Kingmakers, Graduation

13. Sabrina

13

SAbrINA

W e’re eating dinner on the Petrovs’ back deck, the only dinner we’ve all eaten together, and probably the only one we will. Someone or other is always absent at mealtimes, and soon I leave.

Adrik generally contrives to sit near me. Tonight, through Freya’s insistence on an immediate refill of ice, I’ve ended up next to Ivan, with Adrik across the table and two seats down.

The table groans under the weight of a feast cooked by Timo, who used to be one of Ivan’s bratoks, but has graduated to the position of head chef via an extensive education culled from Pitmasters and The Great British Bake-off .

Tonight he’s dazzling us with smoked tri-tip and a salad made of ripe peaches and candied hazelnuts. Dominik fills our glasses with shiraz. Freya carries in a browned and braided loaf of challah, which Zima seizes before she’s even set down the platter.

“You made this?” he asks Freya, tearing off a chunk of bread .

“Kade helped.”

“Oh,” he says with much less enthusiasm.

“You live off Zoodles,” Kade scoffs. “I could crack an egg in your mouth and it would be high cuisine compared to the shit you eat.”

“Crack an egg in my mouth?” Zima makes a disgusted face. “What kind of porn are you watching? Never mind, I’ll check your browser history.”

Kade laughs, while looking alarmed that Zima might follow through on that threat.

Ivan clears his throat, throwing a quelling look down the table. “Manners,” he says.

“Dad’s right,” Rafe agrees. “It’s ten minutes into dinner and we’re already discussing Kade’s taste in pornography. Have some class—save it for dessert.”

I can’t help laughing, and I’m relieved that Sloane smiles as well. She’s sitting at the other end of the table, wearing a black blouse and cigarette pants, her hair twisted up in a loose chignon. It’s strange to see her with her natural dark hair color, and even stranger to see her real expression, wicked and sly as a fox. I had no idea how much she was acting as Miss Robin. The real Sloane is sharp and sarcastic, and frankly terrifying.

I’m keyed up, talking hectically to Nix, laughing too loud. I’m full of nervous energy, building up inside me like a pressure cooker with no release.

Across the table, Adrik sits silently, not joining in the conversation. I’ve tried to catch his eye several times without success. Then, as soon as I speak to anyone else, I feel his stare burning into me .

Ivan is an intimidating presence on my other side. He’s a beast of a man with a brutal-looking face, a rough, rasping voice, and a gravity only occasionally punctured by his wife. Even when he addresses me politely, it sends shivers down my spine.

“You have only two more days with us?”

I wish I hadn’t just taken a massive bite of tri-tip. I chew and swallow as quickly as possible, half-choking myself.

“Yes,” I gasp. “I fly out Friday morning.”

“You’ll be missed,” he says with a polite nod.

There’s something courtly in his manners. I know he must have been barbarous beyond belief to claw his way to the top of the heap in St. Petersburg, but Ivan Petrov has a formality and a dignity that reminds me more of a king than a mafia boss.

There’s a reason this family follows him. A reason they were willing to risk everything to bring him home.

Ivan says, “I hope you have an excellent second year, without any interruptions.”

He means this as an apology of sorts, or a thank you.

With full honesty, I reply, “The interruption was the best part of the year.”

“If we don’t make trouble for Sabrina, she’ll make her own,” Rafe says from the other side of Nix. “She’s probably already plotting how she’ll land herself right back in the Chancellor’s office on the first day of school. That’s why she’s so extra tonight. ”

This reference to my first ship ride over to the island is not as cheering as Rafe intended—it only reminds me that Nix won’t be with me this time.

“Yeah,” I say. “I guess that’s why I’m so lively.”

“You’re happy to be going back,” Adrik states, his voice cutting across the table.

“I didn’t say happy.”

“Lively, happy, what’s the difference?”

“Well, lively isn’t the same as happy. Is it?” Sloane says. She’s looking at me, not Adrik. And even though she’s smiling, there’s a stillness in her eyes that makes me think she understands exactly what I mean.

“Happy is harder to attain,” I say.

“Impossible for some,” Sloane remarks.

This doesn’t feel directed at me, not exactly. But it might be for my benefit. I wish she weren’t sitting so far away—I’d like to ask her what she means.

Instead, I have to say what can be said in front of all the group.

“Impossible hardly seems like a barrier in this house. Can I ask you all something?”

“Of course,” Ivan inclines his head, listening.

“What was the code you used over the phone, to tell Dominik and the others where to find you? ”

Ivan smiles. “A simple cypher, one Dom and I used when we were boys avoiding trouble with our father. The first letter of each word forms the message.”

“So nobody expected any kamikaze youngsters?” I say, composing my own example on the fly.

I’m showing off for Adrik. He rewards me with a small smile, the first of the night.

The real message is:

S o

N obody

E xpected

A ny

K amikaze

Y oungsters

Sloane catches the code just as quickly, and so does Zima, sitting at the far end of the table. Mouth full of bread, he lets out a snort that spews crumbs across Freya’s plate.

“It took me a lot longer to come up with them,” Ivan says, gravely.

Sloane teases him, “ I see snow was not your best work. How about some coordinates next time?”

Ivan is too used to his wife’s ribbing to rise to the bait. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t looking for me in the desert, my love. I know how you hate sand.”

Dom scoffs. “Yeah it was super helpful, we crossed Fiji off the map. ”

Ivan is unperturbed. “You did find me in the end.”

“It was a dark time,” Lara says quietly. “We’re in brighter days now.”

She casts a quick smile at Nix, letting her know she’s part of those brighter days, and not blamed for what came before.

Nix has fallen silent beside me. I want to smack myself for bringing this up. I was curious and not considering how it would make her feel.

“ Sorry,” I whisper, squeezing her leg under the table.

Nix takes a slow breath, lips pale but face composed.

“The sun sets on one life and rises on another.”

“For all of us,” Freya agrees.

Ivan’s return marks a turning point for everyone. Freya won’t have to run the Petrovs’ dispensaries anymore; she’s headed off to Cambridge to complete her long-postponed economics degree. Dominik is Pakhan in St. Petersburg. Adrik is free to pursue his own goals with the Wolfpack. Rafe can be himself again—he’ll marry Nix in the spring, and he’s already confided to me that he’s been scouting houses to surprise her.

You have to literally chain a Petrov in a cell to stop them chasing what they want.

I envy them all.