Saints and Sinners

Forty-three:

Forty-three:

The Apparat led Alina into his study, in the back of the cathedral. It was winter, and cold, and despite the jacket Alina had on she shivered. The study had bookshelves on every wall, there was one, tiny window, and the desk was made of mahogany. Alina took a seat, and The Apparat took one across from her. "Why don't you tell me everything that's happened?" The old man asked. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

Alina still had the cup he'd given her in her hands. She had already downed the water, and she placed it on the desk. "I don't know. I don't know what to think. You said you thought that there was someone pretending to be you? Promising people to remove Blessings?"

The Apparat nodded. "Yes. I became aware of it because I started having people coming up to me asking about the service."

"How often do you get asked that?" Alina asked.

"A lot, surprisingly. Unfortunately, there are those that do not wish to honor the Blessings that the Saints have given them. Of course, the Saints do make it so that those that do not honor their Blessings pay the price."

Alina frowned, as she thought of Baghra's home for the Blessed that had been rejected. The stories that Aleksander had told, of those that withered away from not being with their soulmate. She ached at the thought of Aleksander when he was away, had seen for herself what happened when soulmates weren't around each other for too long. But it seemed a cruel punishment, to be hurt for something you could not control.

"And there truly is no way to remove a Blessing?"

"None," said The Apparat, "save for death. I believe that the rumors of the Blessing removal started with Aleksander's ancestor, actually. They called him The Starless Saint."

"The Starless Saint?" Alina asked. "Why?"

"The Tsar believed that he had the power to make night come when he needed it. There were rumors that his partner, who was also an Alina if you can believe it, could summon the sun. Of course, those rumors were deemed myths and eventually The Saints were kicked out of the palace."

"I thought they were burned alive. Or shot."

"It was a massacre," The Apparat admitted, "of course, if you believe the legend, the bodies of the Saints were dragged out by a survivor and there are those that believe that the Saints will rise again."

"Rise again?" Alina said.

"Yes. The Starless Saint had a lover that was an enchantress, and it was said that she is where the Blessed powers came from. That together they fooled the Tsar and the Tsarita into creating a place to protect the Blessed."

"But why fake powers?" Alina said. "Wouldn't a Blessing be enough for them to be protected?"

"Some feel that those that are Blessed challenge those in power. The Tsars didn't like or trust the Blessed before The Starless Saint."

"What happened to the enchantress that helped him?"

"No one knows. There are some that say that she is still alive, awaiting for his return."

"But if there was an enchantress, that implies at one point and time there was magic in Ravka besides Blessings. How do we know that the-----" she stopped herself, hesitant. Would it be blasphemous to say what she was thinking out loud?

"How do we know what, Miss Starkov?" The Apparat asked. "I'm a man of faith, but I am not a small, minded man."

"How do you know that the Blessings aren't tied to magic? What's the difference between faith and magic?"

The Apparat bristled at her question. "The difference is between what the church says is a Blessing and what the church says it is not a Blessing. Blessings are something given, Miss Starkov. Magic implies that there are forces beyond Saints. There's no such thing as something more powerful than a Saint."

"Of course," Alina said with a false smile, "and yet, Aleksander is Blessed, and you let him get arrested. If he goes to jail, I won't be able to be with him. I will wither and die from not being with him. Are you honoring the Saints wishes by letting him go to jail, Apparat? By letting me wither and die without my soulmate? Unless, of course, you are wrong, and The Saints are not the highest power in Ravka and you think the law will save Aleksander."

The Apparat locked eyes with her. "I will make a call, Miss Starkov."

Alina crossed her arms over her chest. "You're not just going to make a call. You're going to drop these charges, and you're going to come clean about there being an imposter. I don't know what you're hiding, Apparat, but I am going to find the truth, and when I do you're not going to like what I do with that information."

He watched her thoughtfully. She saw something like fear flash in his eyes. "You would have the church protect a Sinner, Miss Starkov?"

"I would," she said firmly, "especially when that Sinner is mine."

The Apparat stroked his long beard. He was Aleksander's father, and yet Alina saw nothing of her soulmate in him. The Apparat might have used the church for the appearance of goodness, but Alina saw him for what he was. A figurehead for a broken system.

"And if you don't get the man I love back in twenty-four hours, I will be going to the news," Alina said, "and I will tell them all of your dirty secrets, Apparat. I will make sure that it is you that is investigated, not Aleksander."

"Do you really think you have that kind of power, Miss Starkov?" The Apparat said. "You're a nobody."

Alina raised an eyebrow. "Am I really? Because I noticed I'm Blessed, and Aleksander is...but you, Apparat, the Saints haven't even seen fit to give you a Blessing. Can you really call yourself a man of faith if you haven't been Blessed by the Saints that you believe in so much? Or is there another power higher than your precious church, Apparat? Like magic?"

He reached out and grabbed the old rotary phone that he had on his desk. "I will make the call, Miss Starkov."

Alina nodded. "That's a very, very good idea Apparat. I like the sound of that a lot."