2 | flatline [darkling]

fifteen

AFTER LEAVING HIS QUARTERS she did not waste any more time and made her way to go find Adrian, Zoya and David. According to her estimation, she had two days left to leave the Little Palace without getting harmed by the Fjerdans. She does expect Aleksander to keep an eye on her. Which meant having to be careful with her every move.

It pained her the thought of Aleksander having lost trust in her. This what she had wanted. To see him in pain the way she was in pain. She wanted him to feel the betrayal she had felt, but now that she had hurt him, she couldn't bare the thought. She yearned for his forgiveness, for his love.

"Nyx!" Someone calls out for her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She turns around and her jaw clenches as her gaze turns into a glare. The last person she wanted to see ever.

"Alina." Nyx snarls in response as the sun summoner walks up to her. "The last thing I want is to talk to you right now."

"Please. I know you hate me. Fine. But, do it for Ravka or Aleksander. I know about your plan. Don't go through with it. Please. I beg of you. You're putting so many lives at stake. This isn't you." Alina says, making Nyx raise her head to look down at her as she scoffs.

"You don't know me." Nyx says through gritted teeth.

"No. But Aleksander does and he told me. Have you still not realised that I'm nothing to him compared to you. The moments alone I spend with him, he spoke of you. Only you." Alina says, causing Nyx to look at her in bewilderment. "Did you know he had found me two months after we both left?"

"He did?" She asks with wide eyes.

"And he let me go. When he found me, all he asked was where you were. He didn't care about me or his grand plan, he cared about you." Nyx swallows the lump that had formed at the back of her throat. She was in disbelief of Alina's words.

"Why should I trust your words?" Nyx asks the sun summoner.

"Because deep down you know. If there is one thing you learned since this all started, is that he loves you. You're just so blinded by your anger he won't tell you." Alina says and Nyx looks away. She hated admitting it, but Alina wasn't wrong. "I don't blame you for your anger. I would have handled it differently, but I don't hate you. In a way, I was at fault too. I knew how you felt about each other and I put myself between you two, just for the comfort I thought I felt with him."

"It's too late. They're coming, there is no stopping the Fjerdans now." Nyx says, making Alina take in a deep breath.

"I know. But you can stay and help us fight them." Alina says, but before Nyx can respond another familiar voice interrupts them. Nyx's heart drops at the voice.

"Alina. What are you doing here?" Aleksander asks and Nyx doesn't dare look at him. The chances that he had heard her were high and she wouldn't care to see his expression right now.

"I'll be going." Nyx states, before taking her leave and walking away from them.

Regret filled in her heart. She should have never gone to the Fjerdans. She had been so stupid and reckless to even think of that plan. She had to fix this. Turning around, she watched as Aleksander and Alina walks away side by side. She bit her lips and turned back around.

Perhaps this was for the best. Alina would give him the power he wanted and he'd be able to rule over Ravka. Maybe it was time for her to removed herself from the equation. She had no place next to Aleksander or even to rule over Ravka. A new plan formed in her mind and she knew it would cost her everything, but at least she'd fix the wrongs.

Unbeknownst to her, Aleksander had looked over his shoulder as she turned away. His eyes filled with longing, but just like her, he'd been blinded by his pain from the betrayal. Therefore he turned his attention back to the sun summoner, as they formed a plan to counterattack the Fjerdans.

He'd known of her plan ever since he'd seen her in the snowy woods at the border of Ravka. She had believed him to be part of an illusion. She'd been talking to the void next to him, convinced he hated her and he has tried to convince her otherwise, but the lies of the illusion had blinded her. He had been ready to give everything up for her.