Yvgenie is book three of Cherryh's three-book Russian Stories trilogy set in medieval Russia in forests along the Dnieper River near Kyiv in modern-day Ukraine.
[3] Cherryh self-published a revised edition of Yvgenie in e-book format in 2012 at Closed Circle Publications.
Ilyana has sympathies for both the boy she rescued and her ghost friend, and lets Chernevog lead them through the forest.
Ilyana was young, innocent and gifted, and the leshys believed she could defeat Hwiuur, who was spreading evil through the forest.
But by the time Chernevog arrives at the stone with Ilyana, the leshys have succumbed to Hwiuur and died.
Chernevog had delayed his return with Ilyana because he had fallen in love with her and knew the leshys would preserve her on the stone.
Having lost his control over Chernevog, Hwiuur harasses Pyetr and Sasha, and then attempts to bargain with Eveshka for Ilyana.
Green wrote in a review of Yvgenie in the Chicago Sun-Times that he was impressed with Cherryh's "characterization and knowledge of folklore", and described the whole Russian series as her "most significant work of fantasy".