The Act of Duplicity [General Kirigan]

twenty

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    Always the one to do the hard work as Second in Command. While the General walked off to do something else probably not as important and pretty selfish, Nataliya had to deal with his business. That only proved how much better she would at leading the Second Army instead of him. When she would be on the top, all her current duties would be --, well guess she now understood why it's her doing it and not Kirigan. She would be the exact same, making others do work instead of her.

    She slightly turned her head to look at Mal who was following closely behind her. ''Did you really see it?'' asked Nataliya, slowing down a bit so Mal caught up to her.

    ''Sorry?'' He asked with confusion. It was clear he was deep in thought when Nataliya asked him and he had no idea what she was inquiring.

    ''The Stag?'' Nataliya added to explain.

    She heard the General talk about it, she even heard Alina mention it once and a few minutes ago when Mal described it and she listened to his heartbeat checking that he was telling the truth, Nataliya had a hard time believing it. In her head, it was still just a story, a myth and it wasn't supposed to be real except in someone's wildest dreams.

    ''I did,'' Mal confirmed with a serious expression.

    Nataliya slowly narrowed her eyes at him. He didn't seem like he was making all of it up. They arrived at a room where Mal could wait for Alina and Nataliya showed him in. It was one of the vacant offices that currently wasn't in use as everyone was at the fete but it wasn't far from the war room. Nataliya had no idea where General went after the interrogation, her only job was to look after Mal and to try to get more information out of him. Nataliya never liked to boast but she was good with people and getting something out of him wouldn't be foreign to her. Mal was younger than she was but that doesn't mean he couldn't be attracted to her if she needed to use seduction along with her persuasiveness.

    ''You know, I once went looking for you in Kribirsk.'' Nataliya walked along a shelf and slowly touched the spines of books aligned on it.

    ''You did?'' Surprise was laced into Mal's voice.

    When Nataliya looked at him, his face was full of confusion as he probably didn't expect it at all. She nodded, turning her body to him to incorporate that personal contact and comfort in the room. ''I went back to the military camp for some business and Alina asked me to look for you, but your unit went north by then and that's all they would tell me.'' Nataliya explained as she leaned on the small desk that was unusually empty off the paperwork.

    Mal was still stiffly standing near the door with his arms crossed in front of him. To answer only a small grunt escaped him as he finally allowed himself to look at Nataliya. She offered him a small smile that she soon realised had no effect whatsoever. There was an obvious distrust in the room, mainly from a simple otkazat'sya like Mal to Nataliya. She could tell he didn't really like Grisha, he looked uneasy the whole time he had to spend in the Little Palace.