The Crown's Game
Page 71

Nikolai squeezed his fists tighter. His nails dug into his palms. “I told you before. There is no way out.”
“How can you be so sure? I’ve told you only the abridged version of the Game. There are many more details. There’s so much you don’t know.”
“I already know too much, Pasha!” Nikolai picked up the vodka bottle and smashed it over the book. Glass shattered and flew across the table, several shards embedding themselves in Pasha’s sleeve.
Pasha gasped. “What are you—”
But he stopped talking as the pieces of glass quivered, then slid across the table and back onto the book, where they reassembled themselves into the shape of a bottle. The shards in his arm wrenched themselves free and rejoined their glassy brethren. Even the liquid on the book cover converged into a small pool, then traveled up the side of the bottle in a clear stream before trickling back through the bottle’s mouth and back inside.
He gaped at Nikolai.
Nikolai squinted at Pasha’s arm. “I’m sorry. Did the glass cut you? Or is it only your sleeve?” There was concern in his words, strictly speaking, but his tone belied very little of it.
Pasha glanced down but was unable to speak.
“Just the sleeve then. Much easier.” Nikolai’s tone was more derisive than he’d intended to let on, but he couldn’t shake it, because Pasha had pushed him too far. Nikolai snapped his fingers, and a needle and thread appeared. They dipped down to Pasha’s shirt and began stitching the tears the broken glass had left.
“You’re the other enchanter,” Pasha whispered.
Nikolai kept his face an unfeeling mask. “I’m afraid so.”
“You made the benches.”
“And refaced Nevsky Prospect and conjured the Jack and ballerina. The Masquerade Box was mine as well.”
“All this time . . .”
Nikolai sighed, and his mask dissolved. Now actual remorse began to flow. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“You let me go on and on about the Crown’s Game like a fool.” Pasha stared at his sleeve, where the needle had finished its work, and a pair of scissors was snipping the extra thread.
Nikolai shook his head. “You’re not a fool.”
“But you made me out to be. I don’t even know who you are.”
“I’m the same person you’ve always known.”
“No.” Pasha rose from the booth. “You’re not.”
“Pasha.”
“You’ve known this about yourself your entire life. And that means you’ve lied to me for the entirety of our friendship.”
“It’s only a small part of my identity. I’m so much more than this.”
“Perhaps. But what else have you hidden from me?”
“Nothing!” Nikolai slapped the table.
“Did you befriend me for your own ambitions, to become closer to the tsar so you could win the Game?” Pasha’s ordinarily angelic face contorted into something uglier. Something harsher. Something that looked like his father or his sister.
“No. I didn’t even know the details of the Game until a month ago.”
“Did you enjoy listening to me ramble about mysticism, then laugh behind my back?”
“I would never.”
“And what about Vika? How will you finish the Game? Will you kill her so you can be victorious, so you can finally be somebody?”
“No! Pasha, what are you saying?” Nikolai jumped from his seat. “I could never hurt her, I love her, too.”
“You what?” Pasha’s mouth hung open.
Damn. Was it true? Renata had accused him of falling for Vika, but Nikolai hadn’t fully admitted it to himself until now. Not actually being in love. The confession left him feeling both as if the floor had been pulled out from under him and, at the same time, made more firm.
The two boys glared at each other from opposite sides of the booth. Anywhere else, their argument would have attracted attention. But in the tavern, it was business as usual. At a nearby table, another bottle smashed against the wall and the men there began to yell.
“I love her, too,” Nikolai said quietly as he sank back into his seat.
Pasha, however, did not sit. He towered over Nikolai. “So you lied to me about that as well.”
Nikolai could do nothing but nod. He could argue that it was an omission, not a lie, but such technicalities shouldn’t matter between friends. It was deception nonetheless. One of so many deceptions.
Pasha scowled. “You were the one who said I couldn’t love Vika, because I hardly knew her. How is it possible, then, for you to love her? Do you know her so much better than I?”
“It’s different. We’re enchanters.”
“And what is that supposed to mean? That you’re somehow better than me because of it?”
“No! Just . . . we understand each other. There’s no one else like us.”
“So if we are only to fall in love with someone exactly like ourselves, I suppose that means I need to find a woman who is in line to inherit an empire, who has also been betrayed by her best friend.”
Nikolai wilted on the table.
“I could have my Guard arrest you, you know. I could accuse you of kidnapping me tonight. I could have a firing squad on you by morning.”
“I know you could.”
“I could, but I won’t, because in another version of this life, you were my best friend. And I wouldn’t want that boy’s blood on my hands.”
“Pasha—”
“Why do you have to steal Vika?”
Nikolai sat up again. “What? I’m not. I said I love her, not that she loves me.”
“She’d choose you over me, though. You’ve always had everything, and now you have to take Vika, too.” Pasha stabbed a knife into the center of the loaf of bread.
Nikolai yanked the knife out. “How could you possibly believe that? You’re the one who has everything. I’m an orphan with not a drop of noble blood in my veins and not a ruble or kopek to my name. All I have is my magic, and all that’s going to lead me to is death.”
“Not true. Do you not see what you have, Nikolai? You’re better than everyone at everything, and you don’t even try. You’re a better dancer, a better swordsman, a better scholar. Girls fall at your feet, and you don’t seem to care. You excel at everything, whereas I’m only adequate. The only thing I’ve got is that I was born to be heir.”