The awakening of his hotel room showed midnight and yet Lily turned in bed for hours without finding sleep. It would however have had to vanish like a log after all these hours by plane and yet as soon as she closed her eyes, Vladimir Iankovsky arose as a prince of darkness.

She let out a frustrated groan and buried her face in the pillow. She rose to moisten his throat with a glass of fresh water and went to the window to look outside. The panorama of the city was historic and whether it had exceeded a small fortune to get this room it was not by chance. On...