Meant to Be My Balance

Chapter 25

"I'm going to need you for this, Alina," he said, his face grim.

Well, this was a first.

"You are?"

I'd just changed into my black, embroidered kefta, and a Tailor had come to fix my hair and smooth out the bags under my eyes. She'd done the same for Aleksander, then quickly left. I could hear the crowd outside, chanting, "End the draft! End the draft!"

"Why," I muttered, as we walked to the doors, "is the draft age still fifteen?"

"We need all the men we can get," Aleksander replied stiffly. 

"Men?" I let out a dry laugh.

"We can discuss this later. Aleksander took my hand in his and we stepped out to face the people. They were mostly men, faces sweaty and stained with soot, their clothes threadbare against the cool fall morning.

With a sigh, I stepped up beside him, facing the crowd with a glower. They tried piling onto us, and the royal guards moved to strengthen the barrier between us and them, but it was unnecessary. Shadows swirled from Aleksander's hands and into the crowd. Wherever they touched, a man fell, groaning in pain.

"Aleksander," I said sharply, "Don't hurt them." My own hands lifted, ready to defy him.

"I'm not," he mumbled, brow furrowed in concentration. In a moment, I understood why. The men who had been touched by the shadows—they were morphing. Into nichevo'ya.

He brought his hands together, and it was as if the morph completed, and the nichevo'ya rose from the crowds, black hulking monsters with wings as dark as the night and fangs for teeth.

"Now, Alina. Go to one of them, place your hand on its chest, and summon light."

My voice rose with my panic. "That's not going to do—"

"Now, Alina."

One began to attack from the right, its claws aiming for a little boy. I got in between them just in time, praying to the Saints this would work. My hand shot out, pressing against the nichevo'ya's chest, a bright golden light between us. It took only a few moments for the monster to morph back into a man. He collapsed on his knees, naked, eyes wide with an irreparable fear.

When I looked up, everyone's eyes were on me, and the nichevo'ya had gone still. Even though Aleksander was standing in the middle of the crowd, he was also standing right beside me. The bond between us.

"Now let your light bathe over the whole crowd," he said, his voice soft.

I nodded stiffly and summoned my light, stretching out the golden rays over every person. In an instant, the nichevo'ya turned back into men. But I couldn't do that... could I?

Aleksander's voice boomed. "Every individual here has committed treason." His anger was clear, and infinite. Even though I had done exactly what he'd asked, he sounded angry at... me. What was he planning? "My queen has chosen mercy for you, and I cannot refuse her."

Oh. Oh. He was playing with our image again, just like he had with the Soldat Sol family. I wouldn't be surprised if he organized this riot himself.

"Alina, come." Half of me wanting to kick him for being such an ass, but the other half knew that interfering with his plans would only cause pandemonium. The crowd parted for me as I walked through, up to Aleksander's side.

"The price of treason is death. It is because of her mercy that you will live. Remember that." Then, the royal guards swarmed, and some of Aleksander's own nichevo'ya appeared, grabbing people, restraining them.