Katya turns out to be a Fire Summoner with unusual power. General Kirigan gives her private lessons and she loves his shadows - especially when they summon together, skin against skin. But what happens when a Sun Summoner shows up?
Based on the Netf...
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His mother... Baghra was Aleksander's mother! And clearly a Shadow Summoner as well; the room was almost entirely dark now.
This actually explained a lot. Katya remembered the story she had read in the book about the Saints, and the reason why Sankt Ilya had been banished from his home together with his daughter – Baghra.
"Listen to me," said Baghra now, her voice softening. "You are still young, and your heart is pure. My son is a killer, but for you there is yet hope – if you stay far away from his influence."
"A killer? This from you." Katya furrowed her brow angrily. "Aleksander is a soldier, and this is a war! But you. I know history – I know you murdered your sister. What kind of monster kills their own flesh and blood?"
Baghra paled, except for two red spots on her cheeks. "You have no idea what it was like, what she was like." Her voice was calm but bitingly cold, and around her the darkness grew more compact with her summoning. "My mother favored her; gave her all the love, all the attention. Even taking my few toys and giving them to her. That day, Mother took the only beautiful thing I had – a swan, a wooden swan that my father had carved to me – and gave it to her, so she could ruin it like she did with everything. Yes, I killed my sister. I used the Cut on her, but I was a child, and I didn't know better. Aleksander, now... He is an adult. You have no idea how many innocent lives he has on his conscience. Stay away from him."
Suddenly furious, Katya summoned a new fireball. This time she did what Baghra had said earlier and used her anger, pouring her white-hot rage into the flames, fueling them until the ball was even hotter than the time in the woods with Aleksander. Several feet wide, her fireball easily banished Baghras shadows, dispelling them like darkness flees before the bright light of day.
Gasping, the old woman shaded her eyes against the radiant, bluish flame. "Careful, girl... I–"
"I am not a little girl." Katya took a step towards Baghra, who backed away. "And if there's anyone I should stay away from, it's you, who sliced your own sister in halves over a freaking toy!"
Baghra was white as a sheet by now, her back pressed against the wall in her attempt to escape the seething young summoner.
"Leave Aleksander and I alone." Abruptly smothering her fire before she could do something she would regret, Katya turned her back on the shaking woman and left.
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Katya waited until the storm within her had calmed somewhat before she sought out Aleksander. She found him in the room he used for his private exercise.
"I can't train with Baghra again. Sorry, but it just won't work." She shut the door behind her with excessive force.
Aleksander was doing pull-ups on a bar attached to the ceiling, wearing only a pair of black pants.
