I glanced at Kirill and saw him staring at the goddess strangely. Then I looked over at Az and gave him my “I'm upset with you, but we'll talk about it later” look. He blinked at me in surprise... much as Ted was doing to him.
“Sit down, ladies,” Odin said. “Our apologies for the cold reception but it's been a very trying day, and we weren't up for receiving visitors. Perhaps next time, you could call ahead.”
“Oh, sure,” Mac stuttered. “Sorry about that. Az had said to come by whenever I wanted to, so I thought that was an open invitation.”
“He did, did he?” Odin asked as his eyes strayed to Azrael. “That's usually the type of thing we discuss as a group before making a decision about.”
“I wanted Mac to be able to come by when it suited her schedule, since mine is so open,” Azrael said. “I assumed you'd all be okay with it.”
“Your schedule isn't that open,” Trevor pointed out. “Especially not now.”
“This feels awkward,” Mac said as she stood. “We'll just come back another time.”
“No!” Azrael stood as well. “It's fine; sit down. Thank you for coming, Mac.”
“You sure?” Mac looked around at our blank faces.
“Yes, I'm sure.” Az turned and glared at us.
“Oh for Satan's sake, sit the hell down, Mac,” I huffed. “You want a drink?”
“Uh, sure.” Mac sat back down.
Marzana and Azrael followed suit.
“Anyone else?” I asked as I got up.
I took the drink orders, and Kirill went with me to help fulfill them. As soon as we were in the kitchen, I turned to him.
“What's wrong with her?” I asked.
“She's rude?” Kirill frowned as if he wasn't sure what I was asking.
“Not Mac; Marzana,” I clarified. “Why did you look at her like that? Do I need to kick her ass or yours?”
“Oh.” He looked away. “Ve vorshiped her.”
“Your family?” I asked in surprise.
“She is ancient goddess.” Kirill lifted his cerulean stare to mine. “Every Spring ve made effigy of her to burn and zen drown in river.”
“You burned and drowned her?” My eyes went wide. “Why?”
“Her death signaled birth of Spring.” Kirill shrugged. “It vas vhat ve did. One of zose zings you just do vithout zinking. It vas just doll.”
“I don't think I've ever done anything like that,” I mused. “Everything my mother taught me had purpose behind it, and she made sure that I understood it.”
“I lived in different time.” He smiled softly at me before gathering the requested drinks and placing them on a tray.
“That was it?” I asked as I fetched another tray and started filling it. “Marzana freaked you out because she was your family's goddess?”
“Zere vere superstitions around ritual,” Kirill murmured. “You don't touch Marzana once she's in vater. You don't look back at her vhen you valk away. And if you fall on vay home, it can be very bad.”
“Very bad?”
“Sickness, plague.” He shrugged. “Zat sort of zing.”
“Uh-huh.” I put my hand on Kirill's when he tried to lift his tray. “Kirill, I know you better than anyone alive, so don't bullshit me.”
Kirill hung his head and sighed. Then he chuckled. “All right, Vervain. One year, I looked back.”
“Yeah?” I went still. “And what happened?”
“I saw her.” He set his gaze on mine again. “Marzana; zat same voman out zere. I saw her standing in river, staring at me.”
“What?” I whispered. “That's creepy.”
“Da.” He chuckled. “It gets even creepier. She pointed at me, and I heard her whisper. She said; 'Zis life is over for you.'”
“This life is over?” I asked. “What the hell?”
“Niyarvirezi took me two months later,” he whispered. “For zose entire two months, I zought I vas going to die. I thought she had cursed me.”
“Oh fuck.” I pulled Kirill into a hug. “I'm sorry she brought that memory back for you.”
“It's okay.” He eased away enough to look at me. “I'm okay. Seeing her just reminded me, and it brought up an old question.”
“What question?”
“If she did curse me or if she knew zat Niyarvirezi vas coming for me,” he said.
“That little bitch,” I hissed and stormed out of the kitchen; leaving the drinks behind.
“Vervain,” Kirill rushed after me. “Let it be.”
“The fuck I will,” I growled.
“It doesn't matter anymore,” Kirill tried again.
“Kirill, it matters,” I stopped to say.
Kirill blinked a few times, took a deep breath, and nodded. I slid my hand around his, and we went back to the veranda together. The group had relaxed a little and had started a light conversation. I don't know what exactly they were talking about; something to do with Winter. Whatever it was, the conversation stopped when we walked up.
“What happened to the drinks?” Sam asked.
We ignored Sam and went to stand in front of Marzana. Her eyes widened when she looked up into our angry faces.
“Do you remember my husband?” I asked her casually. “Does this gorgeous face ring any bells for you?” I waved my hand at Kirill.
Marzana swallowed convulsively and looked uncomfortable.
“You do remember me,” Kirill said in surprise.
“Of course, I do,” she whispered. “You looked back; they never looked back.”
“Da,” Kirill agreed, “and you told me zat my life vas over.”
“I said 'Zis life is over for you,'” she corrected him. “Your life as Russian Prince vas finished. You had new one coming.”
“So, it vasn't because I looked back,” Kirill said. “You simply knew zat Niyarvirezi vould take me.”
“I knew,” she confirmed.
“And you didn't think to warn him?” I growled. “One of your people was in danger, and all you
