A Victory that Counts (Excerpt)

Two

 Darkness surrounded Trotuş’ head when he peeked in through the flaps. “Mr. Sturdza is here,” he whispered.

“I’ll be out in a second,” I replied automatically. My personal guard wouldn’t have bothered me unless it was something important. Ştefan showing up out of the blue definitely fell into that category.

Trotuş disappeared, and I extracted myself from Jesse’s arms, careful not to wake him. I sat on the edge of the cot and rubbed my eyes, realizing I had fallen asleep. We had probably missed dinner too, but it didn’t matter. We could always find food at the mess hall. The potential problem had to do with Ştefan. Well, no better time to face the wolves than the present.

I ran both hands though my long hair, hoping it didn’t look like a mess, and slipped out of the tent in time to see the visitor approaching on the path between the tents. Colonel Oprea accompanied him, his shoulders stiff in the light campaign gear. Once again, I found myself thinking he hadn’t been the right choice for leading six hundred pandurs on enemy ground. He didn’t lack training or devotion, but he did lack experience. The Little Council had insisted on choosing someone who had never left the country so there would be no danger whatsoever for him to fraternize with the vamps. I had done my fair bit of travelling abroad, and I swore my guards were better fit for the job.

“Liana!” Ştefan opened both arms, grinning widely.

I met him half way and returned the hug. Regardless of my concerns, I was happy to see him. We had known each other since childhood, and for a long time, everyone had expected us to end up together, including ourselves. That hadn’t happened, but we had remained good friends. “What are you doing here? Why wasn’t I informed you were coming?”

“It was a surprise.” His white teeth glinted in the moonlight.

“Umm… okay…” That sounded odd, but I would get to the bottom of it, eventually. “Let’s sit outside,” I suggested. “The air is too stuffy in the tent.” And Jesse was sleeping in there, but I didn’t say that out loud. The two men didn’t like each other much.

Spânu and Trotuş volunteered their folding chairs, the ones they used when they sat on guard, and they moved a few steps away to give us some privacy, but not before bringing a tray with drinks for us. Ştefan was a VIP no matter where he went, and although the pandurs got their orders from me, it didn’t stop them from showing their respect towards our future president.

“We’ll talk later, Colonel.” Ştefan dismissed Oprea with a wave of his hand, and this one saluted and left, assuming we had some Little Council business to discuss.

“How are things at home?” I asked as soon as we settled down with a glass of flavored, local wine in hand.

“It’s cold.” Ştefan pretended to shiver. “The meteorologists claim it’s the coldest winter this century.”

That didn’t say much since we were still at the beginning of it. I looked around at the tall trees surrounding our camp, and I stifled a sigh. They would enjoy a Christmas while I was stuck here with all the flowers in full bloom. It didn’t feel like Christmas at all.

“By the way, your mom sent you some homemade ginger bread. It’s in my bags.” He gave me a puzzled look. “I didn’t know you liked gingerbread so much.”

I didn’t, but Jesse did. And mom liked him, even if she had only met him briefly.

“You brought it all the way from Bucharest?”

“Yes. With stops in London, Sydney and Auckland. Good thing I have diplomatic immunity and they never searched my bags.” He smirked.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have…” I said ironically.