With his own life, he would. He’d let them come to his flat and take the risk that Nadya’s exhaustion would dim her perception long enough. But this wasn’t just about him. There was Evgeni, who was still out there somewhere.
And more, there was Lily. Had the blonde really been the one to kill Alyona? Would she do the same to Lily? If she saw anyone from the OB lingering around his flat, she could take off and do it before anyone could stop her. No, he had to play it safe. For Lily’s sake.
Be still, and know that I am God.
Zivon let his eyes slide shut. The Lord would be exalted. He would make the wars to cease. But would He do it soon enough to save anyone Zivon loved?
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
He opened his eyes again. For months, Zivon had tried to prove who he was. He had tried to forge a new path. He had tried singlehandedly to save his brother, his people, his country. But the truth whispered now through his soul.
I am thy salvation.
27
Lily paid no attention, for once, to the way the sunlight glinted over the buildings, through the trees, onto the path in Hyde Park. She’d risen at the first breath of dawn this morning, dressed, and spent a few minutes in prayer. Then a few more studying the photographs she’d made duplicates of.
He meant to leave her. Soon. Though Zivon hadn’t so much as strayed into her neighborhood, Daddy and Blinker had kept her updated on all he was doing. Putting affairs in order here. Saying his farewells to everyone else. Booking passage on an ocean liner to America.
She’d had an hours-long conversation with her parents last night, in which she looked them squarely in the eye and declared she meant to go with him, wherever he went. To America, to the Arctic, back to Russia—it didn’t matter where. She’d have to convince him to marry her first, of course, but she could do it. If he’d just talk to her . . .
That was probably why he’d been avoiding her.
Her parents hadn’t exactly been pleased with her determination to leave England at his side, but instead of arguing with her, they’d focused on devising ways to get him to stay. And oh, how she prayed one of them would work. Not for her own sake, but for his. So much of his life had been in chaos for the last year. He needed a resting place.
For that to be England, though, they had to clear his name. Which meant they needed the original photographs used to create the fakes.
Which meant, in turn, that they must find his brother and the Nadya woman. The admiral had his best people on it, so surely they’d soon be found.
In the meantime, Zivon.
She spotted him with Daddy and Hall, talking, gesturing, and she held back. Whatever they were discussing, she wasn’t going to intrude. Better to wait until they’d finished. So she slipped around them, thinking to get closer to the entrance he always used when he came and went.
So many times she’d come and gone on these paths too. With Ivy. With Zivon. With her parents. Was this the last time she’d walk here?
It should have been a sad thought. But when she blinked, she saw Ivy’s laughing eyes. Full of innocence. Full of mischief. Her sister would think this a grand adventure.
And she’d be right. Love always was. It would require sacrifice—but the best adventures always did.
Hurried movement caught her eye, stealing her focus from the future. She frowned when she realized it wasn’t a squirrel, but rather a woman who was even now rising from a crouch, swaying a bit on her feet, and pressing a hand to her stomach. Had Ivy done the same on the way home that day? Ill and desperate, but with no one to help her?
Her feet started her forward, even before the face registered.
She’d never seen it before. Not in person. But she had in a photograph—the one with . . . he keeps written on the back. The one with Evgeni in a crowd of Bolsheviks, smiling down at a smaller soldier.
Only this morning had she realized the recipient of his smile was a woman. This woman. Nadya.
Nadya. Here.
Lily glanced back over her shoulder. She was too far now from the men to get their attention quietly, though they might hear her if she shouted.
The woman would too, though, and would be gone before they could get here. Lord? What do I do?
Never in her life had she felt such clear direction in her spirit. It wasn’t a word, but it was an urgency pressing down on her. One that clearly said, Go.
She went, keeping enough of a distance that the blonde wouldn’t see her without turning around to look.
Footsteps sounded, running, a moment before Barclay Pearce appeared at her side with an exasperated look. “What in the world do you think you’re doing?”
The urgency didn’t relent, though it felt a bit more optimistic now. “Barclay. Perfect. Once we see where she’s going, you can run back for help while I get the album from her.”
He looked at her as if she were a madwoman. “No, you go back now and tell Hall I’m on her trail—as he told me to be if she showed up. You’ve not been trained for this sort of work.”
“Haven’t I?” She nodded ahead, to where Nadya still had a hand pressed to her stomach. “She’s ill. Likely Evgeni is too, then, and that’s why he’s not shown up again. I can examine him. See if there’s anything I can do to help them.”
Barclay shook his head. But he didn’t make a fuss or try to force her to turn around. “You’re going to get me sacked.”
“Oh, rubbish. Who else would the admiral get to run his ‘errands’?”
“Shh. Here.” He pushed her into an alley a second before Nadya turned partway around. They watched her from their hiding place until she faced forward again and continued on her way.
Thank God He’d sent Barclay to join her. She really wasn’t trained for this.
Together, though, they trailed her to a tube station. Lily wasn’t sure how they’d manage to keep an eye on her on a train without being noticed, but Barclay didn’t seem to recognize this was a problem. He just handed over the fourpence for two tickets and led her into the carriage behind the one Nadya had boarded. The way he kept his face glued to the window told her how he meant to know when she debarked.
Lily didn’t dare say a word to distract him during the twenty-minute ride. She just spent the time praying. Thinking. Focusing. She was ready when Barclay nodded and sprang to her feet.
The blonde didn’t even bother looking over her shoulder again after she got off the train. The coughs Lily heard from people waiting on the platform had her wishing for one of Arabelle’s masks.
The Lord would just have to insulate her for now.
“I hadn’t made it out this far yet,” Barclay muttered as they walked into a tired-looking neighborhood Lily had never visited before. “Not in this direction.”
“I’m sure you would have soon.”
He smiled. “The next day or two. I do know some blokes from this part of the city.”
They’d followed her only a few minutes when she ducked into a building of flats. Lily sucked in a breath. “What do I do? Hurry to catch up?”
“No. Oi! Quigley!”
After their whispering for the last half hour, Lily jumped at the sudden shout. But it blended into the normal noises of the neighborhood and soon had an older fellow who’d been sweeping a doorstep straighten, turn, brighten.