The Pomegranate Society

Fifty-five: Alina Starkov

Fifty-five:

Alina Starkov

When she got to Mal's room at the hospital, there was someone in there. A tall, blond woman standing at the edge of his bed. "Excuse me," Alina said, "who are you? You can't be---" the woman turned around, and Alina was surprised to see the Queen standing there. Alina stared at her, stunned.

"Your majesty," she said, "what are you doing here?"

She smiled. "I was curious. I hope you don't mind the intrusion. I would have told you, but I didn't want to draw the photographers here. I know this is one of the few places that you come to be alone."

Alina smiled. "Thank you."

"I also wanted to show you something, so you understand what's going to happen next. There's very few places we can be alone." She took out something from her pocket. It was a black, velvet box.

"Your majesty, you don't have to bribe me to be part of this scheme. I understand. I just want Mal taken care of. That's it. If it means I have to marry Nikolai to do it, then so be it."

She smiled. "If I have my say about it, no one will have to do anything they don't want to. Oh, and I already put in my request to the charity about Mal for full benefits. Although I don't know how much my word will be worth once everything comes out."

"Once everything comes out?" Alina furrowed her brows together. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't opened the box yet. Open it."

Alina opened the box. Inside, there was a Persephone necklace with the hand grasping for the jeweled pomegranate seeds. Alina rummaged through her bag looking for hers, wondering if maybe she had somehow forgotten hers at the chateau or Nikolai's. But then she felt it resting on her neck, remembering that she had worn it to go see Aleksander.

Tatiana shook her head. "No, it's not your necklace Alina. It's mine. Mine was the first."

"How?"

"You might want to take a seat. I'm going to tell you a story, and it's going to be long," she said, "I don't want you overexerting yourself with the baby and all."

Hesitantly, Alina made her way over to the chair and sat down.

"Do you know how The Pomegranate Society started?" she asked.

Alina shook her head. "I never really asked. Aleksander is the head, but I think it's been around long before he came around."

"Indeed," said Tatiana, "by my husband, actually. You see, when I first came here, it was to study, to be a student like you. There were whispers about an alliance between my country, Fjerda, and Ravka but it was never really talked of. My roommate at the time was Baghra Morozova."

Alina stiffened. "Baghra?" she frowned. "How?"

"Baghra was in her graduate program then. She was also of some noble lineage, a viscount's daughter, I believed. She was deemed an appropriate roommate for me because of this. Older, and wiser it was thought. When I got here though, I discovered Baghra was pregnant. It was all quite by accident, morning sickness, you know. Only she refused to say who the father was, which made me very suspicious. Once, I invited Baghra to a party at the palace with me, and when she saw Alexander---my Alexander----she froze, like a deer in the headlights. It seemed that there was a lottery that the rich boys of the school held. They picked the names of the poorest girls that they could find and offered them money in exchange for sex. The girls got their education, and the boys had their fun without a scandal or responsibility. If a girl spoke out about it, she would lose any support. The only way out of the club was if she paid back the money the young men had given her. Now, Baghra came from a titled family, but her father had been a gambler, and a drunk, and she didn't have money to support herself. The little money she had came from her teaching job. Alexander had had her as his teaching assistant in one of his classes, and she hadn't been impressed by him. He hated her for that, and to he submitted her name to the lottery to teach her a lesson. She had no choice but to take it. When I found out about all of this, I went to Alexander, my son's father, and I made him a deal."