Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal #2)(56)

“I’m not doing that again,” she said.

Ruslan sighed. “Yes, you are.”

“No—”

“Non-negotiable. Pick it up. Do it again.”

Violet glared at the gun, both angry and a little scared that it had surprised and frightened her. “I don’t see why I even need to have one.”

“Because Kaz wants you to learn.”

“But—”

“You’ve been coddled a great deal, no?” Ruslan asked.

Violet blinked, stunned. “I beg your pardon?”

“Your father—his people. Even my brother, to an extent. They coddle you.”

Her hackles raised instantly. “I don’t think that’s the right word.”

“I think it fits just fine. And here’s the thing—I won’t coddle you. Pick the gun up, and let’s do it again. The more you do it, the easier it will be. This is important, despite how you may feel differently, and you need to learn. You can make that easy, or I can make it really hard.”

Violet almost had the nerve to ask exactly how Ruslan could make this whole experience harder than he already had, but she decided not to poke his monster when he was clearly playing nice for the moment.

“Fine,” she mumbled unhappily, picking the gun up again.

“Try one more time,” he ordered.

Strangely, Ruslan was right again.

It was easier the second time.

It wasn’t as harsh.

It wasn’t as shocking or frightening.

She knew what to expect.

Each round fired off a bit easier than the last until she knew the clip had only one bullet left to shoot.

“You’re a decent shot,” Ruslan praised, peering down at the target Violet had been aiming at.

Even she had to admit she’d done pretty well. Most of the rounds either hit the target paper or directly near it. Seemed her aim leaned a bit to the left.

“But not one kill shot,” Ruslan added quieter. “Trust me when I say you want the kill shot. When someone is coming at you and you only have the one chance to end it, you need to make that shot every time. Understand?”

“Practice?”

“Maybe …”

“Ma—”

Violet’s words cut off as a distinctive snap echoed, and she glanced away from the targets, looking at Ruslan who was aiming the gun he’d been fiddling with on and off directly at the side of her head.

Her world froze in that split second.

She wasn’t entirely sure why.

It was like every inch of her body, all the parts of her, suddenly zoned in on the barrel of the gun she was looking down. Her heart stuttered in its beats before leaping into her throat and lodging there. Her fists clenched tighter around her own gun pointed down at the table, and her back straightened.

“How easy this would be,” Ruslan murmured softly. “And it would be easy, Violet. All it would take was pulling the trigger and so many things just … go away. Maybe then my father would make his way back to where he should be, and my selfish bastard of a brother would pull his head out of his ass, hmm?”

Violet swallowed hard, unsure and wary in her heart.

She did not know this man at all.

Not that she knew the version of him she’d been chatting with all morning, either.

“You wouldn’t,” Violet said.

Ruslan smiled, cold and fleeting. “You have no idea. Now, you have one round left in your gun. I’d like for you to fire it.”

Violet, somehow in her fear, managed to sneer. “Afraid I might turn it on you?”

“You’d be dead before you blinked. Do as I said. Try for that kill shot this time.”

Ignoring the shake in her breath and the slight tremor in her hands, Violet didn’t see how she had much of a choice but to do what Ruslan wanted, given his gun was still cocked and pointed at her head. So she did what he wanted.

And when she aimed …

Her breaths came slower.

Her hands steadied.

Gaze zoned in …

She didn’t even feel the kickback that final time.

Ruslan looked to the side just as the bullet ripped through the chest of the paper human down the way. Silently, he lowered his gun, hitting the button on the side to release the clip.

It fell out on the table, empty.

“You don’t know me very well,” Ruslan said, never looking back at Violet, “but if you did, you’d know everything I said was a lie. I can’t stand my father, and I like him a great deal more when he’s gone, but I think I would love him if he were dead. As for Kaz—well, love is never selfish, Violet, no matter its form.”

Violet just stared at Ruslan, more unsure than she had ever been in her life.

“Seems fear works in your favor, though,” he continued. “You would have hit your target in the heart. Near instant death when it exploded in their chest. Ironic, yes?”





Though his last conversation with his mother hadn’t gone as planned, Kaz gave her a day to calm down before he returned, alone, to tell her of the wedding and details. She still wasn’t happy with him, but at least, her anger had cooled. And if he knew one thing, despite her uneasiness as to who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, Kaz knew that his mother would still attend that day.