try to act as if she did. Nobody could expect more of her than that.
"Whither thou goest, I will go," she said, quoting a passage she had learned from the Book of Ruth - an unfortunate name indeed, she realized as she spoke. "Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God..."
Her voice trailed off. He seemed not to recognize the words.
"Your family aren't Christian, are they?" she asked.
"If you refer to the Christian habit of plotting to murder their in-laws, then no, they don't qualify as Christian."
"Vanya," said Sophia sharply.
He did not apologize, though he did wither under her stare.
And why should he apologize, thought Katerina. His complaint was not unjustified.
"I'll follow you to your parents' home," said Katerina. "As you followed me to mine."
"Naked?" asked Ivan.
"Young man!" cried Sophia.
But Katerina only laughed. "I thought you told me I didn't have that option."
"I'll take you," said Ivan. "It's up to you whether I introduce you as a friend of mine, or as my wife."
"As you choose," said Katerina.
"That's not my decision," said Ivan.
"Yes it is," said Katerina.
"No it isn't," he said in a firmer voice. "If you are only calling yourself my wife out of duty to Taina, then I don't want to make such a claim. My parents will see at once how you feel about me, or, more to the point, how you don't feel about me. It will worry my mother. So you can only come as my wife if you promise to pretend to my parents that you think I'm a good catch."
"A good what?" asked Katerina.
"A good husband," he explained. "That you think you did well to choose to be my wife. If you can't pretend to believe that, then it's better to introduce you as nothing more than a friend of mine."
"Coward," said Sophia softly.
"Taina still needs us married, as much as ever," said Katerina. Beyond that, she did not know what to say, or even what he wanted her to say.
Ivan searched her face - for what, she didn't know. Nor did he find what he was looking for. She knew this because of the way he sagged a little, then nodded. "All right then. I'll tell them you're my wife. Let them believe what they believe."
I hurt him again, thought Katerina. I meant to pretend to love him, but in the moment I simply told the truth, which is my habit. And I don't know that I want to change that habit. You can tell a lie now and then, but what happens to you when you try to live your whole life inside a lie?
Still, he had chosen to keep her, even though he clearly wasn't all that happy about it. Could Sophia be right? Did he truly care for her? Or was he agreeing to stay married solely out of duty?
More to the point, Katerina wondered, am I?
Baba Yaga
Long ago she had found this still pool in the darkness of the cave, deep in a subterranean chamber. By torchlight she had come here from time to time, to draw upon the majesty of the place. But she had never used the water to travel, for until now there was nowhere she wanted to go that she could not reach more easily another way.
The surface of the water was absolutely still. That was important; unfortunately, it meant that she could not douse the torch in the water, for then she could not see when the surface became still again. She tried stubbing it out in the dirt, but that did nothing; she beat it on the ground, but it only burned more hotly. Finally, she smothered it with her own skirts, singeing them badly but what did she care? People would see her as she chose to be seen.
In the darkness, she was momentarily disoriented. She had to find the water by the smell of it, and by feeling forward with one dainty foot until she was near the brink. Then, in a loud voice, she proclaimed the words of the spell that would turn this vast empty mirror into a gateway. She could not see, but she could feel the surface trembling with her voice - that was the only disturbance that could be permitted here.
Last of all she proclaimed the name of the princess, which had been stated so openly at her baptism, so that all comers knew the name by which the gods knew her. Fool. She could never hide from