‘No,’ Rachel interrupted. ‘If you had, then he’d have been in for a very rude shock a few weeks or months down the line. You’re right, it’s better to be yourself from the start.’
‘Even if that self is pushy and demanding?’ Libby checked.
‘Yep, I’m proud of you for standing firm.’
‘You know, he warned me not to go falling in love, I should have—’ She never got to finish. Instead, she jumped as the one moment she wasn’t looking at her phone it bleeped with a text.
‘Oh!’ Libby let out a shout of joy when she read it. ‘It’s from Daniil.’
‘What does he say?’ Rachel checked as Libby started tapping away.
Hi. Daniil.
‘That’s it?’ Rachel checked, and then jumped up and tried to wrestle the phone from her friend but was already too late—Libby’s response had been sent.
Hearts, flowers, kisses, she had used every emoticon at her disposal and Rachel was appalled.
‘I thought you were proud of me for being myself,’ Libby said, as she chewed on her nails. She knew her response had been over the top and wondered if it was possible to retrieve a text.
Even if it was possible, it was way too late for that, she thought as she saw the little tick beside her message that meant it had been read. ‘I should have just said hi.’
‘You should have waited two hours before saying hi,’ Rachel reprimanded.
‘I know, I just—’
Then it rang.
‘Daniil!’ Libby exclaimed.
He smiled at the obvious delight in her voice and could compare it to nothing else—it was unchecked, without agenda and simply her.
‘I missed you,’ Libby said, and Rachel cringed.
‘I miss you, too,’ he admitted. ‘And I’m ringing to tell you that I lied.’
‘I’m quite sure you did,’ she said, waving to Rachel as she headed into her bedroom. ‘About what? Charlotte?’
Daniil laughed at the edge to her voice.
‘I don’t lie about things that don’t matter. I’m not away on business, I’m in Russia.’
‘Oh.’
‘I’m trying to find out what happened to the others.’
‘Have you had any luck?’
‘Not really,’ he said, and then with that hopefully out of the way he changed the subject. ‘How are you?’
Libby hesitated. She wanted to tell him she was floating on air just to hear from him, she wanted to tell him that her period was AWOL and she had never been more scared in her life, but somehow she managed to find the off switch.
‘Busy,’ she said. ‘The classes are filling up.’
‘That’s good.’
‘Why did you call?’ she asked.
‘I didn’t like how we left things. I was a bastard the other night...’
‘I know that you were,’ she said.
‘I didn’t mean to be. I really thought you would be asleep.’
‘I know that now,’ she said. ‘So what’s this letter your father gave you?’
‘Do we have to talk about it?’ Daniil asked.
‘No,’ Libby said, but it was like being told not to push a button or knowing that her parents were out and her Christmas presents were in the wardrobe. ‘Yes.’
‘You have no patience.’
‘Not a scrap.’
‘Okay, I got a letter from Sev.’
‘One of your friends from the orphanage?’
‘Yes, he must have found my parents’ address and sent it to them. He was asking to meet me outside Buckingham Palace. I guess it was the only place he had heard of in London but they never gave it to me till that night. My father said they didn’t want to rake up the past.’
‘How long ago was it sent?’
‘Five years ago.’
‘What does it say?’
‘Just that.’
‘Tell me.’
Daniil sighed and picked up the letter he had just been looking at.
‘He says, “Hey, shishka.”’
‘Shishka?’
‘It’s slang for big shot. They started to call me that when they found out that I was going to be adopted.’
‘What else does it say?’
Daniil wasn’t sure he should translate the next part verbatim but he did so and read it out loud, telling her about the woman Sev had nearly slept with, and about meeting outside Buckingham palace at midday in November.
‘What else?’