Anya sank onto the bed, head in her hands.  “No,” she whispered.  “That is not right.  You disgusting liar.”

“Would I lie to the daughter of a goddess?”

“The gods are gone.  They abandoned Buyan eons ago.  You are delusional, you bastard.”

“Which is perhaps why Baba Yaga found you on Earth, little demigod.”  Kashchei sat beside Anya and put his arm around her.  She was too panicked to resist.

“No.” Anya looked out the open window, at the treacherous beauty of the land of the deathless.  Anya clutched the firebird pendant at her throat and inhaled sharply.

“And here Baba Yaga has raised you all this time, keeping you...