“Well, obviously she was enchanted. But I don’t know why that would allow her to talk around her tail.”

“Can you not talk with your mouth full?” Evgeni bit his finger and said around it, “Do not be frightened.” Garbled, but understandable.

Nadya rested her forearms against the shelf and looked around the rest of the dismal little shop.

Claire sighed. “Very well. Rude but not utterly incomprehensible. Go on.”

The sound of rustling paper indicated Evgeni was rewrapping the food. “She went on to say that if he carried her around his neck for seven years and looked for the tin kingdom, and then stayed in that kingdom for seven more years, he would find true happiness.”

“Ah! Her kingdom, I suppose?”

“No, actually. I am not sure whose kingdom it was.” His frown was audible in his voice.

Claire’s laugh was a bit too loud this time, and a board creaked above them. No doubt the father would be coming down to see what she found so amusing. “Why tin, then?” she asked.

Nadya peeked through the shelves again and watched him shrug. “Let us call it a mystery. But when finally he reached it after seven long years of travel, the snake unwound from his neck, leapt to the ground as the beautiful maiden again, and then promptly disappeared. He went inside the walls of the castle, saw to his horse, and took a tour. It was a beautiful place—everything was silver and ivory, shades of white and grey. In the banquet hall, a feast was laid out on the table. But nowhere was a soul to be seen.”

“A feast.” Claire sighed and sagged onto her elbows on the counter. “I can scarcely remember what that would have been like.”

Now, with that Nadya could commiserate.

The creaking was moving. Evgeni fished a hand into the pocket where he’d stashed some money. “Well, he feasted every day for years. Each day, new food would appear. In the stable, there were always oats for his horse. But there were no people to be found, and the solitude began to wear on him.”

“I can imagine.” Claire wrinkled her nose.

The footsteps above them had halted. Evgeni held out his money, brows raised. “How much today?”

Instead of answering, she reached and plucked a bill and two coins from his palm.

“Claire, that is not enough.”

Idiot—why was he arguing?

“The olives are a gift, from my personal stash.” Claire grinned and put the money in the register. “Finish the story, Zhenya. Could he go a whole seven years without any human contact?”

“Well, he lost track of the days. Eventually, it drove him mad. He drank until he was drunk and decided he could take it no more. He stormed toward the nearest door—but a wall flew up in front of him.”

Claire turned back to him with a frown. “Wait. The castle stopped him from leaving?”