Noble Hope| General Kirigan

𝟘𝟚𝟘

{Chapter twenty}

WHEN THE DELICATE WORDS LEFT HER LIPS, ALEKSANDER'S WORLD SEEMED TO COME TO AN ABRUPT HALT. Though he couldn't see her, he could nearly feel her gaze on his darkened body. His mind stopped processing any words after that, probably because no words were being said. 

Adaline's heart felt as if it were exploding in her chest. Her hands quivered, fingers shaking. 

What if he didn't love her back? What if every decision that led to this was some huge mistake and she was only some sort of playtoy to him like this 'Zoya' girl was. What if it was all some huge plot twist–

A gasp emitted from Adaline as the shadows she had previously created were sucked back into nothing. Where she stood near the door was now exposed, leaving a fully lightened and visible Aleksander in her line of vision.

Had she not spent so much time around him she wouldn't have been able to detect the slightest bit of awe behind his neutral eyes.

Aleksander stood in front of the girl he had to look down at in five large strides and what felt like twenty beats of Adaline's racing heart. Both his palms cupped her cheeks, pulling her impossibly close and forcing her hands to rest against his chest.

Aleksander felt as if he was on a cloud. Like he was sitting in the greenest field of the brightest flowers under the clearest sky. That's how she made him feel. Like he could fall through the Earth and the only thing in its center that would matter would be her.

His Adaline.

His Darkling.

Undeniably and irrevocably

his.

Oh, how she could stare into his eyes forever. Most found them a void, this terrifying darkness that even the strongest warriors would bow down to, but they were comforting to her. They were life, they were love, they were home.

Adaline had never truly had a real home before.

She supposed now she had found one, though.

The man's thumbs brushed over her smooth skin lightly, like even the slightest touch would make her disintegrate and she would disappear from his arms.

Adaline's eyes fluttered, the scent and feel of him sending her into a delicious head-rush that she could easily become addicted to.

Aleksander's mouth was left open as he gaped, searching the air for the stolen breath he intended to use.

To tell her those three words.

But he couldn't, and the second Shadow Summoner could see his struggle so she took it onto herself to speak first.

"I love you, Aleksander. And I know that was one hell of a cheesy way to say it, but it's true. I love your voice. I love your face, I love your eyes that lure me into so many wonderful traps that I could stay lost in them forever. I love the way you hold me, and the way you kiss my head or glare at anyone who even bothers to look at me. I love your annoyingly neat hair that only ever messes when you've been sleeping or screwing the absolute life out of me–" she was cut off by her own throaty laugh that was tainted with the tears beginning to form in her dark eyes. "I love everything about you, and I want nothing more than to live in peace as Grisha, even if that means we're not together, as long as I can still love you."