CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE IRINA VOLKOV Galina's words sat in the room like a stone dropped in still water. I watched the ripples reach Nikolai before I understood what I was watching. He was looking at his cards. He hadn't moved in four seconds. I looked at Galina. She was looking back at me with calm, attention — the saying was on purpose. "Your mother," I said carefully. "She had green eyes." "She did." Galina set her cards face-down on the table. "Elena. She was from Novgorod originally. Came to Moscow at twenty-two for university and never left." A slight smile. "Vladmir saw her across a lecture hall and that was the end of him. He used to say she ruined him for every sensible decision he ever made afterward." She paused. "He meant it as a compliment." Roman had gone quiet in the way
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