Noble Hope| General Kirigan

𝟘𝟙𝟘

"The coffers are running dry, the noose tightens," his words grew angry as he spoke through gritted teeth and the shadows got darker. "And our own people are turning against Grisha, just as their kin once did."

If Adaline were to let his rage go any further, it could have ended badly. Any sane person knew that an angry Grisha made an uncontrollable one. Adaline stepped forward and placed her warm hand onto his wrist that was gripping the table tightly and took a large breath in with closed eyes, practicing what Aleksander had taught her the previous day. 

He watched her through red, tear-stained eyes as the darkness extracted and the lighting of the room became natural again. He stared down at her concentrated face, both loving and hating the way she could calm him down so easily. 

He already knew Adaline was going to be his greatest weakness. 

But he didn't care anymore. 

Adaline opened her eyes when she could feel all the shadows gone, and found Aleksander's eyes boring into hers intensely. Usually, she couldn't read his emotions very well unless he made them obvious, but the look on his face only confirmed her own suspicions of herself. 

His look was full of love. 

Adaline took a shaky breath. "You are not alone." 

Aleksander's eyes were still filled to the brim with tears as he slowly and gently brought his hand up to Adaline's face, starting at her cheek before pushing his fingers back just slightly and pulling her a little closer. His lips stayed parted, dark eyes unrecognizable. Her stomach couldn't help but flip at how perfectly his large hand fit against her face. 

"I have been waiting a long time for you," he whispered, looking down directly onto her face. 

"What the hell are you doing to me, Adaline Starkov?" he demanded softly, pulling her flush against him. He wasn't going to run this time. 

The second Darkling's eyes fluttered as she felt the warmth of his chest radiating off his robes and onto the thin fabric of her grey nightdress. "I don't know, but I think it's a good thing." 

Without another word, Adaline brought her hand up to his face and pulled her lips to his. 

Immediately, Aleksander responded, pulling his left arm from his side and wrapping it around her waist, trying to tug her even closer as their lips moved in sync together. It was slow and sweet, both reveling in the feeling of finally being together the way they had wanted for the past month. He wanted to be as close as possible to her and he never wanted to let her go. 

The whole feeling was like reaching a lifelong goal. It felt like he had waited forever for her, and she just couldn't have taken any longer. Her lips were sweet and soft while his were rough from his habit of biting the skin off his lips.

Soon enough, they had to come up for breath, resting their foreheads against the other and noses bumping as they panted. 

"You have no clue how long I've wanted to do that," Aleksander confessed, his arm still holding her tightly against him and playing with the end of her braid, gently pulling the hair tie from the end to undo it. His tears had retracted into nothing as he had gotten lost in their kiss.