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Unfortunately, Anya turns around. “Elle!”

So much for a discreet retreat.

I walk toward them, careful on the stone terrace. “I'm just checking that nobody has decided to teach mathematics underwater,” I tell her.

Anya grins. “I'm swimming.”

“I can see that. Very advanced curriculum.”

Viktor smiles. “She's been trying to convince me to race her.”

“Don't encourage her,” Nikolai says as he approaches, still drying his hair.

I look at him. Then immediately wish I hadn't.

He notices my expression. “What?”

“Nothing.”

His eyebrow lifts. I hate that eyebrow. “You look as though you have something to say.”

“I was going to ask whether your pool has a lifeguard, but then I remembered you probably own the lifeguard.”

Viktor laughs.

Nikolai looks at me for a moment. Then his mouth curves. “We have a guard assigned whenever Anya is swimming.”

“Of course you do.”

Anya splashes her feet. “Papa, can I go to the deep end?”

“No.”

“I can swim.”

“I know you can swim.”

“Then why not?”

“Because you were just injured, and I would prefer you remain where I can see you.”

Anya sighs. “I'm not injured.”

“You have a scraped knee.”

She looks at her knee. Then at him. “That's not a real injury.”

Viktor raises his glass. “She has a point.”

Nikolai gives him a look. Viktor wisely takes a drink. I hide a smile.

Anya splashes her feet and looks toward the far side of the pool. “Papa, can I go over there?” she asks, pointing toward the decorative fountain at the opposite end.

Nikolai follows her gesture. “You can swim to the steps, but stay away from the fountain. The stone is slippery, and I don't want you climbing on it.”

“I wasn't going to climb,” Anya says, sounding offended that he has anticipated her plans so accurately.

Viktor laughs into his drink. I look at the fountain.