Ch. 3 Winning Smile

The first time that Alexei saw her, he felt like his heart had stopped. She was talking to Genevive, both of them seemed enthralled by the conversation that they were having. Alexei had no idea what they were talking about, but Genevive was never so engaged in a conversation with anyone.

Alexei took a swing of the glass of whiskey that he had been nursing. He was still recovering from the migraine headache he had earlier. He didn’t much feel like going to talk to anyone.

Despite that, he still looked at Genevive and this new woman with a twinge of jealousy. He watched as the new woman drank and ate. She were a well-worn blue coat with ornate stitching and a plain white dress. Alexei felt some sort of magnetic pull to her. Like just looking at her gave her some sort of power over the whole room. He couldn’t help but feel curious about her. He wanted to know who this woman was.

Genevive caught his gaze, leaning back in her seat. Alexei took a swig of his whiskey. Genevive raised an eyebrow. Alexei gave her a simple nod. The message was clear.

Recruit her.

......*......

It had been three and a half weeks since Lena Borkov had moved and things had been going surprisingly well. Genevive Safin, the woman she had met in the bar on her first day there, had offered her a job. Even though Lena had enough money to get by for now she so desperately wanted to get the job search out of the way first. So there was instantly a weight lifted off her shoulders.

Relief evident.

Genevive smiled, “Great.”

She pulled a blank folded scrap of parchment out of her pocket and unfolded it. Next, she fished out a pen from her coat pocket and asked for her address so she could pick her up. Lena did and started to walk home.

It wasn’t until a few hours later that Lena realized how stupid she had been. She had been so excited to get a job offer, she hadn’t even asked what this job was. What if she wasn’t qualified and made a fool of herself? Worse, what if this wasn’t legal?

“Fuck, you’re so fucking stupid.” She whispered to herself. The moon shone bright in the sky tonight, illuminating the places in the path that weren’t as well lit.

The wind twisted and curled lazily around her. Not so cold that it was biting at her, but not anywhere near warm. Lena kept looking behind her. She felt eyes on her. There was never anything there.

When Lena got home, she had crashed. This time were no nightmares. Just exhaustion claiming her thoughts.

Getting up in the morning was easy, like there an energy in the very air that made her feel ready to take on the day. She kept herself busy with unpacking the few things she had and tried her best not think of all of the possibilities of how this job offer could go wrong. What if her employers had a thing against witched? What if her unstable grasp on her craft made something bad happen? Lena had to swallow back a wave of nausea and panic. When there was a knock at her door. “Coming,” She called.

She wiped her sweaty palms on the skirt of her dress. Lena ran over to the door and flung it open a little too excitedly. Genevive was on the other side, as beautiful and put together as the night before.

“Hi,” She grinned, “I hope you’re having a good morning.”

“I am,” Lena wrung her hands hoping that she wasn’t too obvious about how anxious she felt.

“Good,” Genevive seemed to immediately catch Lena’s anxiety. “Are you sure?”

“Um, yeah.” Lena instinctively stepped out of the house and locked the door behind her. “I just—” She felt sheepish “—I feel stupid. I realized that I didn’t ask you exactly what the job was.”

“Oh,” Genevive laughed. The sound was light and melodic. “Sorry about that, I should’ve explained it actually. It’s nothing too bad, we just need a general worker at our camp. Sorting things. Delivering messages. That sort of stuff.”

“Oh, okay.” A camp? Lena only had more curiosity. Like Genevive was intentionally vague. Too late to back out. Genevive opened the carriage door and beckon for Lena to climb in.

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