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Vera sighs at the roht to meet the prince She even knows that her mother will understand if she finds out

“All right,” her et back to work, and Veronika, be careful with that goose fat It is precious ”

As the hours pass, Vera finds her mind more and more distracted While she prepares the beans and cucuines an entire love story for her and Sasha They alk along the edge of the es of the future can sometimes be seen in the blue waves, and they will pause under one of the streetlamps, as she has often seen lovers do It will not hter

“Vera ”

She hears her na called out and the sound of it is impatient She can tell that it is not the first ti in the roo at her

“Papa,” she says He looks tired, and a little nervous His black hair, usually so neatly co his head repeatedly, and his leather jerkin is buttoned crookedly His fingers, stained blue with ink, move anxiously

“Where is Zoya?” he asks, looking around

“She and Olga went for ar ”

“By themselves?” Her father nods distractedly and chews on his lower lip

“Papa? Is so?”

“No No Nothing ” Taking her in his arle out of it or gasp for breath

In the years to come, Vera will replay that embrace a thousand times in her ht, smell the dusty, sun-baked leather of her father’s jerkin, and feel the scratch of his stubbly jaw against her cheek She’ll i, I love you, Papa

But the truth is that she has ro to her father and goes back to work

That night, Vera cannot lie still

Every nerve ending in her body seeh her open : people talking, the distant patter of hooves on cobblestoned streets,a violin on this warht, probably to woo a lover, and upstairs, so The floorboards creak with every step