"Have I been arranged to be married to someone, grandmother?" Katrina's words were soft and carefully arranged. Yet, no one could ignore the underlined fear in them.
Sofiya nodded. "Yes."
Suddenly, she found a bottomless bit in her stomach. It had sucked in every rational thought in her mind and the only thing Katrina wanted to do was yell.
Who was he?
How long had everyone known?
How long ago had it been set in motion?
Was she going to marry an old man?
Who—
"Katrina," Sofiya's sharp voice was enough to bring her back, "have your drink while it is still warm."
A quite polite way of telling her to keep it together.
Nandia moved one hand over the couch and pressed it to her side before moving forward and fetching Katrina's warm drink. "Here."
The silent support of her Sister was appreciated. Thanking her, she took the drink before taking a big sip of it.
"The details will be revealed by your father. Whenever he sees fit for it—"
"Even if it is a day for the wedding?"
Sofiya glared swiftly before her eyes returned back to normal. "Even if it is on the day of the wedding."
Dear Lord. Katrina lowered her eyes to her drink.
She was not even sixteen and as far as she knew her father, he would never let her go at such an age. Then again, it mattered toward the pakhan thought at the end of day and only his will would not be challenged.
Not even by her father.
Katrina took a long and silent breath to herself. There's nothing she could do to stop it from happening. If it was not her, then it was going to be her cousin and that was an 'if' situation. There was absolutely no way she could get out of this. Not until something huge and unforgettable happened.
If something of such happened, she knew she would be killed, or sent to exile. She would slowly die of either depression, cold or starvation.
"May I at least know when?" She asked and swore she saw the eyes of her grandmother soften a little bit.
"I do not know when it is going to happen, but I am sure that Ivan will make sure that you are of legal age, maybe even a little bit older. But we know that we cannot challenge the will of the Pakhan."
She smiled in relief, only a little bit, but she did. She would never ask her father to challenge the world of someone who could vanish her father's existence off the earth.
A knock came upon the door, and Olga stepped in. "Master Orlov is here. Dinner will be served in a few minutes. Please, join him."