Baddie Alina and slightly better Darkling?
What if Alina and stayed the night of the winter fete instead of running away? What if she had chosen the Darkling over Mal? What if the Malina ship sank fast and the Darklina ship sailed?
All these charact...
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The sun had barely begun to rise when I woke up. Sometime during the night, I had rolled off the couch and not woken up, because I was laying on the carpeted floor next to the couch with the blanket half over my shoulders and half on the couch.
I groaned softly, not wanting to wake Alina up, and stood up. I was a little sore from sleeping on the floor, but it was nothing a quick run couldn't fix. Tiptoeing past Alina, still laying in bed, I paused a second to admire her. Her lithe form was twisted up in the blankets, and her face was peaceful. Sadly, she was still dressed, but she was in that sexy black lace, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Changing into shorts and a T-shirt, I ducked out of the tent. Nobody else was awake yet, so I made my way quietly through camp. When people were already up, I would have to use my shadows to hide as I left the camp.
When we were away from the Little Palace, I would run every morning. Usually, it would be three or four miles before I would turn back. I couldn't get lost, because I would leave shadows on the ground where I ran. This way, I would just have to follow the trail of shadows back to camp. At the Little Palace, I would run a few laps around the palace grounds. How many times around would depend on my mood. I usually ran more when I was in a bad mood.
It took me about an hour to get back, and by then, the camp was starting to come to life. A few fires were scattered here and there, and small groups of Grisha and oprichnik soldiers sat by them and talked. Since the soldiers were my personal guard, they were used to traveling with Grisha, so there weren't two separate halves of camp. However, they still didn't mix. No shared fires or tents. Cloaking myself in shadows, I moved silently through the clusters of tents.
Entering my tent, I saw Alina awake, still laying in my bed. Seeing her in my bed made me horny as hell, and what she was wearing didn't help my case at all. Unfortunately for me, she knew that which was why, when she first came in here the other night, she hopped right in. It had taken all my willpower to restrain myself from... I don't know. But it would not have helped, especially since she was mad at me.
Actually, I hadn't managed very well. She had been in the middle of saying something, but all I heard was my name. She had just barely licked her lips after saying my name, and I couldn't help it. I kissed her. Dressed in my color, sitting on my bed, saying my name - it had been physically impossible to resist.
So here's what happened. From my perspective, at least.
She had said, "Aleks, you can come back in now." I had walked in, obviously expecting her to look hot, but what I saw completely surpassed my expectations. She was leaning nervously against the side of the bed. I could tell that she wasn't completely comfortable having me see her like that, which I completely understood, since I had just good her that I was Ravka's most hated - and most dangerous - Grisha. When I saw her, my eyes almost popped out and my jaw had been close to hitting the floor. Of course, I had to say something stupid (I don't even remember what I said), and she rolled her eyes and tried to cover herself up by hiding under the blankets on my bed. The next thing I knew, she was calling me hot. That part was kind of a blur since I had been focused on my face buried in her neck and the fact that she had just called me hot. When she turned around, I wanted to kiss her so badly. I still remember exactly what I told myself - think with the head on your shoulders, not with the one in your pants. Then she was kissing me, and I thought that we were both screwed. Luckily for her, she pulled away before we could go too far.
