“She is okay,” Valentin told him in his gruff voice. He guided his thumb toward the window and announced, “We are home.”
“Home,” Ilya repeated and bent down to Inessa. “Did you hear that, moy prekrasnyy? We are home.”
Inessa didn’t move, still asleep under the medication. The doctor came from the back of the plane and began preparing Inessa to disembark. Valentin bent down to look out the window. His eyes closed momentarily, and he whispered, “Zoya.”
“Go,” Ilya said, seeing Valentin’s conflict. “She’s my female. I have her,” Ilya assured him. Valentin paused, then nodded.
Turning, Valentin headed toward Zaal and me. Not stopping, he brushed past us and turned to leave through the door. Zaal and I followed behind. Valentin rushed down the steps. When Zoya saw her male heading straight for her, she smiled the widest of smiles and ran to him. Valentin wrapped Zoya in his arms and held her close.
I couldn’t hear what was being said. Before I could listen in, I heard my sister’s excited shriek. Zaal flew down the steps two at a time. Talia jumped into his arms. When Zaal drew back, she began kissing him all over his face.
I glanced down the plane to see Ilya and the byki lifting Inessa onto a stretcher. Maya hovered at Inessa’s side. I could see by her face that she was terrified.
Leaving them to it, I stepped out of the plane onto the top of the stairs. As soon as I did, I saw Kisa smile in relief. Her hands were on her swollen stomach as I walked down the stairs. Zoya was hugging Zaal, checking her big brother was okay.
As I reached the bottom step, Kisa’s tear-filled eyes met mine and my heart almost split in two. “Solnyshko,” I whispered, and held out my hand. Kisa didn’t hesitate. She came straight to me and folded into my chest. I breathed in her sweet scent and simply held her close.
“You came home,” she said, sighing.
“Always,” I whispered. Placing my hands on the side of Kisa’s head, I drew her back and studied her beautiful face. “I have missed you,” I confessed, and wiped away a happy tear from her soft cheek.
“I have missed you too, lyubov moya.” She placed my hand on her stomach and laughed as our baby kicked. “We both have.”
My pulse thudded, and I pressed another kiss to her lips. When I drew back, I heard, “Am I gonna get a hug, big brother?”
I smiled as Talia pushed her arms around my waist. She squeezed me tightly and I laughed. When she pulled back, she looked up at me and asked, “Are you done now?” Although her voice was playful, I could hear the sincerity of the question in her tone. I could see it in her worried expression. Kisa’s hand took hold of mine and she squeezed. She wanted to know, too.
Inhaling deeply, I embraced the sense of peace that now resided in my stomach. “We’re done,” I said, and felt every last one of my residual chains break away from my corrupted soul. Valentin and Zaal moved behind me, and I met each of my brothers’ eyes. “We are done,” I repeated.
They nodded in response, and I saw the heaviness rise from their spirits.
“Good! About damn time!” Talia joked, and Zaal pulled her back into his arms. She laughed as he kept her trapped against his chest.
“Valentin,” Zoya gasped, just as I wrapped Kisa in my arms.
When I followed Zoya’s wide gaze, I saw Ilya standing on the top of the stairs. Kisa looked at me and asked, “Who is that?”
Ilya looked huge against the executive plane’s entrance. His assessing eyes were locked on all of us below. “That is Ilya Konev,” I announced loud enough for them all to hear. “He was the reigning Blood Pit Champion.”
“He’s huge,” Talia remarked.
“He is Inessa’s,” Valentin added when the group had gone silent.
Zoya looked at her male. “Inessa? She is okay? Safe?”
Almost on cue, Ilya began walking down the stairs. He turned his back to us as he helped the byki carry Inessa’s stretcher. Kisa’s worried eyes looked up at me. Without taking my eyes from the stretcher, I said, “Her master punished her. She had fallen in love with Ilya, and he had found out. He lashed her.”
“No!” Zoya cried.
Ilya stepped onto the tarmac, holding Inessa’s stretcher. He glanced over to us with wary eyes. Releasing Kisa, I walked to meet him. I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“You’re okay. We’re going to get Inessa into one of our vans and take her home.”
Ilya nodded. Valentin was suddenly at my side. “My home,” he insisted. Zoya came to stand beside him and looked down to Inessa. “Valentin,” she whispered. I could hear the thick sorrow in her voice. Valentin’s teeth clenched as he stared at his sister, then he looked up. Reaching for Zoya’s hand, he lifted it up and kissed her palm. “Kotyonok, this is Ilya. Ilya, this is my female, Zoya.”
“Nice to meet you, Ilya,” Zoya said.
Ilya nodded. “You, too,” he replied, then cast his gaze over all of us. I waved them over. Kisa’s arms came around my waist and Ilya stared at her, before looking to her stomach. His eyes flared.
“You are to be a father?” he questioned.
“Yes,” I replied. Ilya looked again to Inessa. I saw the hope in his expression.
“Freedom allows you to do whatever you want,” I explained. Ilya looked overwhelmed. “You will understand in time,” I told him. He slowly nodded his head. “Ilya, this is Kisa, my wife.”
“Hello,” Ilya said quietly.
“Nice to meet you, Ilya,” Kisa replied.
Zaal held Talia tightly. “This is my fiancée, Talia,” he announced proudly.
Ilya repeated his hello, then movement came from the stairs. Maya timidly began descending the steps, clutching the rail as her wide eyes surveyed the crowd.
“Who is that?” Kisa whispered. I heard Kisa’s maternal side rise to the surface as she watched Maya awkwardly reach the tarmac.
“Maya,” I replied. “She was one of the chiri in the pit.”
“A plague?” Zoya questioned, interpreting the Georgian term. Maya turned her head away at that point, and I felt Kisa stiffen. “Her face,” Zoya whispered, so low that Maya couldn’t have heard.
“The chiri were the lowest caste in the pit. They were the servant slaves. She was Inessa’s. They are best friends. Maya wouldn’t leave her side the entire way here. She helped keep my sister alive,” Valentin said to his female.
“She refused a guard taking her at a young age so Master ordered that acid be poured over her face. Then she was demoted from a mona to a chiri,” Ilya said. Kisa, Talia, and Zoya flinched at the information the champion supplied. “She is only sixteen,” Ilya added sadly. “But she defended my Inessa’s life like a warrior.”
Zoya immediately broke from Valentin’s side and approached Maya. Maya froze in fear. Zoya smiled and held out her hand. “Maya, is it?”
Maya lifted her head and timidly nodded. “Yes, miss,” she replied in Georgian. Zoya smiled again. “It’s a beautiful name.” Zoya spoke to her in Georgian, too.
Maya looked to the stretcher and asked, “Is Miss Inessa okay?”
Zoya held out her hand and nodded. “I am Zoya, Valentin’s female. Inessa and Ilya will be coming to our house.” She paused, then added, “You are welcome, too. You are Inessa’s closest friend, after all.”
Maya stared at Zoya, and her dark eyes filled with tears. “Really?” she questioned, as though she were being tricked.
Zoya edged closer and kept holding out her hand. “Truly,” she responded. “I am recently freed myself. I understand what it’s like to have this new world thrust upon you.”
“You do?” Maya asked warily.
“I do,” she replied.
Maya stared at Zoya’s hand like it was a forbidden fruit. But when Zoya persisted, nodding her head in encouragement, Maya gently placed her shaking hand in Zoya’s.
“Come,” Zoya coaxed gently. “Let us go home.”
Maya sighed and whispered, “Home.” I heard Kisa sniff and her hands held me that much tighter.
“Bless her heart,” Talia said, but broke away from Zaal when Zoya led Maya to us. I watched as my sister introduced herself. Then I watched, with pride in my heart, as Kisa took Maya’s other hand. Maya, along with Ilya, appeared overwhelmed with emotion. But then, when you have never seen kindness before, it is difficult to accept its power.
Signaling to the cars, I announced, “Let’s go home.” We all made our way to the cars and Ilya took Inessa to the van. As Kisa slipped beside me in the backseat, I threaded my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. When I closed my eyes, I felt Kisa’s hand drawing lazy circles on my stomach. As the cars pulled away to take us all home, I left the pit and the kills I had made on the tarmac.
It was done.
It was an impossible feeling to accept, but as I held my Kisa in my arms, I knew it would hit home eventually. I was finally in New York to stay. The threats from my past now put to bed.
At long last.
* * *
“They are all settled?” I asked Valentin and Zoya as they came down the stairs in their house.
Valentin rubbed his hand over his closely shaved hair and nodded. “Yes. They’re all sleeping. It took awhile to show them everything, but they’re all exhausted.”
Zoya sat back on the couch and ran her hand over her face. Valentin sat beside her, laying his hand on her knee. Zoya shook her head at something in her mind. “That pit is truly a place of hell,” she uttered, and Valentin nodded his in agreement.
Zoya looked to Kisa and me standing in the room and said, “What that Master did is beyond anything I could have imagined in my nightmares. What he created through greed and hate.” She shook her head. “What he did to my brothers.” She placed her hand on Valentin’s face. The male turned to his female, and I could see his adoration for her shine through. “What he put my Valentin through … Inessa, Ilya, and poor little Maya.” She shook her head again. “I wish I could have killed him myself. The gulags, everything because one man saw people as disposable and subhuman. It makes me so mad.”
“He’s dead,” Valentin said with finality. “They all are. That’s all that matters.” Zoya exhaled through her nose and nodded. She then smiled. “And you have your sister back.”
“I just want her to wake,” he said, and Zoya kissed his scarred cheek.
“She will. And when she does, she will know that you kept your Big Brother Promise. You never gave up.” Valentin lay down with his head in Zoya’s lap. Her hands ran over his shorn hair.
This was Valentin in love.
“Lyubov moya?” Kisa said quietly. “Let’s go.”
I nodded my agreement and waved to Zoya and Valentin. Valentin’s eyes were being pulled by sleep. Zoya moved to get up. I held out my hand and shook my head. She gave me a grateful smile. “Thank you,” she mouthed. I knew she was thanking me for more than sparing her the need to see us out. She was thanking me for Inessa.
It wasn’t just me who was responsible.
As we climbed into the back of the car, Mikhail asked, “Home, knayz?”
I opened my mouth to say yes, but at the last minute I changed my mind. “To our cove, please, Mikhail.”
Kisa lifted her head from my shoulder, her eyebrows pulled down in confusion. She must have seen something in my eyes as she sighed and contentedly lay back down.
When we arrived at our cove, Mikhail opened our door. As we stepped onto the sand, I said, “We won’t be long.”
Mikhail signaled that he understood. He got back in the driver’s seat as Kisa linked her arm through mine. The warm breeze drifted over our skin as we walked along the soft sand. I inhaled the salty air and filled my lungs.
When we reached our spot, I helped Kisa navigate the stone wall and we sat down where we always did. I leaned my back against the wall and Kisa lay on her back, supporting her head on my lap.
She was staring up at me, smiling. “What?” I questioned, my hand traveling down Kisa’s pretty face and neck.
“You are still the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.” She smiled her smile just for me, then added, “Those eyes, those eyes that tell me to whom they belong.”
Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to her lips. When I lifted my head, I stared out over the dark sea, listening to the waves crashing against the shore. “You’ve never seen anything like the Blood Pit, solnyshko,” I confided. I shook my head. “I thought the gulag was bad. Then with Zaal and Valentin, I wondered how it could possibly get worse.” I huffed an incredulous laugh. “But it did, it was worse. A nightmare.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Kisa asked. When I stared down at her looking up at me in concern, I knew she meant it. Every word. Kisa had always been there for me. She had never shied away from the hard times and the gruesome details that were never easy to hear.
Moving my hand to her stomach, I opened my mouth to confide in her, to tell her all that I did … but then I just … didn’t.
I slowly shook my head and genuinely surprised myself by saying, “No.”
“No?” Kisa questioned, now confused.
I shook my head again, and with a newfound peace, I repeated, “No.” I lifted Kisa’s hand to lie over my steadily beating heart and whispered, “It’s over.” As those words left my lips, the reality really sank in. Kisa had stilled. With the heady sense of completion settling within me, I confidently voiced my thoughts, “It’s really over.”
Kisa moved until she was on her knees beside me. She pressed both her palms to my cheeks. “Luka,” she hushed out and wiped away a tear I didn’t know I had shed. “Baby…” she murmured, kissing my dampening cheeks.
“It’s over, solnyshko,” I rasped, “all of it. Everything that chained me. Us.”
Kisa swallowed back her emotion and softly asked, “And how does it feel?”
I searched for the right word. I smiled, when the only thing I could think of was, “Free.” I inhaled, my lungs no longer heavy and my heart no longer pained. “I am free.”
“Luka,” Kisa cried, and wrapped her arms around my neck. I held my wife. I held my wife and unborn baby in my arms.
When Kisa leaned back to meet my eyes, I said, “It was this cove where we made memories as children. It was this cove where you brought me back to you. You made Raze remember he was Luka, the male made just for you.” Kisa blinked as she listened to me, and I added, “And it is in this cove where I realized all that we have been fighting, everything that had kept me imprisoned, has disappeared. It is gone…”
“Luka,” Kisa whispered, an uncontained happiness shining through her bright smile, “I love you, lyubov moya. Forever.”
“I love you, too,” I rasped, and took her lips with my own. When Kisa drew back from the kiss, she lay back down on my lap. I stared out over the ocean, with a new calmness in my heart. Feeling Kisa’s stare, I glanced down. She was looking at me and raised her hand to ghost around my eye—the brown eye that was smudged with a little of Kisa’s blue.
“Luka Tolstoi,” she said nostalgically. “God put a piece of my blue eye in yours so we matched. So we would always know that we were meant to be together, and that our souls were fused. So no matter where you went, you would always find your way home.”
As Kisa’s words washed over me, I knew they were true.
“And it worked,” I said, smiling back at my solnyshko so wide. “It was you who brought me home. Your soul called to mine when I was lost. And it’s still here now, when I am found.”
Kisa smiled through her tears and reached out to thread her fingers through mine. There was nothing left to say. Right now, as I sat in this cove with the other half of my soul, I knew that life had played out as it should.
Through tragedy, we were both stronger.
And through distance, our love was stronger.
She was mine.
I was hers.
Her, the girl, whose soul matched mine.
And I, the boy, who was made perfectly for her.
Finally home.
Happy.
&nb
sp; At peace.
16
INESSA
Four days later …
“Inessa.”
The low voice pulled me from sleep. I was panting, my body slick with sweat. My muscles ached, and it felt like my legs couldn’t move.
“What’s wrong with me?” I questioned, confused.
I looked up into Valentin’s scarred face, my heart splitting with sorrow seeing his metal collar tightly around his neck.
“Shh,” he soothed, “it’s okay.”
“She’s hurting you,” I said, and cried out when I tried move.
“Calm,” Valentin whispered, checking around us to make sure we were alone. “I’m fine. It’s you I worry about.”
“How long do we have?” I asked, my stomach cramping in the aftermath of the drugs. I clenched my eyes, not able to look down at the evidence of whoever’s release had soothed the drug’s hold on me.
“Not long,” Valentin told me sadly.
He reached for my hand and squeezed it tightly. “Just hold on, Nessa. I will get you out of here one day, I promise.” Valentin released my hand, and I held out my little finger. Valentin’s blue eyes filled with sorrow as he stared at my finger. But lifting his little finger too, he wrapped it around mine.
“Big Brother Promise,” I said, and smiled at his beautifully ruined face.
“Big Brother Promise,” he rasped just as the drug began to take me under again.
Feeling a kiss on my head, I heard, “I’ll save you one day, Nessa. I promise. I’ll free you.”
As I gave in to the drugs, I saw Valentin in my mind. I saw his blue eyes, his shaved head … I saw the number on his chest. 194. Valentin was 194 … he was 194 …
The murmur of low voices drifted to my ears. Unfamiliar voices and scents drifted to where I lay. Forcing my heavy lids to open, I blinked away the sleep from my eyes. A white room came into view. I frowned. I had only ever seen dark walls. I frowned deeper, at least I thought I did. I tried to move my arm, but pain shot through me. My back. Something was wrong with my back.
I racked my mind, trying to remember what had happened, where I was. As I did, I suddenly became aware of a bulging arm lying over my waist. I stared down at the hand. It was rough and scarred. I didn’t know whose it was.