𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐱𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬....
"If I cannot have them both, I will not have either."
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐱 𝐎𝐂𝐱 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐨𝐯
𝐏𝐨...
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐜𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩, unless they had either passed out from exhaustion or alcohol. The latter was Cyzarine's specialty.
So when she and Alina had been confined to their conjoined chambers, with no alcohol or exhaustion to speak of due to the fact she had passed out twice the day before, Cyzarine had laid awake all night. Listening to the sounds of Alina's heartbroken sobs, sobs that had sparked a memory of someone Cyzarine cared deeply for.
As she laid there her mind projected an image, of Inej sobbing into her hands after Telling the girl about how she'd wound up at the Menagerie. Back then all Cyzarine wanted to do was wrap her arms around her, rubbing soothing circles on her back and give her false words of reassurance. She did not do that, she had instead given the girl a vow, one of revenge that she would see-through.
Inej took that vow and turned it into a blanket of safety, soothing her aching heart. Alina was not like Inej, Alina was not cut from the same cloth, she was weak.
Well not weak, but weak compared to the standard Cyzarine had placed and when you did not meet her standards she did not give you the time of day, but for some dumb reason she had taken a liking to the Shu girl.
Hearing the girl cry pained her and knowing she couldn't go over there to comfort her so she had begun to sing.
Alina had fallen asleep shortly after and Cyzarine was left to deal with the night all on her lonesome. If she was in Katterdam she would have spent the night ruining people's lives, swindling money, or crunching numbers and if she wasn't doing all that she would be drinking with Jesper or annoying Kaz or perching on rooftops with Inej.
The sound of a gasp had Cyzarine turning to peer at the door that joined both their rooms and spotted Alina sat up in her bed. Alina quietly stared down at her fingers for a moment before turning as if Cyzarine's gaze had called out to her.
