How the Game is Played

Her mind reeled, and she was confident that it was all a mistake, a simple hallucination. Grasping at every memory she could muster from that final battle in the Fold, Alina tried to piece together exactly what had happened. Mal had been on the floor bleeding out, and she'd been helpless to stop it. She'd watched countless Second Army soldiers perish, along with those fighting with the Soldat Sol. Nikolai had been there too, although she'd only caught brief glimpses of him as he flew in and out of the light she'd cast. And of course, at the centre of it all, had been him.

Aleksander was always the centre of the chaos.

Post Ruin and Rising, where Alina finds that light doesn't always prevail

KING OF SCARS SPOILERS