That Summer In The Country

One

One

There was, in the back of the Morozova property, a tiny ground keepers' cottage. It was a small, white house, with blue shutters, and a simple garden in the back. For as long as the Morozova family had resided in The Great House, so had the groundskeeper's family. It was one of the tradition of Ravka's rich and elite. The groundskeeper must always have a home.

Ana Kuya was the daughter of the last one, having inherited the job from her father and mother. She had one sister who had left at eighteen, gone off to see the world, gotten married and never came back. Except for the occasional visit during the winter. In fact, the only evidence Ana Kuya had of her sister now, was her niece who would be moving in with her that summer.

Her niece, Alina Starkov, had lost her parents in a hurricane. They had lived on a boat, traveling around the world together. Her parents had made a career out of studying the migration pattern of dolphins. Alina had known no life but the sea. The longest she had stayed anywhere had been the few winters her family had stayed with them. Even then, it hadn't been every long and they'd been up and gone by Spring.

It was not something Ana Kuya was particularly looking forward to. If the girl had been eighteen, she would have been out on her own. For the simple reason that any place other than the Morozova mansion was the safest place for her. Her worry, in particular, was because of the two, young men that resided in the mansion.

Aleksander Morozova was twenty-one and the heir apparent to his father's company. Malyen Oretsev-Morozova was technically the elder Morozova's nephew, but his parents had died when he was but two years-old. He'd been raised as Mr. Morozova's second son and adopted as such. The brothers had a three-year age difference between them. But despite this, they were close, and they shared everything together.

Even, if you believed the rumors, girls.

The very last thing Ana Kuya needed was to have Alina become entangled with the young, Morozova men. Which seemed to be increasingly at risk of happening as even the weather had turned on her to make the chance of it happening more likely. The day Alina arrived; it was so hot one might have thought the Sun Summoner herself had shown up to curse the land.

Alina would come in first by plane, then take a train station to the small, country village of Keramzin where The Great House was located. Ana would meet her at the train station. The boys were not at the house that day, gone to some weekend at another grand country house. Ana had purposefully made certain of that. The less time Alina spent around them, the less chance for her ruination. And Ana would do anything to keep that from happening.

She paced back and forth on the plane station platform. Then, from across the way she heard the call of, "Aunt Ana!"

Ana smiled when she saw her niece. She was all of five foot two, with jet black hair, and brown eyes. But she was no longer the little girl that would stumble into her kitchen and ask her to make hot chocolate. In a year, she'd be finished with her schooling, and then Ana hoped, she could send her far away to University.

"Alina! My darling girl. Come here."

Her niece rushed to her, nothing but a black backpack slung over shoulder. She wrapped her in a tight hug. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Alina said, "about as well as can be expected, given the circumstances."

There had been no funeral for her parents. The boat had been lost at sea, and Alina had spent a full day in the ocean waiting to be rescued. There were no bodies to bury. The ocean had claimed them.

Ana hugged her closer. "Well, come on. Let's get you home, and get you settled in. And maybe then you can let your heart heal a little."

She smiled softly. "I'd like that."

They walked to the parking lot and got into the small, red Jeep that Ana had. In the back, some of her groundskeeper equipment rattled around on the way home. Alina kept her backpack in her lap, holding onto it as if for dear life.

"Is that all you have?" Ana asked.

Alina nodded. "They gave me some clothes when I was rescued, and I was able to get a few things but there wasn't much. Everything went down with the ship."

"Where did they have you stay?"

"With one of my Mama's work friends," Alina said, "she was our emergency contact."

"Well, we'll get you some clothes once you get settled in. There's not much in the village but maybe you could order some things online and get them delivered."

"You don't have to," Alina objected.

Ana smiled. "I'd like to. It's the least I could do for not being able to be there."

"That's alright. It wasn't exactly an easy part of the world to get to."

Alina gripped her backpack tightly in her lap as if it were a lifeline. "Is the family home for the summer?"

Ana frowned. "Why would you ask that? You don't know the family."

Alina shrugged. "Just curious. You never know with these big houses. Sometimes, they live in the city, or they go abroad..."

"I wouldn't worry about it. You won't be seeing much of them. Besides, you'll start school in the fall, and you'll be focusing on your studies. And you'll leave next June, so it won't matter much. Better not to interact with them at all."

"Oh, I've got six months to go," Alina said.

"Six months?" Ana said. "I thought you had a year."

"Well, I was accelerated on the home-schooling program I was doing, so I've only got six months. And they do everything online, so you won't have to worry about me going to school. As long as I've got internet, I can do my work."

"Oh." Ana couldn't help but be disappointed. That was how she planned on getting Alina out of the house, to send her to the village school. But if she were due to graduate sooner, it would hardly benefit her to put her in a school that would take longer. Even if it did keep her away from the Morozova boys.

"If that is the case, I expect your days spent studying," Ana said, "I wouldn't want you to fall behind."

"I thought I could help you with chores," Alina offered, "it's such a big place, and surely there must be something that I could do to help out."

Ana frowned. "We'll think of something outside for you."

"Why not inside? It's so hot."

Ana coughed. "Alina, to be frank.... with there being young men in the house, I want you to stay as far as possible away from The Great House. You're a young woman with you're whole future in front of you. Rich families like the Morozova's have a tendency to ruin young women such as yourself. And the boys are...."

"Mal and I are friends," said Alina, "we became friends that one winter I visited, and we talk online all of the time."

"I assure you, that boy is not your friend," said Ana, "and don't even think about going near the other one. The devil himself is in that boy."

"Aleksander?"

Ana nodded. "They're more trouble than its worth, Alina. Focus on your school. Then, take hold of the world like your mother did. That is where you belong. Not cooped up in some country house, alone."