Chapter 60

Natalia & Andrei

Natalia

“Whose body was burned during your funeral all those years ago? I deserve to know.”

I sat back on my heels and stared at Andrei. The question wasn’t entirely unexpected—he was bound to ask eventually—but the timing caught me off guard. We had just buried a baby deer that Andrei had had to put out of its misery with his bare hands.

Although, I supposed it was the perfect segue, wasn’t it? Death often gets one thinking about death.

Andrei patiently waited for an answer. His eyes were earnest.

I considered lying, but what would be the point? He already knew I had faked my death. The details of how I’d done it hardly mattered now. So long as he didn’t find out about the twins or that I suspected him in the attempts on my life, what did it matter?

And a small part of me did, admittedly, feel guilty. I remembered watching from a distance as Andrei stood over the pyre, his face crumbling in on itself. I recalled his drunken behavior afterwards, too.

Even if he’d only