
me that you would lead me to mysud ba, so must be that you and I will be
couple one day. These strong feelings that come to me are never wrong, he
said, turning from the window and laying the wreath beside the garland.
Mybabushka wascygan and from her I inherit gift of knowing future.
I held up a hand. Whoa, nellieski, I said firmly. We ve got a
lost-in-translation situation happening here. I still think I must be wrong on
thegospozha part, but forget that for a minute. What s asud ba, who s acygan,
and isn t ababushka some kind of shawl for old ladies to wrap around their
heads?
Sud bais fate.Cygan means inAmerica gypsy, andbabushka is grandmother. You
are not wrong ongospozha . His garlic-gathering completed, Dmitri stood
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facing me, his jeans-clad legs planted slightly apart on the cruddy carpet
covering the living-room floor and his arms crossed over his chest so that his
biceps came close to ripping the seams of his T-shirt s sleeves. I was so
rattled by what he d just said that for a moment all I could think was that
when he stood that way he looked exactly like the Jolly Green Giant, if the
Jolly Green Giant wasn t green, but blond and tanned and wasn t jolly but
about to stomp the tiny valley-dwellers by his feet to puree.
Then I got ahold of myself. So when you first laid eyes on me half an hour
ago, you knew you and I would do the till-death-us-do-part thing, I
clarified, because your grandmother was a gypsy and you inherited her crystal
ball abilities. Do I finally have it right? I asked politely.
Da,except first time I saw you was not half hour ago, but night of battle
against Kane and his army, Dmitri began, but at that point I dropped my
pretence of politeness and let the fury that had been bubbling up inside me
boil over in a scalding flood.
Are youinsane? I yelled, striding toward him and grabbing him by his
biceps. I tried to give him a shake, but it was like trying to shake concrete.
My anger grew. I don t know you! I don twant to know you! The only connection
between you and me is that you re using your family s underworld contacts to
look for my father and as far as I m concerned, that s no connection at all!
So screw yoursud ba and thecygan it rode in on, Dmitri not only won t I be
walking down the aisle with you anytime soon, but I want you out of my
apartment right now!
Your act is good. With a quick flexing of his muscles he broke my grip on
him. You shout loudly instead of answering my questions, but your anger is
enough answer. You have met withvampyr called Lockridge. What I need to know
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