It’s time for another peek at Blood Mosaic, so let’s see what Tatyana and Oleg are up to!
Author’s Note: Obviously when I started to establish the canon of the Elemental Universe in 2012 when Oleg first showed up, I did not anticipate the war in Ukraine or the Russian invasion. To understand the timing of this book, please know that the events depicted in Blood Mosaic take place around 2016, after the Russian incursion into the Crimea (where Sevastopol is located) but before the full-scale war that started in 2022. The events in this part, which is a flashback, occur in 2014, just after the Russian invasion of Crimea.
Sevastopol, 2014
Was karaoke ever a good idea?
Tatyana sat at the back of the lively club near Ushakov square. It wasn’t smoky. The drinks were good, and the groups on stage were like any karaoke club, a mix of amazing and terrible.
“Another drink?” The friendly server walked over. She was wearing a black apron and her hair was tied back in a neat twist.
Tatyana stared at her. “Do you like working here?”
The woman shrugged. “It’s okay. Are you looking for a job? The waiting list for this place is pretty long.”
“Right.”
That was the answer everywhere. She’d had to leave her job and move back to her mother’s city when her grandparents had passed. Her mother couldn’t be alone, and now Tatyana couldn’t find work.
Just go apply at the city somewhere, Tanya.
That was her mother’s attitude. Find a nice government job somewhere that paid pennies but offered the security of never being fired.
The problem was, if they were going to pay the bills, she needed the kind of money she had been making in Kyiv. The kind of money that no one in Sevastopol was going to pay her these days.
But she couldn’t live in Kyiv because her mother couldn’t be alone.
Life was… impossible.
“Did you want another drink?”
“Sorry.” Tatyana finished her vodka tonic quickly and nodded. “Yes. Sure.” At least the drinks weren’t terribly expensive here. She hadn’t planned on ordering a second, but she felt guilty about staring into space in front of the server. “It’s mostly tourists here, right?”
The woman smiled ruefully. “Mostly yes. In this part of town, it’s pretty much all tourists.”
Perfect.
She’d gone out after another passive-aggressive exchange with her mother in the hope that going to a karaoke bar might point her in the direction of some people her own age who might be friendly.
She was twenty-five, not eighty. She hadn’t had a huge group of friends in Kyiv, but she’d met other people at the university and stayed in touch. She’d been rooming with a nice girl from the north. She went out on the weekends. Her friends from work invited her to bars and concerts.
Then life and politics became horrible and everything went to shit. Instead of working at a nice accounting firm in a city that she loved, Tatyana was living with her mother, everything in the world was upside down, and she couldn’t find a job. Her mother’s pension barely stretched through half the month.
She muttered under her breath, “People had to pay their rent when the Roman Empire was falling, too.”
A sharp laugh came from the table next to her, and a woman with long, dark hair glanced over. “You’re right.”
Tatyana shrugged.
The woman was with a half a dozen people, most of whom seemed to be watching and cheering the woman singing on the stage. Tatyana saw her look away, then look back at Tatyana. Her eyes locked on her face.
Did Tatyana know her? Had they met? She had the strange feeling that the woman knew her, and she wondered what kind of awkward conversation was coming. It was inevitable that she would run into people she knew when she was younger, but it rarely went well, because her memories of school were terrible.
Tatyana tried to ignore the dark-haired woman’s stare. She glanced at the singer on the stage. “Is she your friend? She’s good.”
They were probably tourists, but that was no excuse to be rude.
“We’re friendly.” The woman looked at the empty chairs at her table. “Can I join you?”
Oh no. This was going to get awkward.
Then again, the woman seemed friendly enough and she was around Tatyana’s age. This could be a new friend. Isn’t that why she got dressed up and went out in the first place? She wanted to meet people.
“Um, sure.” Tatyana moved her purse to the chair on the other side. “Why not?”
“I’ll buy the next round.” The woman rose and walked over. She wasn’t tall, but she was stunning, with legs that almost looked too long for her body, further elongated by four inch heels.
This woman was glamorous. She looked rich, and she clearly spent far more time and money on her appearance than Tatyana did.
Tatyana was racking her brain, trying to figure out where she might know her as she sat in the chair to Tatyana’s left.
She put her own purse in the remaining chair and leaned an elbow on the table. “It was getting loud over there.”
“If your friends don’t cheer you on when you’re attempting the Greatest Love of All, are they really your friends?”
The woman held out her hand. “I’m Zara.”
“Tatyana.” She shook the woman’s hand and felt a strange wash of giddiness rise up.
Well, the vodka was finally kicking in.
“Are you visiting the city?” Zara asked.
“No, I just moved back. Right before all the…” She waved a hand. “You know.”
“Ah.” Zara nodded. “We live in interesting times.”
“Isn’t that a way of cursing someone?” Tatyana asked. “To wish that they live in interesting times?”
“It’s better than being bored.” Zara had beautiful dark eyes that glinted in the lights of the club. “Don’t you think?”
“No, I like boring.” Not boring exactly. “I mean, I like knowing what to expect. Then again, I’m not working so maybe that’s why.”
“Really?” Zara raised a manicured hand and waved for a server. “What do you do?”
“I’m a bookkeeper.” She clarified. “My degree is in accounting and mathematics, but I was working as a bookkeeper before I had to move back.”
“Why did you move?”
“Family reasons.” She didn’t want to elaborate. “Do you live here?”
Zara smiled. “For the moment. My family is rich. Like, very rich.”
“That must be nice.”
“It is.” Her smile was coquettish. “But I actually wanted to see if I could make my own money, so my father set up an import and export business for me to run here in Sevastopol.”
“Wow.” Tatyana couldn’t conceive of having so much money you’d set up a company for your daughter like playing at a tea party. “How is it going?”
Her family must have been in organized crime. Or maybe just well-connected. She had better watch what she said. Tatyana was suddenly wishing that she’d never offered a seat to Zara.
Then again, was it better to ignore a well-connected daughter or make nice? She had no idea what was the better idea, so she quickly downed the drink the server set in front of her.
“Are you looking for a job?” Zara asked. “To pay the rent while the empire falls?”
Tatyana snorted. “Something like that.”
Zara narrowed her eyes. “Are you good at being a bookkeeper?”
“I’m very fucking good at it.” Maybe it was the vodka talking, but Tatyana wasn’t lying. She was very good at her job. She was actually underutilized at her last position.
“I like that.” Zara’s full red lips curled into a smile. “I like confidence.”
“My former boss said that my ego was too big.”
“That sounds like a man.” Zara leaned forward. “Women need to be confident, don’t they? If we don’t believe in ourselves, who else will?”
No one. No one believed in her. Not anymore. “My grandmother used to say the same thing.” The sadness hit her like a sudden wave. “I’m sorry.” She reached for her purse. “I’m in a strange mood tonight, and I shouldn’t burden you with that when you’re out with your friends. I should go.”
Zara reached out and put a hand on her arm. “Don’t.”
“Okay.” Tatyana sat down and relaxed back into her chair. What a ridiculous idea. She should stay with Zara. Zara hadn’t made her sad, it was just her memories.
“You’re sad.” Zara kept a kind hand on her arm. “Did I say something?”
The story poured out before she could even think about the words escaping her mouth. “My grandparents passed away about six months ago. My grandmother had a heart attack and then my grandfather died four days after her funeral. He just went to sleep and didn’t wake up the next morning.”
Zara’s hand was soft and soothing on her arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“I can’t believe I told you that.” Tatyana blinked back tears. “I don’t… I usually don’t talk about them.”
“They were important to you.” Zara cocked her head and moved her thumb back and forth over Tatyana’s wrist. “I’m jealous. My family isn’t very close.”
“That can be a blessing sometimes.” Tatyana wanted to pull her arm away, but she didn’t. It was as if she heard a voice in her mind, telling her that Zara was someone she could trust.
“I suppose you’re right.”
Tatyana laughed ruefully. “At least your father set up a business for you. You must be a little bit close.”
“Yes, he did.” Zara’s eyes sparkled. They were so beautiful. She was beautiful. Tatyana was so lucky that Zara even noticed her.
“You’re so kind,” Tatyana was starting to slur her words. “I shouldn’t have another drink. I’m feeling it.”
“Don’t be silly. I am enjoying our chat.”
Tatyana didn’t know why this stunning, glamorous woman was paying attention to her when there were far more interesting people at the club.
“Speaking of my father’s business, though, I have an idea.” Zara leaned closer. “If you are really fucking good at being a bookkeeper, I mean.”
“Yeah.” Tatyana nodded through the haze. “I am.”