["Time will tell."]

❦

I like to sleep naked because I find clothes unnecessary and useless, plus, I like the feel of a soft sheets on my bare skin as well as it's lavender scent on me. But now, I'm trying to shake all feeling of his touch off of me.

The water falls on me like a waterfall as I rub my body with the sponge with all my might to remove his smell.

As soon as I realized what was happening and what the Hunters had done, I ran into the room before anyone could say anything, and quickly jumped into the shower.

His voice is still buzzing in my head, his hands on me as he pulls me aside and puts my head on his chest, and I... I let him do it. It was stupid, I know, and I know it will never happen again because I will never let him be tempted like that again.

I rub the bear tattoo on my shoulder, then my arms, my neck, and the hair that touched his shirt.

I can still smell his perfume and I'm sick of it, sick of him. I should never have agreed to work with him, I should not have let him into my room - I should have killed him then, I should not have taken him to my uncle and told him that story.

The soap gets in my eyes and I let it eat my eyeballs as I lean my head against the shower wall. The hot water hits my back and now I would really like to sink into the ground.

What if it's my fault if we get attacked next? I told him so much, and Hunter knows a lot about me, even some things my parents don't know. My body language, which I try to hide, but he-he reads me like an open book. He knows my next move, I'm just waiting for him to know that I will be the next leader of my families.

I can guarantee that. Ivan is maybe ultra-smart and manipulative, but he has no technique with weapons, especially guns, which is a big problem for the leader of our family. He uses the mind, I use metal bars and sharp iron.

Maybe it's our fault that the Çegrani were killed by Hunters. They said there was no one left, not a single living soul. They slaughtered everyone, women, children and men. I have a strong hatred for them, but no one deserves to kill someone's family and just walk out of their house like nothing happened. But it is, and that's how they do it, they leave no one behind, and they proved that perfectly seventeen years ago.

We waited a long time, I know, but we thought the Albanians would understand what we were up to and just leave, but it seems they didn't take us seriously when we killed Ramaz, their former leader, in front of them.

Fate took them, maybe not from our hands, but it did, and soon Hunter's too, but from our hands this time.

I turn off the water in the shower and wrap a towel around me. I hate it when my hair is down so I tie it up in a messy bun. I'll dry it later. Runing my fingers over the tooth print on my hand that my uncle's made. He was so lost and I just wanted to help him, but we both know this will happen again. He didn't want help and if he did, it's too late now.

I spray alcohol on the wound and wrap a bandage around my arm. It burns, but it is hardly noticeable.

I put on a shirt that is probably two sizes bigger and shorts and throw myself on the bed.

Should I continue to work with Hunter? I'm doing it for Eliana, not for him or me. Or i'll never appear again. We agreed to meet in two days at a cafe so that I could tell him everything that my father had told me.

I

don't think I'll even come and if he comes to my house like he always does, I'll just kill him. If it was that easy.

I hear a knock on my door and get up from my bed to open it.

"Hello Marinka, how are you?" Yelizaveta entered my room, sitting on my bed. She must have heard what happened in the living room an hour ago and came to check on me.

Her doe eyes look into my soul and a small innocent smile plays on her face. I close the door behinde me, leaning against the nearby wall with my arms crossed.

"I'm fine now, I was just a little..."

"Pissed?" Yelinka interrupted me. My eyes widened because I didn't expect such words to come out of her. I think she noticed it too, so she put on her doe, gentle face again and shook her head. "Sorry, it's just... you look like that and I was like, uh... I don't know. Everyone's upset."

I nod and scratch behind my ears.

I know when you need more time to think, you scratch the place behind your ears to buy more time.

Hunter's words echo in my head and I quickly remove my hands from my neck. I'm frustrated and confused, but I'm trying to shake it off now that Yelizaveta is sitting in front of me.

"Yeah, yeah, it's all...weird, I mean. Are they done with the meeting?" I asked, forcing the steady voice out of me.

Yelizaveta nods and crumples the white sheet in her hands. Her eyes are riveted to the floor and she no longer looks as joyful and happy as usual. She looks up from the floor and looks at me. "Will there be a war Marinka?" Her voice is raspy and weak.

I know she wasn't even born when we escaped from Russia, but I also know that no one would like to go through that, even for the first time.

Her eyes are full of tears and she tries to hold them back. I don't know what to tell her because I don't know the answer to this. The Hunters could attack us at any moment, or they could wait another seventeen years. The answer is uncertain.

Yelizaveta snorted and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. "Papa didn't want to tell me, neither did Uncle Nikita and Uncle Vasiliye. Even Sergei and Dimitri turned away without saying a word." she sniffs once more. Her not so long ago brown eyes are now red and tears are streaming down her white cheeks. I quickly run to the bed and wrap my arms around her. I bring her head to my chest, slowly runing my hand through her hair, just like Dimitri did to me.

Yelinka wraps her arms tightly around me and quietly, almost imperceptibly, begins to cry. Normally, I don't know what to do when someone cries, but this is my little sister and I do everything to protect her.

I kiss her hair slowly as she crumples the shirt on my back. I can feel her warm tears breaking through the material of my shirt, touching my cold skin.

I kiss her hair one more time and speak softly. "You know, when we lived in Russia, everyone thought that nothing bad ever happened. Our ancestors lived there and everything was always peaceful, but greed does strange things to people and you never know when someone will turn against you. Be it your enemy or your friend." I run my hand through Yelinka's hair. She already heard about the story of how we escaped to America, but she never knew that our best friends attacked us.

Yelinka snorts and puts her face in my neck. "You smell nice." she says and I chuckled softly. Lifting her head off me, I hold her in my hand as I wipe the tears from her soft face with my thumbs.

"The point is, wherever you go, you'll always make friends and enemies. You can't avoid that, just like war. There will always be a way to drag you into it, but that's no reason not to fight back." I finish and release her face.

Yelizaveta sits up straight, fixing her hair. She turns to me and smiles gently. "Was it scary when it happened?" she asks quietly.

I sigh slowly, scratching behind my ear. "I don't really remember." Lie. I remember everything, the big problem having nightmares is that they're haunt me almost every night. I can't forget anything, even if I wanted to.

I see that Yelizaveta doesn't accept my lie, so I get up from the bed and open one of the cupboard drawers. I pull out the box and when I open it, I take out a small locket.

Bringing it to Yelinka on the bed, I puted it in her hands. "My mom gave me this when we moved here. She said it should remind me of Russia, Moscow, all my friends, home, and family. You may never have been there, but it will still remind you of home."

Yaelizaveta puts a necklace around her neck. The small light-blue gem in the center sparkles in the moonlight and illuminates the small plum written on it.

'Don't forget where're you from.'

Don't worry, I won't.

❦

Do you know how to keep a secret?

I have a plan. A plan that will bring all the Hunters to their knees, but the problem is that I have to play a naive and tender character. But I will succeed, and when I do, there will be no more nightmares, no more war, no more Hunters.

❦