He must have meant how high I had raised my eyebrows.
“What do you want a baron’s title for, if you’re practically a prince already?” I commented.
“I don’t want any title, Han. Just… to be myself.”
I smiled at him again. That was so like him.
“And what does the plaque say?”
“‘Instinct nikogda ne sdayetsya, nikogda ne zabivaet, nikogda ne proshchayet, nikogda ne umirayet,’” Alexander said in Russian, and his voice sounded hollower in the cavernous hall, imposing. “It means ‘instinct never surrenders, never forgets, never forgives, and never dies.’ It’s the motto of our people. So we don’t forget what and who we are, where we come from, or where we are going.”
I turned again, discovering more and more small details wherever I looked.
“…it’s fabulous. I can’t believe it, Alexander, all
