"Crowns topple easily. Thrones crumble like dust. Hearts cease to beat. Thorns draw blood."
In a country torn into two, there should have been no room for mistakes. Especially not at the very core of the royal family. That was what she was. Yes, a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
There was an instance in Irina's life when she had been so sick that she wished for death.
There had been such a burning sensation deep inside every vein that she felt as if she would convulse at any second. It had been a plague outbreak that had corrupted Ravka, infecting every child within the vicinity.
Oleg was sick along with her, their beds lying side by side. Igor had been kept away in his nursery for reasons that if Oleg were to die, he would be the next king. No one had thought of the princess though, due to the fact that she was a woman and therefore incapable of succeeding to the throne.
That experience had drained so much from her. Seeing everyone dote over her younger brother while waiting for her to succumb to the illness. Prayers did nothing. She needed someone to save her but no one came. So she healed herself.
The healers would say that she was healed because of their expertise.
Irina knew that it wasn't. It was because of her. May it be spite or pure adrenaline, she healed herself. When she had recovered, she vowed to herself that she wouldn't care if she were the only one left. Wouldn't care if she had been alone. Thus came the rebirth of the frigid princess. Cold and uncaring.
All her life, she has been so alone. Would it be so terrible to continue on that dreadful path for the rest of her life?
But when faced with death, so close to it that she thought she saw her own mother, she realized that she didn't wish to be alone. She wished for someone. For him. Always him. She decided then and there that should she live, she wanted him and she was tired of denying it for the sake of her father and her supposed betrothed.
And then she lived.
Only for him not to be there when she woke up. Her father had told her that he hadn't been. However, Irina knew what she saw and Aleksander's face commanding her not to die would forever be engraved into her mind.
If she had died, the last thought would have been of him and his complete and utter devotion to those he cares for. For people like him. For all Grisha. For her.
Irina definitely had her doubts but seeing him in that courtyard as if he had been waiting for her without him knowing, she realized that he may not have been there in person, but he was there. Somehow. In the way that only he could be. In the way that only she knew.
Although, there was still something that stood between them. Her position in court maybe, her duties. Something that she could not escape as it was something that she had been born with.
With all those reasons, her eyes fluttered open, expecting to see him gone. To her surprise, when she turned her head on the pillow, she saw Aleksander sitting on a chair at her bedside. A book was open in his hands as if he were reading when sleep finally caught up with him.
