Natalia
The forest air was cool against my skin, a light breeze rustling through the leaves overhead. Andrei and I had been hiking in silence for some time now, but it was an unexpectedly comfortable sort of silence.
The kind of silence we’d never experienced before.
Last time we did this, tensions had been thick enough to cut with a knife. As I watched Andrei walk ahead of me now, muscular legs pulling him up the mountainside with ease, I couldn’t help but recall how I’d once been frightened that he might push me off a cliff, even with guards to keep me safe.
“Remember the last time we did this?” I blurted out.
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he glanced back at me. “You mean when you hated my guts.”
“Hate is a strong word…”
“You hated me. You also thought I was a
