When Mina reached her home, she applied some of the cream that Corric had given her. She was amazed how well it covered the bruise. The only noticeable things were that her jaw and cheek were still swollen, and she had the cut on her lip. She heard the front door close and her husband call for her. She exited the bathroom and walked over to greet him. Making sure to keep her injured side out of the light, she lifted up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.
"I'm glad you're home," he said as he walked over to sit down in his chair. "I feel as if we haven't seen much of each other lately."
Mina followed him and moved to sit in her own chair, but she was stopped suddenly when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his lap. Mina laughed at his actions and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was surprised by his spontaneous flirtatious attitude. It seemed that as time went on, he grew more comfortable in their relationship. That thought made her heart sink. The moment he found out she had been lying to him, that comfortable nature would disappear.
Kolya seemed to notice her quick change in mood and looked at her in concern. "Are you alright? It seems like something is bothering you," he asked.
Mina pushed her guilt down and gave him a smile, careful not to wince at the pain it caused in her jaw. "Everything is fine. Just liking your sudden need to be close to me."
He returned her smile and leaned forward, capturing her lips in a kiss. Mina could feel the warmth and desire behind the kiss, and it gave her butterflies. When he cut the kiss off, Kolya placed his forehead against hers.
"I always enjoy being close to you," he said softly.
Mina felt her heart flutter at his words. He had made it clear before that he cared about her, and that he found her attractive. His current actions felt different. To Mina they almost felt loving. That was something that she hadn't really considered. Was it possible that he was falling in love with her?
Mina felt the sinking feeling once again in her heart. She released her hold on his neck and stood up from her seat in his lap. She bent over and gave him a soft kiss before walking in the direction of their bedroom. "I think I'm going to bed. I'm pretty tired."
Kolya stood up from his chair and crossed the room to join her at the doorway. He stretched his arm out in front of her, placing his hand on the doorframe, blocking her path into the room. Mina looked up at him in confusion. When her eyes met his, she could see that the simple admiration of a few minutes ago had disappeared and had been replaced by a burning fire. Kolya used his other arm to pull her close to him and released the doorframe to enclose her in his arms.
"You aren't getting away that easy," he said as he bent down to kiss her again.
Mina could feel the desire from before, but it was much stronger this time. She wasn't sure what had brought this on, and she still felt the pit in her stomach, but the feeling of his arms around her chased her guilt back into the recesses of her mind. She reached up and once again wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
Kolya smiled through the kiss, a low chuckle escaping him. He pulled away slightly, eliciting a small noise of frustration from Mina. "Not feeling so tired now are you?" he asked.
Mina shook her head vigorously, causing him to chuckle again. "I thought not," he said before kissing her again.
The following morning, Mina woke to find herself alone. The small amount of light coming from under the door told her that her husband was in the bathroom getting ready for the day. She climbed out of bed and started to get ready herself. When she turned on the light, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The cream had been rubbed off her face, either from the previous night's activities or just from sleeping. Her bruise was in full view. Looking around the room, Mina felt herself begin to panic when she couldn't locate the cream to reapply it. She realized that it was in the bathroom.
The bathroom door opened and her husband emerged. He noticed her panicked expression and titled his head in confusion. "Mina? What's wrong?"
Mina turned her face away from him and began to get dressed, keeping her head down. "Nothing…" she said unconvincingly.
Kolya crossed the bedroom and gently grabbed her arms to turn her towards him. "No, don't do that again. What is wron…." He stopped mid-sentence as he took in the bruise on her jaw. His eyes widened and he gently grabbed Mina's chin to turn her face to get a better look. "What happened to your jaw?"
Mina pulled herself from his grip and pulled her shirt over her head before walking out of the bedroom. "It's nothing Acastus."
He followed her into the hallway and grabbed her arm to stop her. "That's what you said about the bruise on your back. This one looks worse. What happened?"
Mina looked up at him with a sad expression which made his eyes widen again, a panicked expression covering his face. "I didn't do that, did I?"
Mina shook her head and relief washed over his face, erasing the panic. "Where did it come from then?" he asked with concern.
Mina sighed before answering him. "I got it while training."
Kolya's expression changed to one of confusion. "Training? Training for what?"
"Field medic training. Fight training. Soldier training. Whatever you wish to call it. I was hit with a staff in the face yesterday while training."
Mina could see the gears turning in her husband's mind as he absorbed what she said.
"Soldier training? Why would you be doing soldier training?" he asked.
Mina pulled her arm from his grasp and stood up straight, imitating the pose of a soldier standing at attention. "Lieutenant Field Medic Mina Selene Kolya. I've been training to fill the position as a field medic. In order to do that, I had to join the Genii military."
Kolya's expression changed again from confusion to disbelief and anger. "You joined the military? Without telling me? How long has this been going on?" he asked, his voice getting louder with each question.
Mina shrunk back from his anger, but quickly regained her composure and stood up straight. "3 months ago. Right after you returned from Dagan."
Kolya moved away from her and started pacing back and forth across their living room. Mina could see the anger rolling off of him in waves. She wasn't sure what he was more upset about, her actions or the fact that she had hidden it from him. She hesitantly reached out her hand. "Acastus please…"
He stopped his pacing and pointed at her aggressively. "Why would you do this? Why would you willingly put yourself in danger like this? Give a rational answer!"
Mina started to speak but he cut her off again. "And no more lies!" he shouted.
Mina's hand fell to her side and she tried to keep her expression calm and collected. "I wanted to do some good. I wanted to help get the Kolya name out of the dirt. I had hoped that by doing this, I could help undo some of the things you have done to anger Cowen."
Kolya moved closer to Mina, his eyes glowing with a completely different burning fire than the night before. "You mean you did this for the glory? You gave yourself up to serve Cowen to make yourself look better?"
Mina shook her head and reached out to him again, starting to tell him that wasn't correct when he turned around and stormed out the front door, slamming it behind him. Mina's words died on her lips and her arms feel dejectedly to her side. Her calm from before had disappeared, leaving her feeling empty. The loving and trusting air from the night before had evaporated, leaving anger and betrayal in its place.
Mina was extremely grateful that it was her day to be in the infirmary. She had less of a chance of running into her husband here. Corric seemed to sense her distress and gave her some space. Around lunch time, he made his way over to her desk.
"Everything alright?" he asked with concern.
Mina looked up at him with a broken expression, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Not really. My secret is out, and it went as well as I expected."
Corric's eyes widened in surprised. "How did that happen? What gave you away?"
Mina gestured at her bruised face. Now that Acastus knew, there was no point in covering it up. "My face gave it away. He saw the bruise this morning while the cream was rubbed off. He questioned me about it, so I finally told him the truth. He completely blew up, just as I suspected he would."
Corric reached out and gave her hand a sympathetic pat. "I'm sorry Mina. It had to come out. It wasn't good to continue hiding something this big from him. I'm sure he'll calm down and things will get better."
Mina shook her head, an expression of uncertainty covering her face. "I'm not so sure. You know how long it took him to move on from his failure before. He was so angry and hurt. I don't know how long it will take or if he will be ever be able to look past this. I lied to him for 3 months. I hid an entire part of my life from him. He has every right to be angry."
Corric gave her a look of pity before she waved her hand to shoo him away.
"Go on. I'm trying to think of other things right now. Let me concentrate on reading."
He left her alone like she asked, and Mina tried to focus on the book in front of her. It seemed like she read the same paragraph five times before she gave up and slammed the book closed. She looked up at the clock and noticed it was time for her to go home. She had been dreading this all day long.
Pulling on her jacket, Mina left the infirmary and headed home. When she walked in the door, she could still feel the anger in the room. It surrounded her, even though she was alone. Mina couldn't handle it. She went into the bedroom, and grabbed her pack from under the bed. After packing some clothes into it, she pulled it on to her back. She made her way back to the front door and for the second time in her marriage, she walked out the door with a heavy heart.
A/N: Please review and let me know what you think. I will be making a sort of timeline to show when events take place in correlation with canon events as this story takes place alongside canon, rather than as an AU. Please check out the illustrations I commissioned for this story (details are in my profile description). Also please check out the tumblr blog I made for this story. I post edits and other things there.