When We Were Young

Fifty-six:

Fifty-six:

Alina wasn't sure when she started to notice people following her. Aleksander had noticed the woman in the museum, and then there had been that visit from Magnus Opjer. But since the weekend she spent with Aleksander in his apartment, Alina could not shake the feeling that there was someone watching her wherever she went. When she went to get her breakfast and coffee in the morning at The Dime Lions café, there was always someone there reading a newspaper that hadn't been.

When she went in the library, she would always look out the window and see someone watching her. The worst part was, she had no idea if they were friend or foe. Her family wasn't supposed to reach out and interfere with her future until she graduated, at least according to Baghra. But were the people following her even sent by her family? She didn't know, and it made her nervous. She found herself looking out the window during class, searching for people that weren't there. She would wake up in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, her stomach in knots because she was so worried about someone following her.

Alina woke up in the middle of the night crying out so loudly that she woke up Genya. Genya got up and went to sit next to Alina on the side of her bed as Alina tried to keep herself from sobbing as anxiety overtook her. "Lina," Genya said, rubbing her back in soothing circles, "Lina, it's okay. You're fine. You're here at school. I'm here."

She wiped tears away from her face. "They're watching me, Genya."

Genya furrowed her brows together. "Whose watching you?" she asked.

"My family," she said, "I think. I don't know. It might not even be my family. It might be someone working against my family, but they're watching me. They've got this whole future set up for me, and I want nothing to do with it."

Genya hugged her tightly. "Alina, I thought your parents were dead."

"My parents are dead. But I still have family. Aunts, and uncles, and my grandfather. Nikolai and Vasily are my cousins."

Genya coughed. "They're your what?"

"Cousins," Alina explained, "please don't look at me like that. I know its weird, I didn't know because there's some weird restriction in my parents will that keeps them from being able to interact with me. They didn't even know until recently, and that was because Aleksander told them both so that they wouldn't-----"

Genya made a face. "Ew, ew. Ew!"

"How do you think I feel?" Alina shouted.

"Okay, okay. No need to shout. There's a lot of things to take in here." Genya took a deep breath. "Does this have anything to do with why Aleksander was hired to watch you?"

Alina nodded. "There's some Prince they want me to marry, I guess. And my family isn't supposed to interfere with me until I graduate college, but the prince isn't my family so he can. And so, we're supposed to meet soon, and I haven't told Aleks."

Genya frowned. "Why haven't you told him? I mean, you're not still doing that silly bet thing, are you?"

Alina shook her head. "No. We're together, officially, and meeting the prince doesn't mean anything because obviously I'm not going to marry him. But I don't want him to get scared and run because I'm meeting this prince. You know him better than anyone. Do you think I should just be honest and tell him?"

Genya shook her head. "No. If Aleksander thinks that a prince is going to try and steal you away, I don't even want to think what would happen. I had some trouble with a guy once, and Aleksander...well, he's on the outs with Baghra right now, but he could probably still hire someone to do some damage if he wanted. No, it's better if you don't tell him anything about the prince. It's just a meeting to tell him no, right?"

Alina nodded. "It's just a meeting to tell him no. Nothing else is going to happen. My family is trying to use money to convince me to marry him, and I've been without money my whole life. I don't need it. All I want is Aleksander."

"Then, if you want to keep Aleksander, I suggest that you keep this to yourself."

"I guess you're right," Alina said. "There's no need to tell him anything that's only going to upset him. That's why he kept secrets from me for so long too, huh?"

Genya sighed. "Aleksander isn't used to being honest. He grew up in a world where people didn't care about things and everyone had a price. He didn't tell you because he didn't want to lose you too."

"Well, I don't want to lose him," Alina said, "so I won't tell him. But I need to figure out if someone is following me."

"You said that Nikolai and Vasily are your cousins?"

"Well, Nikolai and Vasily's family has their own private investigator. I'm sure that you can get them to try to figure out who's following you."

"You think?"

"Yeah, I think," said Genya, "listen, I know you haven't had a big chance to be happy Alina, but you're going to get it with Aleks. I really think that."

Alina smiled. "I hope so."

 "I know so." Gena hugged her tightly. "Come on, go back to sleep. You've got nothing to worry about. I promise."