“No doubt we have an informant in our midst,” Koschei said, his voice icy smooth. “I do hope your unit will do everything in its power to find where our lines of communication were intercepted.”

“Y-yes, sir. Our reinforcements will arrive here any minute, but should we initiate the emergency protocol? There are caverns that empty out into the valley below. If you leave now...”

“I’m not leaving,” Koschei said dully. “Now is our chance to deal a fatal blow to the tsarists.”

As the footsteps neared, I became hyperaware of my breathing, loud and ragged. The pair passed the pillar I hid behind, their shadows skittering across the floor. Even if I wanted to shoot them, I’d have to emerge from behind cover to do so. And they would be armed, too. That much I was sure of.

The footsteps receded.

Slowly, I released my breath and looked out from behind cover. I glanced up and down the corridor before edging out into the open. Against my better judgment, I headed in the direction that Koschei had gone only moments before.

I couldn’t run around the castle searching for Mikhail. My best option would be to follow Koschei and see where he went.

I hurried silently down the hall and peeked around the corner, where the corridor opened into a large atrium with a domed stained-glass ceiling. The walls were adorned with exquisite gilt filigree reminiscent of flames and ivy, while marble columns reached to the wraparound balcony of the floor above.

Koschei climbed the staircase to the second floor, still in conversation with the female soldier. I shuddered involuntarily at the sight of him, my breath catching in my throat. Maybe it was because I had spent so many years with my family in the wilderness, but I could sense it. There was a distortion in the air around him, as though he were too heavy for gravity to sustain. Only, instead of keeling under its force, it was gravity that yielded to him.

To others, his raw, overbearing energy must have been captivating, but even at a distance, it sickened me and made my skin crawl. This was the man who was to blame for everything. This was the witch.

We both were.

Koschei stopped at the landing and said something else to the woman, who nodded and retreated back down the stairs.

My throat narrowed to a pinhole. I pressed my back against the wall and held my breath, praying the soldier wouldn’t reenter this hall. Her footsteps neared, passed, receded. A door creaked open and then closed.

After counting to ten, I looked back into the atrium. From where I stood, it seemed deserted. If there were other soldiers guarding the castle, they must be dispersed around the entrance and grounds. Koschei was nowhere in sight.

I slipped off my boots and rested them against the wall. The chill of the stone floor leached through my holey socks. My medic’s uniform, ragged and covered in dirt and brambles, would make it impossible for me to blend in with the Fraktsiya soldiers. There was no hiding that I was an outsider.