𝑺𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒆 | 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑲𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒙 𝑶𝑪

Forty-Six

TW for this chapter,  very very brief mention of suicide

Jolana woke up in shackles, but there didn't seem to be anything special to them, no special "unmeltable" metal, just plain iron.

So with an easy fire from her palms, the shackles soon enough melted off of her arms. The droplets of liquified metal dripped on the simple blouse that she was dressed in.

She got up and tried to exit the tent where she was quickly pushed back by a large man.

"Not yet," he commanded

"Where's Alina?"

"Miss Starkov is being taken care of,"

"Like taken care of in a stabby way or taken care of in a massage kind of way?"

The man rolled his eyes, "Do you have any serious questions?"

"Are you supposed to answer any serious questions I have?" she looked up at him curiously

"Just until the General finishes with Miss Starkov,"

"What happened to the Stag?"

"That is one of the questions I am can not answer,"

"Where am I?"

"You are at the First Army base beside the Fold,"

"That's all, Cyrek," After seeing the General had arrived, Cyrek quickly left.

Aleksander stood in front of Jolana expecting her to speak first.

When she didn't, only looking down at her hands, he said, "Your hair is different, it's good,"

She scoffed, "That's all?"

"Do you want me to compliment you more?"

"No, I want an explanation,"

"What's there to explain that you don't already know?"

"Saints!" she sighed in frustration, "You're acting like you can just go back to normal, after being revealed to have done all those horrible things,"

"You want to understand why I did that?"

"Yes," she replied firmly

"How can you even begin to understand me if you don't understand yourself?"

"And you understand me?"

"Yes, I believe I do,"

"If you knew me at all, you would know I don't take too kindly to having my head chopped off," she crossed her arms

"Do you know how your abilities manifest?" he paced around the tent, "The resurrection, invulnerability, the control you have over fire?"

She stayed silent, she knew he was awful but being stubborn wouldn't get her the answers she desperately yearned for. 

He continued with a smirk noticing he now had something she wanted, "I found a story that felt eerily familiar to a certain Inferni I knew. You said you saw your memories from when you were a child, and you told us your brother's name, Ambrus. So I found Ambrus and I found you, Ambrus died 578 years ago, and his little sister disappeared, Jolana Almazova being declared dead five years after her brother's death. She found herself in Ravka and fell in love with someone who didn't love her back and killed herself, in the middle of a market, where she burst into flames,"

Jolana inhaled quietly and held their breath there uneasily. There's no way he could know of her dreams.

"From there, there were no records of anyone named Jolana. I'm assuming you would have changed your name, considering Jolana Almazova was still a name that was regarded as disdainful to Ravkans and Fjerdans alike, for arson in Ravka and witchcraft in Fjerda,"

"I would remember if I lived this whole long life," he ignored her comment and continued,

"I bet you had to leave and move around because you didn't age,"

"Stop trying to distract me-"

"I think you do remember,"

"I just said I don't" she grew frustrated

"Maybe not consciously but you remember. You noticed how when plagues would wipe out your village, you remained. You noticed how you no longer get cold. You noticed how you don't need the same spark. You noticed how your blood is essentially fire that runs through your veins. You notic--"

"Stop."

"You change every time to suit your needs. You knew you would need to survive the cold, and the sickness, so you adapted. You needed to survive, so you adapted. You needed to find someone who would love you back, so you ended up on a path where you were on a skiff and ended up here--"

"Enough. I am tired of you trying to flip everything around just so things work out for you. Aleksander, stop lying," he tried to cut in but she continued, "If your name is even Aleksander, cause your surname is not truly Kirigan, that is simply a name you stole for personal gain,"

"My name is Aleksander," he said calmly, "that part is truthful,"

"How do I know I can believe that?"

"You have to trust me,"

"How can you expect me to do that after everything?" she shouted

They went silent. 

She fiddled with the ring on her hands, the habit she had developed over her journey.

"Why do you still wear it?" he asked her, "It's not necessary anymore,"

"I--" she started but could not finish because the reason she felt in her heart was unacceptable to her head.

He cleared his throat, "If you asked honesty from me, can I get honesty from you?" she said nothing in response but he took it as a yes. "Is anything I'm saying sound true?"

"A dream, I've had the same dream for more than a dozen nights, and you described things about it that you shouldn't know. I've had that same dream every night with a few exceptions where I dreamed about... things that don't matter. But no matter what I may dream about, I know nothing about this past life, you've claimed that I've lived," she sighed and slumped against the wall

He walked over to the wall and sat beside her, "I meant what I said, the black hair does look good on you,"

She swatted his arm, "Don't be nice," she commanded weakly.

"Surprised you even dare to touch me, knowing what you know,"

"I also meant what I said," he raised an eyebrow at her words, "All those nights ago when I told you, I'm not scared of you,"

His hand was resting beside hers, she could feel the edge of his hand against her's.

"You know I dreamed of you," she said softly. 

"I did too," he replied in a low voice

"Really, I didn't know evil generals could dream, or sleep. I assumed you all would just stay awake all night like vampires,"

"When I dreamed of you, it was so weird. It felt like it was real; like I could feel your hand on my cheek and could feel the warmth on your skin,"

"Like I hear your words coming straight from your mouth and feel your breath on my ear,"

"I thought you were dead, so I thought you were just a ghost haunting my dreams,"

"And you were just a shadow," she leaned her head on his shoulder. He was surprised at this, and her word choice.

"You're just a ghost," he repeated looking down at her, remembering the words from his dream.

"...and you're just a shadow," she repeated again, and he settled his head against hers.

Comfort is a hard thing to find when you're Aleksander Morozova, but to him Jolana Sokolov was comfort.