Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Sixty-four: Aleksander Morozova

Sixty-four:

Aleksander Morozova

He could hear them arguing downstairs. Their voices echoed upwards. He recognized his mother, the Lantsov brat, Zoya, and someone else he didn't recognize. "He can't come with us," said Nikolai, "he's been stabbed, he can barely walk."

"We're going to be taking on The Darkling," said Zoya, "did it ever occur to you that the only person strong enough to do that might be The Darkling himself?"

"She has a point you know," said the unfamiliar man's voice, "I've had visions of the past too. The Darkling was a force to be reckoned with. It wouldn't hurt to have him on our side. At least one version of him anyway."

"We don't know the ramifications that could happen," said Nikolai, "and Baghra herself said we only have six attempts with this. After, we've got to destroy the clock. We are on the fifth one now. This is the farthest that we have ever gotten."

"Yes, well we won't get much further if both him and Alina wind up dead again," said Zoya, "just because he was stabbed in his thigh doesn't mean that he won't be able to handle himself. You and I both know that we've seen soldiers with worse injuries do far worse damage. Why are you being so resistant to this?"

Nikolai sighed. "Are you forgetting that if we manage to rescue Alina, she is pregnant with his child? I won't have a her losing her husband because of me, or her child growing up without a father because of me. I simply cannot let that happen. I know he's all powerful. But he needs to stay here. It's for the best."

"You're making a mistake!" Zoya insisted. "What if something happens to Alina while we're there? Or to the baby for that matter? Doesn't he deserve to be there?"

"We're not taking an injured man with us," Nikolai insisted.

"Your injured man is one of the most powerful grisha of all time even with a stab wound!" Zoya reminded him.

They were bickering now. Even from his room on the second floor, it was giving him a headache. Aleksander forced himself up out of bed despite his injury and made himself walk down the stairs using the wall for support to work through the pain that was shooting up and down his whole entire leg as he did so. When he reached the downstairs parlor, everyone turned and locked eyes on with him. Including Baghra, who looked more murderous than he had ever seen her.

"You fool boy," she said, "what are you doing up? Someone tried to assassinate you today. Your wife and your child have been kidnapped. You shouldn't be up. You need to be back in bed, resting. That is the only place that you need to be. Nowhere else."

He shook his head. "No, the place I need to be with is Alina and my child. It is because of my past mistakes that they got taken in the first place. I don't care if I'm injured. It's barely even a flesh wound. I am coming with you. The Darkling has haunted this country, me, and Alina for far too long. You might be able to save Alina, but you are not powerful enough to destroy him. I am. I know how he thinks, which means that I know how to take him down. The only way I'm not going is if you stab me again."

Baghra coughed. "I could easily arrange that, boy."

"That wasn't meant to give you ideas, Mother," he told her.

She smiled at him. "It's nice to see you care about something besides power, my dear son. It looks well on you."

"I don't just care for Alina," he said, "she's my whole life, her and my child. And if I have to kill my past so that I can have a future with them, I will do it. Saints and glory are nothing compared to the feeling of knowing that my wife and my child have a place in this world. Everything else is nothing but dust. They are the suns that shine light into my life, and no one is going to take that away from me."

Baghra nodded, then reached out and squeezed his shoulder. He attempted to smile at her despite the pain that was still shooting up his leg.

Nikolai scowled at him. "This still sounds very reckless, and have you considered what Alina will do to me if you go rescue her and don't come back? She will kill me, and it will be slow, and bloody. Do you understand me?"

"If you don't let me go rescue my wife and child, Lantsov, you will be killed anyway by me," said Aleksander.

The Prince swallowed hard. "Fine. But I still think this is a dumb idea that is going to backfire on us."

"WHO THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO USE A MAGIC TREE AND A DUPLICATE TO TRY TO REPAIR THE FOLD?" Zoya shot at him, glaring.

Nikolai winced.

"Those are all pretty speeches," said a deep voice that Aleksander didn't recognize, "but are we forgetting something? This is my daughter and my grandchild that you have enlisted me to go back and help. She's in danger because of Lord Morozova. Why shouldn't I just kill him right now, where he stands, and then go save my daughter and see if that kills his past?"

Aleksander glanced over his shoulder at the direction of the voice. He realized for the first time that Alina's father was there with them. The Duke of Keramsov. He scowled at him. "Because you didn't even visit your own daughter when they tried to kill her the first time. What makes you think you get to be the hero the second time around?"

"I'm her father!" he insisted. "Something you don't know anything about."

"Maybe not," said Aleksander, "but I have learned what not to do by watching you, and I intend to keep those lessons in mind when I raise my own child. And if you kill me, your grandchild will grow up without a father just like Alina did. Do you really want that?"

He glowered at him. "Fine," said The Duke, "he can come with us. But if you even think about betraying me or my daughter boy, I'll kill you myself."

"I could say the same thing to you," he returned with a nod to him.

"Then it's agreed," said Baghra, "we've a rescue mission to complete. Through the clock, to save Alina and my grandchild."