The chair was plush and welcoming, and much more comfortable than the floor of his tower. His back had tightened up, he realized, feeling his body ease gratefully into the cushions. It was not as easy to lie in wait on rooftops all day and night as it once had been.
He took another pull of vodka before he spoke.
"What I have to tell you, well, I think it'll be good news. If you don't already know it."
That could account for Ilarion's pleasant mood, Kassian thought. For a moment he wondered if Andrei had told Lasha already, and the elder Isaev brother was just humoring him.
Ilarion watched him. He looked almost obscenely relaxed.
Kassian drew in a breath, feeling exhaustion stitch in his brow.
"Andrei told me that he's leaving the military," he said, after a moment. "He wants to go home, to Leningrad."
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The chair was plush and welcoming, and much more comfortable than the floor of his tower. His back had tightened up, he realized, feeling his body ease gratefully into the cushions. It was not as easy to lie in wait on rooftops all day and night as it once had been.
He took another pull of vodka before he spoke.
"What I have to tell you, well, I think it'll be good news. If you don't already know it."
That could account for Ilarion's pleasant mood, Kassian thought. For a moment he wondered if Andrei had told Lasha already, and the elder Isaev brother was just humoring him.
Ilarion watched him. He looked almost obscenely relaxed.
Kassian drew in a breath, feeling exhaustion stitch in his brow.
"Andrei told me that he's leaving the military," he said, after a moment. "He wants to go home, to Leningrad."