The Price She Paid: Shadow & Bone (Book 2)

Chapter 31: I will strip away all that you know.

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I turned, catching sight of something in the corner of my eye. Alina was laying on the ground on the other side of the desk, her head resting in a puddle of blood.

"Alina!"

I stumbled to my feet, racing around the desk, and dropping to her side.

"No, no, no, no!" I grasped her shoulders, trying to wake her. "Alina, can you hear me?"

My hands shook as I pressed them against her neck, holding my breath until I felt the steady beat of her pulse underneath my fingertips.

She was alive, thank the saints.

My body sagged in relief, a mix between a gasp and a sob slipping past my lips.

"You're gonna be okay, you're gonna be fine."

A cold breeze blew through the room, causing the hair on the back of my neck to rise. I went still, my skin prickling with awareness.

One thought suddenly became perfectly clear, we weren't alone in here.

Rough fingers twisted themselves in my curls, painfully forcing me to my feet as tears blurred my vison.

"I'll admit, it was a cunning little plan indeed," Aleksander murmured, his breath warm against my ear. "I was hoping Ms. Starkov could tell me which of you came up with it, but I'm afraid she was rather unhelpful."

I opened my mouth to scream but he was faster. He clamped a hand over my mouth, letting go of my curls to wrap his other hand around my wrist. He forced me forward, pressing me up against one of Morozova's desks as he twisted my other arm behind my back. I struggled against him, terror coursing through me as my cries remained silenced behind his hand.

"You think you know me well enough to fool me?" He dipped his head down, running his nose along the sensitive skin on my neck. I fought harder and he tightened his grip on my wrist, causing a burning pain to travel up my arm. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks as I stilled in his grasp. If he squeezed my wrist any harder, he'd shatter the bone, I was sure of it. "Tell me, Evelynn." He ran his lips over my pulse point, pausing to place a lingering kiss there. "If you know me so well, what am I going to do with you now?"

I hated the way his question made my heart lurch into my throat. I had seen Aleksander mad before, I had seen him vengeful, but this, this was something else entirely.

Everyone had warned me about him, the Black Heretic, the Darkling. I thought I knew him; I thought I knew what he was capable of, but I was wrong.

Nikolai was right, Aleksander had me right where he wanted me.

"You refuse to accept that you and I are the future," he breathed. He adjusted his grip, pressing himself more firmly against me, causing my body to dig into the hard edges of the desk in front of me. "And now, now I'm going to have to force the issue."

I wrapped my other hand around his wrist, trying and failing to pry his hand off my mouth. All I had to do was scream and Baghra and Mal would be here in seconds.

"First, I had my Grisha destroy the first army camp at Keramzin. A detail I was happy to share with Ms. Starkov as punishment for her role in your continued betrayal."

My gaze traveled down to where Alina lay, just a few feet away. The bleeding had slowed, but she still hadn't regained consciousness.

"I'll test the orphans, take the Grisha, and the rest, the rest will bleed for her stubbornness."