No Winter Can Last Forever (O.C x The Darkling)

e i g h t

Amadora brushed off her kefta hastily as she rounded the corner, entering the foyer of the Little Palace. Aleksander followed behind her, the both of them putting on their commanding facade. When no one was in sight, he sped up slightly, pecking her cheek before returning to his rigid figure.

She snapped her head to look at him, her face breaking out into a rosy smile as he remained stoic as ever. Once her eyes returned forward, Aleksander allowed his smile to form but biting it back quickly when Alina and Genya came wandering out of the corridors.

"Well someone looks well-rested!" Amadora beamed at Alina in her plain cartography uniform.

Alina turned around, caught off guard by her superior's sudden appearance around her. Genya disappeared down the hallways, rushing to go attend to the queen. She relaxed though when Amadora gestured for her to follow out the building, the two girls walking arm in arm down the cobblestoned ground with Aleksander strolling alongside them from a small distance. A nervous aura seemed to vibrate off Alina, shaking Amadora's core.

"The King will be expecting a demonstration," Aleksander spoke calmly, keeping his eyes fixed on the ever-growing Grand Palace in front of them.

Amadora felt Alina stiffen around her arm. She glanced at Alina's widened eyes with sympathy, "But I don't know how to---" Alina began to stutter but Amadora caressed her arm, trying to bring comfort and relaxation to the wound-up child.

"We are not expecting you too, Ms. Starkov," Amadora touched her face with her gloved palm, a serene look washing over Alina, who nodded and turned back forward.

Though as they made their final few steps up to the Grand Palace, Alina began to wind herself up once again, "I don't know what the King thinks I can do, but it isn't fair to throw me out there and expect me to just ... make things happen." Her words were sour and bitter, all her frustration returning and expelling out to her superiors. It made Amadora laugh, reminding her of the once quippy nature she had.

"I-"

"I hope you don't expect fairness from me, Alina. It isn't one of my specialties." Aleksander cut her off, making Amadora's stomach sting. She observed his furrowed brow and detached personality, confused at the sudden change in demeanour. He wasn't one to be intentionally disrespectful so Amadora assumed he just may have not heard her go to speak. Aleksander placed himself in-between Amadora and Alina, glaring down at her small frame, "Do you really believe I brought you all this way to make a fool out of you? Out of all of us?" He snarked, he sounded tense and almost angry.

Amadora grasped his arm, bringing him back to her eyes, "General." She said with a stern tone, staring him down, "Head inside please Alina".

She obeyed Amadora's command, taking a few steps into the building. The guards shut the doors behind them, leaving Aleksander and Amadora standing on the white marble steps of the Grand Palace, "What is eating away at you enough that you must snap at the poor girl?"

He scoffed, rolling his eyes, "She is an entitled child, waltzing around the little palace as if she doesn't hold the key to freeing Ravka! Expecting everything to be fair and equal--"

She pulled her gloves off, taking her hands to cup his jaw. She shushed his frustrations, attempting something new. With her now bare hands, she focused on all the consuming emotions he had. Instead of feeling them and allowing them in, Amadora pushed a calming feeling out of her fingertips. He took a sharp inhale, his eyes squeezing shut before he released it all in a heavy sigh.

Amadora spoke quietly, "We just need the approval of the King, then we are free to do what we must, don't worry about Alina okay? I will take care of her--you just show the King her power and keep your mother out of it".