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“Earth to Sasha.” Maksim snaps his fingers in front of my face, and I blink.
“Yeah?”
“What made you zone out like that?” He steps closer and makes a tour around me. “Did you hit your head?”
I playfully smack him on the side of his arm. “Maybeyoudid.”
“Nah. I’m as good as the devil.” He smiles, but there isn’t that usual carefree energy behind it.
If someone like Maksim is this affected, then there’s no hope for the rest of us.
“I’m sorry about Rulan and the others,” I whisper low, as if I’m scared he’ll hear me.
“Why would you be? You didn’t kill them.”
“No, but I know how close you guys were… I got so used to him and I didn’t even know him for long.”
“He was just a clown.” His shoulders droop. “To think we were singing so casually the night before his death, having no fucking clue what was waiting for us.”
“Maks…”
“He went with honor.” He nods as if to himself. “He saved a kid by covering him with his body because he was a responsible fucker.”
I squeeze his shoulder and he inhales shakily. I wish I could tell him it’s okay to cry or scream or do whatever necessary to express his grief, but these men are backward and would see it as a weakness.
“Anyway.” He raises an imaginary glass. “I promise to live all the years he couldn’t, singing for both of us.”
I clink my imaginary glass against his. “I’ll join.”
“That’s my man!”
“Where’s Yuri?” I ask, casting a glance at my surroundings.
“He got his hand fucked up.” Maksim wraps an arm around my shoulder and leads me down the hall.
Soon after, we arrive at a room where a few soldiers are lying on beds, some with bandages, others with casts. It’s a gruesome view of the aftermath of violence.
Near the window, I spot Yuri’s frame, facing away from us, his bandaged hand hanging limply at his side.
We slowly approach him, but the moment we’re within reach, Maksim all but slaps him on the nape. “Yo, fucker, look who’s back!”
Yuri turns around with every intention of smacking his friend into oblivion, but he stops upon seeing me.
“Sasha!”
I’m the one who gives him a bro hug this time and resist the urge to linger for a bit too long. I’m just so thankful they’re both alive and well. I’m already fragile, and if anything had happened to them, too, I wouldn’t know how to survive it. Rulan and his men’s deaths are affecting me enough as it is.
While Maksim is the heart of the party, Yuri is the soul. His face is classically handsome. Dark blonde hair, a square jaw, and a set of familiar, welcoming eyes. It always feels as if we met in a previous life.
“He hurt his shoulder.” Maksim points a thumb at me, then juts his chin in Yuri’s direction. “You injured your hand, but I’m as good as new.”
Yuri slams his whole palm into Maksim’s face and pushes him away. Then he pulls out a chair for me before he sits on the bed. “Let’s talk like grown-ups without this spoilsport between us.”
“You damn traitor! Are you exchanging me this easily?” Maksim headlocks him and hits him teasingly.
A faint smile paints my lips and grows the more I watch them. They’re a better distraction than the chaos in my head.
Yuri swats Maksim away as if he’s nothing more than a fly and focuses on me. “What happened with you and Captain? How come you went missing for days?”
