Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Sixty-five: Alina Starkov

Sixty-five:

Alina Starkov

He had left her alone momentarily to go check on their progress as they made their way to The Fold. There were two small porthole windows of the ship that they were on in what she could only assume was the Captains Quarters. There were at least two guards that she could assume were grisha standing outside. Alina got up carefully. Somewhere, she had been changed into a black and golden kefta exactly like the one past Alina had worn. He wondered if anyone even knew that she wasn't really the same girl at all, that she came from a completely different time.

Probably not. The Darkling didn't seem to care about particulars. Only that he managed to get exactly what it was that he wanted. There was only one door. She had no way for her to get out. But that didn't mean that she couldn't find something to arm herself with for when he came back to see her. Alina rummaged through every nook and cranny, until finally she found what appeared to be a letter opener in the desk. She slipped it inside one of her pockets. Just as she was doing so, the door to the Captains Quarters started to turn.

Alina quickly bounded back to the bed before he could come in and see what she was doing. When the door opened, he smiled at her. "Your sitting up, I see," he said, "that's a good sign. Have you been feeling sick from the baby?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't see how that's any of your concern."

"But it is though," he said, "or are you forgetting, I'm the father Alina? Of course I want to make certain that my child is completely and totally safe. You are the two most important things in my life, you must know that, surely?"

Alina shook her head. "I thought that power was the most important thing in your life."

He smiled. "Touché, my dear. Well, of course, power is important to me. But only because power enables me to protect my people and my family. Without it, we would be completely helpless, at the mercy of that terrible king of ours. With you, and our baby, we're going to be able to create a dynasty to topple the Lantsovs. You give me power. So of course, you are one of the most important things in my life."

He reached out and took her hand inside of his, ignoring the fact that she flinched at his touch on her skin. "I know it might seem strange and horrible, the way that I'm doing things Alina. But I can promise you. At the end of the day, everything is going to turn out fine. We will have a beautiful child, The Fold will be destroyed, and we will be the saviors of all of Ravka. They'll make us King and Queen. I'm absolutely certain of it, you know, my darling wife. The Lantsov's will come to an end and the grisha will have their first King and Queen worthy of them."

"You're not my husband," she said, "I am not from this time. One way or another, I will escape, and there's nothing that you or anyone else can do about it. You're not going to use me or my child for our power. I won't let it."

He laughed. "You don't get any say in the matter, my dear. The whole of Ravka believes you are my wife. There's nothing that anyone can do to save you. You should embrace your future. Besides, this is how it was supposed to be the first time. I'm not doing anything that wouldn't have been written in the history books if your precious little tracker friend hadn't interfered."

Alina glared at him. "Did you do something to Mal?"

He smiled. "What does it matter? This is the past, isn't it? None of this is real, including your little tracker friend, right?"

"You're going to die, Darkling," she said, "once my child is born, I am going to kill you and you will never hurt another soul ever again."

He laughed. "I think we're going to live happily ever after, my sweet."

"I think you're delusional," she shot at him.

"Really?" he said. "Because we're almost to The Fold. Aleksander isn't here. Think, if he wanted to stop me, why hasn't he come yet? If he cared for you at all why wouldn't he be here as we get closer and closer to destroying the thing you say he supposedly doesn't care anything about?"

There was a gun shot then, and the door to the Captain's Quarters burst open. "DARKLING YOU ARSE! OUT OF ALL THE EVIL, DIABOLICAL THINGS YOU'VE DONE, YOU STOLE ONE OF MY BLASTED SHIPS YOU PRETENTIOUS EVIL BAT?"

Both of them jumped. To their complete and utter surprise, Nikolai Lantsov stood in the doorway looking extremely disgruntled. "Hello, Alina, you look lovely as always," he said, "pregnancy looks well on you. Oh, we've come with your husband to kill your evil husband."

Alina glared. "Don't you dare insinuate that this piece of rotting Volcra filfth is my husband."

"Right well," said Nikolai, "the point is we've come with your real husband to rescue you. He's out---"

The room started to shake just then.

The Darkling was gathering his shadows. He smiled. "My, look at that. We've reached The Fold. The place were I have the most---"

There was another loud bang, only this time it did not come from Nikolai's gun. A second shadow appeared and in the doorway was Aleksander, looking tired and irritable. "Saints, I was an arse and I talked a lot. Although----he was fairly fashionable."

Nikolai nodded in agreement. "Black has never really been my color, but I might steal that cloak off of him for the sake of fashion. A King needs to make a statement and all."

Alina got up from the bed and rushed towards her husband, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Aleks!" she called. "Aleksander! Oh, it's you. Please tell me its you and not some creepy, evil duplicate of you."

He smiled down at her and kissed her deeply. When he pulled away, he said, "It's me, Little Wife," as he stroked back a strand of her dark hair.