"There isn't much sun overseas, that's probably why I look so pale." She gave her best fake smile and Andrei nodded, understandingly.
"Does the General know you're back?"
"Not yet." She replied quicker than she intended to. "It's a surprise, of sorts."
"You know, after you left," Andrei sat down on the grass, facing the lake, practically brooding. "He basically erased you from everyones memory."
"I see you're still the class clown, then." She scoffed, sitting down but leaving space between them.
"Alright, not everyones, but those friends of yours? He made them take all sorts of potions until the heart tender had no idea who you were. Drove that bloody durast insane." He picked at the grass.
"Zaria?"
"That was the one." He nodded, only briefly turning to her. "He held a meeting you know, with all the grisha."
"All for little old me? Don't have me feeling special now, Andrei." She joked, but Katarina didn't feel very funny. She felt sick.
"I swear it," Andrei dusted his hands clean of grass and turned to her. "Warned us all that if we did so much as mentioned your name, we'd meet the same fate."
"The same fate?" She repeated.
"He told us you were dead. Shot down trying to enter Fjerda."
"That arsehole." Katarina shook her head, her gaze falling to her lap for a moment. "Let me guess, he came back with pigs blood and a sob story?"
Andrei turned to her, and the look on his face was enough to make her laugh.
"Said you died in his arms. Thalia couldn't take it. For a while, people thought she had asked to forget you, but Zaria was adamant that it wasn't the case."
Silence engulfed the pair of them. What was she to say? Did she believe Andrei? Not entirely, not after what he had done to her.
"About what happened—"
"Just—!" She cut him off, standing up suddenly. "Just tell me why. That's all I want."
"Because he asked me to. Promised me things you couldn't even begin to imagine, and I was young. Naïve—"
"I didn't ask for your sob story, Andrei." Katarina snapped. "And by 'he' you mean....?"
"Kirigan."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Where's Kat? Shouldn't she be here by now, the sun's setting?" Jesper asked, climbing out of the wagon and dusting himself off.
