TORTURED SOUL, general kirigan ✔

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"I suppose but I'd rather find the Boy than sit behind Palace Walls," She explained as she turned her head. Genya sighed and took a bite out of the pastry before placing it in her lap. She tilted her head back against the wall.

"You'd be away from the danger," Genya argued. A small frown spreading across her face that it only took a minute for Liliya to see. It was weird seeing Genya frown or worry about Liliya. Genya usually didn't seem bothered by her reckless behaviour. It put Liliya on edge slightly.

"Genya," Liliya said softly. It was almost said like a warning and Genya quickly snapped her head to face the other woman.

"What?" She said, quickly becoming defensive. Liliya let out a soft sigh and instead tried to let a playful smile appear on her lips. Lighting the mood felt like the best idea in the moment.

"Are you worried?" Liliya teased though there was some genuinity behind it. She wanted to make sure that Genya was okay, soothe any anxieties. Genya - of all people - deserved to not be anxious. After everything that had happened, that Liliya had caused, Liliya was sure she would do anything to help calm the redhead's nerves.

"You have been injured so much, do you expect me not to?" Genya argued. Liliya frowned slightly and Genya took another bite out of the pastry, looking away. A frown on her face too though she was better at hiding her emotions. Liliya had never really mastered that ability especially around people she cared about.

"I trust that you know I can look after myself," Liliya argued and Genya rolled her eyes, finishing off her pastry before speaking.

"Kirigan can look after you. He looks after all of us, even me," The woman corrected and Liliya nodded. Though Liliya tried, it had mostly been Aleksander that kept her alive. Every time that she had been injured, he appeared and saved her. Or stopped her from bleeding out.

"You're right," Liliya muttered, nodding her head. Her hands moving to adjust the cuffs of her sleeves as she tried to work out how she could get them away from this topic. She knew that it could only end badly.

"Do you love him, Liliya?" Genya asked and that was the exact question that Liliya had been hoping to avoid. She knew that it was coming and she had been asked it before. Both times she knew the answer but some part of her didn't want to admit it. Especially for Genya who she cared for just as deeply.

"I do," Liliya nodded, saying what they both already knew. The jealousy hit Genya like a bag of bricks and she gritted her teeth, turning her face away. Trying her best to pretend that it didn't bother her but it did. They both knew that it bothered her.

"He doesn't love you," Genya muttered, the bitterness in her tone. Liliya sighed and pushed her fingers through her hair. She shoved the last of the pastry into her mouth before huffing out of her nose.

"I know," Liliya said softly. It was sad to admit but they both knew it. Aleksander was not one to say it or probably feel it. Liliya clung to that sliver of hope that maybe he did but if he did, she would never know. He would never say it.

"Then why stay with him," Genya asked, her frown deepening as she turned her head to look into Liliya's eyes. The redhead glanced down at the cuffs of her kefta before sighing and looked up again.

"Because he cares for me and it's better than not being around him. We are the same, Genya. Shadow Summoners. That's rare. Nobody understand me like he does," Liliya decided. It was something that she had only just realised as she spoke those words but it was the truth. Nobody knew her like Aleksander did and there was no hope of anyone ever understanding her like that. Nobody knew how it felt to be a shadow summoner except him. He was the only one that seemed to exist.