Of all the people my brothers served with, why does he get to be here?
"We'll be okay, Katya," Petr tells me gently. "You keep making cookies, and I'll keep working out."
I don't want to smile, but I do. I love my Petr so much. I didn't simply put my life on hold for the past four months, I straight out ditched everything to be with him. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, too, even if I'm not sure how things will ever go back to normal. My life is a disaster right now.
Deal with that later, Kitty-Khav, I tell myself. Someday I'll have to pick up the pieces but not today.
"Oh, god, you didn't invite Harris."
I lean to see what Petr is looking at. The camp is less than a quarter a mile ahead, and a group of men and one woman are out front of the log cabin welcome center, at the flagpoles. There are three men clumped together, guys I recognize from pictures Mikael sent home. Even if I didn't know they're members of his and Petr's teams, it'd be obvious by the way they were built and how they moved.
"We're even," I reply.
"I can't stand him, Katya."
I'm not about to tell him I didn't invite Harris Westwood the Third, either. I had nothing to do with the list of camp counselors, or Captain Mathis never would've made the cut. I imagine one of our father's assistants put together the list of camp counselors and chose Harris because of how close his family is to ours.
"Who's Harris?" Captain Mathis asks.
"A friend," I reply curtly.
"He's been stalking you since you were sixteen," Petr retorts. "Like a wolf after a sheep. Not the good stalking."
"You've never spoken to him for more than five minutes, and I traveled to Europe and South America with him," I point out. "He's not a wolf or stalking me. He's a friend." Sorta. In truth, Harris makes me uneasy sometimes, because he can be a little too intense. Not sexy-boyfriend intense. More like … obsessive serial killer intense. "You'll get along well with him, Captain Mathis."
"I trust your brother's judgment," Captain Mathis replies.
"Maybe I should show him my leg, let him know how painful it is to have a limb cut off," Petr says.
"Keep that thing in your pants, Petr," I respond.
Captain Mathis chuckles. "I don't think your team will let anyone near your sister, Khav."
"I can take care of myself," I reply. "I don't need violent meatheads running my life."
Petr says nothing, probably knowing there's nothing safe to say.