His hands went up in a show of surrender. “I was just curious,” he answered. “Of course it’s better in the hands of the Tsaritsa.” He didn’t dare make additional conversation as they moved forward. It wasn’t more than another 20 minutes before he signaled.
“…ahead,” he whispered. And Alina shot Nikolai a look, taking a deep breath. This was it. And she’d have to do it on her own.