Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Fifty-nine: The Darkling

Fifty-nine:

The Darkling 

There was fear in Alina's eyes as he talked about his plans. She was starting to run away from him. Aleksander couldn't let Alina leave. She was his wife, the mother of his child, and he loved her. But he still needed a chance at restoring Ravka to its glory. At rebuilding the grisha army to what it had been in it's days of glory. He reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Alina no!" he shouted.

Alina froze under his grip. "Aleks, please," she begged, "what are you doing? A grisha army? Talking about overthrowing the King?"

"You had talked about that with me," he reminded her, gripping her even tighter, "you want to help me change the world. You are The Sun Summoner, reincarnated. I am The Darkling. The Saints have placed us together so that we can do what we were always supposed to. Destroy The Fold and take our kingdom back for grisha!"

"The Fold has been fading with time," said Alina, "most people believe The Fold is a myth, that's how much it doesn't bother our lives anymore. The grisha served our country for centuries. They fought and died for us. You would enslave them again?"

"The army wasn't enslaving them!" he insisted. "It was a way for me to help keep my people, our people, safe from the horrors others would bring them."

He roughly pulled her close to him. "You are The Sun Summoner, my Sun Summoner, and my wife! If I want you to stand by my side as I do this, you will. We will restore the grisha army, we will get rid of the Lantsov line, and together, you and I are going to make a dynasty that will rule the world. We'll put grisha in their rightful place. Not as Saints. As Gods. As the world intended for us to be."

"Aleks, you don't even know how to use the power from your ancestor. The power I have is from our child. You would really use your family to get what you want?"

"I would expect my family to stand by my side and support me in what I want! This is how it was always supposed to be, Alina. The only thing that stood in our way was The Fold, and that damned tracker. Now, we have been given everything we need in order to be together and regain the power that should rightfully be ours. The best part is the Lantsov's won't even see it, because they don't even know the power that the grisha still hold. We'll be able to get rid of them with the advantage of surprise."

Alina frowned. "You really think I would support someone who means to put my child in harms way?"

He shook his head. "I'm not putting our child in harms way, Alina. I'm helping build a dynasty for it. I'm creating a world where it can exist without the fear of being persecuted, where our child can thrive. Where we can thrive as a family. I'm surprised you don't see that. Of course, what am I saying? You have always feared power. It's why your past self-gave it up and retired to that little orphanage with the boy. But it doesn't matter. You've made all of the right choices this time, as have I. This time, we're going to have insurmountable power. Together."

She tried to pull away from him, but he was gripping her too tight. "Aleksander, please," she begged, "please think about what you are saying."

"I am thinking about what I'm saying," he said, "I am thinking about creating a wonderful world for us, for our child. I don't understand how you can't be happier about that. Why are you looking at me with fear in your eyes?"

"Because, you aren't listening to yourself," she said, "and I am terrified! Let me go. Let me go right now, I won't be part of watching you self-destruct."

He gripped her tightly. "I'm not ever letting you go, Alina. In fact, you are upset. You don't understand what's going on. You clearly need rest." A shadow fell across his face. Alina realized that they were forming in the room behind his head.

She let out a gasp. "No. No, this can't be real. There's no such thing as past lives. You can't possibly be---"

"It's Ravka, Alina," he said, "where magic and science blur the line, remember? Of course it can be real. Now, let the shadows lull you to sleep."

She felt them. They encircled her. She could feel them caressing her shoulders, the inside of her thighs. The shadows were enveloping her, claiming her for him and she could do nothing to stop him. Alina felt her knees give out. "Aleks," she begged, "please don't do this. You don't know what you're doing."

He smirked at her. "No, Alina. I know exactly what I'm doing. I always have. Your fool of a husband, however, does not know what he's doing. That's why I'm taking everything from him. Including you, and the baby. I am claiming the life that was denied me.

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't....I don't understand...."

He laughed and reached out to brush back a stray strand of her hair that had fallen against her forehead behind her ear. "You're never going to escape me, Alina. In this time or any other. I shall always come for you. I said we were going to change the world, and we are. Even if you hate me while we do it. Funny how somethings repeat themselves. Perhaps in the next life, you'll learn to stop trusting Genya so very much. But then it doesn't matter what life you're in. You always have been the poor, lonely orphan girl desperately craving affection..."

Her eyes narrowed. "You aren't my Aleks."

"Oh, I am," he said, "I am simply an earlier draft, taking what is rightfully his. Hush now, my darling wife. You need rest. There's so much glory for us to plan. Let the shadows soothe you." They overtook her, and the darkness was the last thing she saw as she screamed.