"It's not just you," Ansel said. "I get a little dazed around him too, and so does Decker, I think. But you're the only one who can really shake him off. If I tried to escape, I'd just be stuck here in Italy; I don't have a passport."
"I'm well aware that I have to shake him off, and I keep thinking it'll be easy enough, but then if I walked right back down there and tried to confront him, I know he'd take one look at me and do his Jedi thing."
"He does have a weakness, though. All sorcerers do."
"His weakness is that he gets thrown off when we start talking about something ridiculous or doing something ridiculous. His intensity lowers. Except, it's really hard to ask him hard questions while acting ridiculous at the same time."
We heard the front door shut again, and when we looked out the window, Viktor and Decker were already leaving.
"Does Decker even want to work for him, I wonder?" I plucked my lip. "I really can't tell."
"What if...the questions weren't ridiculous, but the situation was as ridiculous as we could possibly make it?" Ansel asked. "Could he keep up his magic if we were dressed like we're about to take the stage in Vegas?"
"Or if we threw him in the pool first?" I mused.
"Sure, if we could get ahold of him. Don’t forget, dude’s a tiger.”
I giggled. "This could be fun, though. We have a few days. We just need to think of the most distractingly stupid scenario possible using materials at hand. It's like a Project Runway Unconventional Materials challenge."
"Do I look like I watch Project Runway?" Ansel asked, making a face.
"Yes. Yes! Please say you do!"
"No. I won't go that far. I've been burned with you girls. You act like you want a metrosexual but if I start talking Project Runway suddenly you're flirting with Waylon instead."
"Okay, okay, that's fair. But you have watched it?"
Ansel stalked to the door. "He'll be back before we know it," he reminded me.
"Plenty of time!"
Chapter Twenty-One
Mina
Then again, it had never occurred to me how free from ridiculous objects a house could be. I mean, Esther owned a lot of ridiculous things. A collection of rabbit figurines, for example, or a needlepoint pillow with a gnome on it. I was sure I could have assembled some really absurd outfit or decoration.
I guess I should have realized, based on Alistair, that a single man might not own anything interesting. Everything Viktor had was classy and nice.
"Maybe I could put fruit on my head, and when he comes back I'll do like, a Chiquita banana song thing…on skates!”
"Like Carmen Miranda?"
"Yeah! Who is that, exactly?"
"You know as much as I do,” he said.
"Do you think he'd get flustered by that?"
"Sure, if you really sell it. Do you think you can question him with bananas on your head?”
I rapped my fingers on the long, solid antique table, mulling over the antique tablecloth and the silver candlestick holders that looked all sleek and modernist, probably midcentury. "But how do you actually make a hat from bananas so that they stay in place?"
"This is a bad idea, isn't it?" I said glumly, but then Gina came in with the seafood linguine and the smell of it wafting in perked me right up.
The pasta was glistening with olive oil and surrounded in ridiculously fresh clams, mussels and shrimp.
"That cheers you right up!" Gina glowed at us. "Are either of you sea birds?"
"We are today," Ansel said, digging in. "It does make up for the imprisonment just a little."
"Imprisonment!" She laughed. "You're safe and sound."
"That's the problem!" I cried. "If I'm a queen and he's my consort, I should be with him, learning to take charge of helping my people, right? But he's acting like he's the king and I'm just his crown."
"Has he made love to you?" Gina asked.
"No. And I hope he doesn't."
"I have heard he is a very skilled lover," she said, like this would make it all better. I couldn’t help wondering like, how skilled, though? I had this feeling sorcerers could really fuck.
"I mean, I guess he would make everyone think that...," Ansel said.
"I don't care if he's a skilled lover or not; he's a bad partner. He's an arrogant jackass And if he does make love to me, I'm afraid it's because he's using his power to confuse me into thinking I want to be with him."
Gina gasped. "He wouldn't do that. I am sure he would not. I think Viktor is just very...difficult. His father was murdered, and his mother was treated so badly when she returned to Russia, and I think he must have loved her very much. I'm sure you know how bad it was for shifters then. They were treated like circus animals."
"Yes, I know, but like I said...super-villain origin story. Like, textbook example."
"Well, he's a very good boss," Gina said, looking a little uncertain herself now. "He pays me very well."
"Decker always has great things to say about him too," Ansel said. "And he's the only employee who seems to be allowed in the house. Sort of like...Viktor has a hard time controlling more than one person for long..."
"He isn't controlling me!" Gina cried. "How can you say these things about a man who has done so, so much for shifters. Do you watch the news? He made Istara stronger, and he came to the EU and talked to people no Istaran has ever dared to meet with; he negotiated treaties between shifter clans and European leaders that we never thought we'd see in our lifetimes. He is your president, but to shifters all around the world...he is a king. He is our king."
Ansel looked at me as I dropped my fork.
"Our ancestors meant for this power to be shared by three women," I whispered. "And the Grandmothers just handed the other two necklaces to Viktor. I didn't realize...just how much..."
My head hurt and even the seafood linguine wasn't as appealing as before. Was this how it would end up? Our enemy wouldn't be a human, but our fellow shifter? Between his magical power, his skilled politicking, and his fearlessness, I fully realized now that Viktor was dangerous. He wanted to save shifter-kind, but he thought Esther was too nice and she was in his way.
"Viktor said he gave you instructions to let me phone Alistair. I'd like to call him now," I said.
"All right," Gina said, and now she looked a little sad, like she had failed a task. She fetched a cell phone and dialed, handing it to me.
"Hello?"
"Al, it's me. It's Mina." I didn't realize how relieved I would feel to hear his relief when he said,
"Mina! Mina...oh, thank god. Are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm in Italy. Viktor has a house here. I'm with Ansel and we're both fine. We were in Egypt for a week or two. We were chilling at this temple. Are you okay?"
"I miss you," he said, his voice heavy. "I'm in New York, working. Everyone else is safe in Eden Park. I'm just trying to be my old human self and...prepare for your return."